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The Christian’s War Room | Bible Gleanings | March 21-22, 2026

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The fields of battle have frequently been filled with formidable fighters who fell for failure to familiarize themselves with the fiercest weapon of all: prayer. King Saul succumbed in his last battle with the Philistines because he “did not seek guidance from the LORD” in prayer (1 Chron. 10:14). King Amaziah was annihilated—although equipped with 400,000 mighty men and mercenaries—because he did not pray and trust the Lord (2 Chron. 25:5-25). Even the faithful king Josiah was fatally wounded in his last fight because he did not first pray for God’s counsel (2 Chron. 35:20-27). On the other hand, when the Israelites surrounded king David with prayer in Psalm 20, he emerged with a crown of victory on his head, as he later celebrated in Psalm 21.

Failure to pray sets us up for failure, especially in the battles we fight as believers. If we do not fall on our knees in prayer, we will fall in defeat. All conflicts we meet head-on should be faced with our heads down in prayer. Prayer is the armory and arsenal where God equips His people with heaven’s weapons for spiritual combat on earth. Prayer is the believer’s war room.

Prayer is where we don the spiritual armor of God which protects us against Satan. Our God-provided belt, breastplate, shoes, shield, helmet, and sword can only be utilized when we are “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication” (Eph. 6:18a). Facing Satan’s schemes prayerlessly is like waving a white flag before the battle even starts. This is why the Puritan George Swinnock (1627—1673) once counseled, “Prayer is one of the great ordinances that batters down the strongholds of the devil; hence he sets his wiles at work to divert men from it. It is the soul’s armor and Satan’s terror.” There is nothing the devil despises more than a praying Christian, and not much he can do to thwart a believer on their knees.

Prayer is also the key to being victorious over fleshly temptations. No wonder Jesus instructed us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Matt. 6:13). Similarly, Christ taught that either temptation will overpower the believer, or the believer will overpower temptation through prayer. As He told His exhausted disciples, “Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt. 26:41). 

Neither should we expect victory in our tribulations without prayer. This is why James gave us the simple exhortation: “Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray” (James 5:13a). Prayer is how we give our burdens to the Lord and receive divine strength to endure trouble. Through prayer, we are given the grace necessary to press forward until the battle is over. Christian, do not enter the battlefield of life unguarded, unarmed, and unready—suit up every day in the war room of prayer.

Brandon is the pastor of Bandana Baptist Church in Bandana, Kentucky, where he lives with his wife, Dakota, and their three dogs. Brandon and Dakota previously served as foster parents through Sunrise Children’s Services of Kentucky. Brandon is also a published author and his Bible Gleanings columns are featured in over sixteen publications throughout Kentucky, Illinois, Tennessee, and Indiana. He is also a devotional contributor for Kentucky Today, a news publication of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, and an editor at Reforming the Heart.

Sermons

War of the Soul: Introduction

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In the Beginning, There Was War

Our great country was born in war and, throughout its history, war has shaped this nation. Ever since our birth we have been fighting wars for various reasons, and it has framed our government and expanded our borders. It has united us as citizens but also divided us in dissent and grief. Through the course of our existence as a nation, we have faced an enemy that we felt obligated to fight. From battling the British tyranny in the American Revolution to our current war on terrorism, we have always faced a war with a great enemy.

It true of war that you face an enemy, and to conquer it, you must have the right economic and social resources. This is an ideal image to describe the daily war that takes place in the Christian life. For Christians, there is a war going on. It is real, it is deadly, and it is costly. According to the Bible, there are three enemies that we face: Satan, the world, and our sin nature. All of which are waging an ongoing, costly, deadly war against us.

1. Satan is our enemy. Since creation, Satan has been at war with the people of God. Peter tells us to be watchful, as soldiers, on guard against him: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Contrary to many images circulating on the internet, Satan is not in an equal war against God with his soldiers, with ourselves caught in the middle. Satan is in a war against us, and he prowls around like a hungry lion, seeking someone weak, who isn’t keeping watch. He wars against us by tempting us to sin, deceiving us, and sometimes inflicting us.

2. The world is our enemy. The worldviews, desires, and influence of the world is at war against us also. The world’s ideas, desires and influence are against God and against Christians. You can see this evident more today than ever before in the history of the world. Today, the basic tenets of the Christian worldview are considered as hate-crime or arrogance. James tells us that we are to keep ourselves from being influenced by the world and associating with its worldviews and desires: “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4). Because we are different, because we are God’s people, we suffer persecution and rejection from the world because we are “not of this world” (John 17:16).

3. Our sin nature is our enemy. Satan is powerful and the world can exert a strong influence on us, but no enemy is as powerful as ourselves. The 90’s rock band Lit had it right they said, “It’s no surprise to me that I am my own worst enemy.” The Bible does warn us strongly about keeping guard against Satan and the world, as the Scriptures above testify. But no warning is as strong as the warning against our own sin nature: “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul” (1 Peter 2:11). No other passage of Scripture is as stark in its warning. The passions of our flesh wage war against the most valuable thing we possess: our souls. 

We are all fighting a war of desire to do what God wants, and to do what we want and commit sin. In this series, we will see what we are fighting, why we are fighting, and how to battle what we are fighting. The outline of the series is as follows:

1. The Battle Within (1 Peter 2:11-12)

2. Sin’s Greatest Weapon (James 1:12-15)

3. Empowered to Fight (Gal. 5:16-18)