Where is your war room?

 

And what does that even mean? What is a war room? It sounds like a place of shelter and refuge, and that’s precisely what it is. 

A few years ago a movie came out by the Kendrick Brothers called The War Room. It’s a fantastic story about the positive impacts of consistent, powerful prayer, and it illustrates how God can take something unbearably awful and turn it around. One of the main characters in the movie has her own little closet which she retreats into whenever she feels the need to connect with God. It becomes her prayer room and ultimately her war room, from which she uses the power of prayer to fight the battle against the schemes of the enemy.

We are told in the Bible to pray without ceasing. This means that we should strive to be in a constant state of submission to the Lord, with all of our hopes, dreams, requests, and trials. It means that we should be ready to pray, at any and all times. It makes me think of Ephesians, 6:10-20: 

The Whole Armor of God

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. ¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. ¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. ¹⁴ Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; ¹⁷ and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, ¹⁸ praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, ¹⁹ and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

When I read the words the whole armor of God, it gives me courage. It’s such a wonderful passage, and such a great way to pray! The way we fight our battles is on our knees. 

This is how we fight our battles. Worship, prayer repeat. 

We all have war rooms, whether or not we think of them as such. We all have places that we retreat to when the world is a little too harsh, and the enemy a little too loud. Even if those places are simply inside of our own minds. My own war room is a state of mind. It’s all of those opportunities that I have to pray throughout the course of a day, whether I’m driving or walking or cleaning. I also have a chair that I like to sit in sometimes in the morning to quietly read, or journal, and just pray, and I consider it a bit of a war room too. The point is that it doesn’t have to be a specific, or even a physical place, but if you’re just starting to be more intentional about prayer, then it is great to have a dedicated place to go to for the purpose of habit-building.  

In my last post I talked about setting time aside in your calendar for doing nothing, just as you would anything else on your schedule. I talked about how nothing often turns into something! What if that something was prayer? What if we all intentionally set aside time in your calendar every day for prayer?

I will be interviewing my sisters about the power of prayer in their homes soon. I can’t wait to share it with you! Stay tuned, but for now I want to know: Where is your war room? Where do you retreat to when you need to pray?

Michael W. Smith – Surrounded (Fight My Battles)