Rick Stedman - Praying the Armor of God: Trusting God to Protect You and the People You Love

This is a great way to protect those you love spiritually. Every personespecially parentsshould read and use this book.

Kyle Idleman, teaching pastor, Southeast Christian Church, Louisville, Kentucky, author of Not a Fan

In this fantastic book, Rick Stedman shares personally and powerfully how we can grow in our faith through praying the armor of God. Prayer is one of the most life-giving and mysterious practices in which we can engage, and Rick models for us how to pray for those we love. Praying the Armor of God teaches us a lot about the heart of God and the joy of taking our cares and concerns to him. This is a book to read, apply, and share with others.

Jud Wilhite, senior pastor, Central Christian Church, Las Vegas, Nevada, author of several books, including Pursued

If youve ever asked how parents can help their teenagers develop a strong faith in todays crazy world, one of the answers is in this book. Praying the Armor of God is a creative, easy to remember, and effective way for parents to stay spiritually engaged in their childs life. Read itand practice it daily!

Doug Fields, youth ministries specialist, author of over 50 books, including Purpose-Driven Youth Ministry

Good parents have always wanted to protect their children from physical dangers, but what are we doing to protect our children spiritually? In his new book, Rick Stedman provides the extra help and practical advice that busy parents need. In addition, his approach can help protect spouses, friends, and even prodigals from threats against their hearts and souls. Individuals, families, and even our world would be better if everyone were to daily follow his advice.

Rebecca Hagelin, advocate for faith and family, author of Home Invasion

This book not only equips you with a powerful prayer method, its saturated with insights into the Word of God. We all want to intercede and pray more, and this gives us an easy way to shield those we love. Like young David readying himself to fight Goliath, Rick is clear that no human armor nor self-prepared armor will do. We need the armor that only God can provide as we fight the giants of the spiritual world.

Lance Hahn, senior pastor, Bridgeway Christian Church, Rocklin, California

Every Christian parent I know, including me, wants the same thing. We want to see God at work in the lives of our kids. Ricks new book provides practical help in using the one tool God has given to impact the people we loveprayer. I have used the plan in this book with my kids and my friends. I recommend this to parents, couples, singles, and especially pastors. Buy it, read it, and most of all, put it into practice.

Ray Johnston, senior pastor, Bayside Church, Granite Bay, California, author of The Hope Quotient

Christs sufficient provision of spiritual armor is available to every believer. This book makes it readily applicable to your heart and your home, seven days a week.

Daniel Henderson, president, Strategic Renewal

Its finally herea book about the armor of God and how to protect those you love. Let this true warrior, Pastor Rick Stedman, help you become a warrior in Gods kingdom with a common sense way to arm yourself for spiritual warfare. This is a book for anyone who wants to protect their families, their country, and their faith.

Lt. Gen. (Ret.) William Boykin, executive vice president, Family Research Council

Praying on the armor of God has never been so practical. Rick Stedman provides for us a simple way to bring Gods protective power into the lives of the people we love.

Dave Butts, chairman, Americas National Prayer Committee

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Verses marked NKJV are from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Verses marked NASB are from the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Cover by Garborg Design Works, Savage, Minnesota

Backcover author photo by Jodi Burgess

Published in association with the Books & Such Management, 52 Mission Circle, Suite 122, PMB 170, Santa Rosa, CA 95409-5370, www.booksandsuch.com.

PRAYING THE ARMOR OF GOD

Copyright 2015 Rick Stedman

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Stedman, Rick.

Praying the armor of God / Rick Stedman.

pages cm

ISBN 978-0-7369-6069-4 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-6070-0 (eBook)

1. Spiritual warfare. 2. PrayerChristianity. I. Title.

BV4509.5.S74 2015

248.32dc23

2014021862

All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any otherwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The authorized purchaser has been granted a nontransferable, nonexclusive, and noncommercial right to access and view this electronic publication, and purchaser agrees to do so only in accordance with the terms of use under which it was purchased or transmitted. Participation in or encouragement of piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of authors and publishers rights is strictly prohibited.

CONTENTS

To our three children, Micah, Noah, and Jesse, with the prayer that God would put on each of you his full armor to protect you and strengthen you, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. (Ephesians 6:13)

D o you desire to improve your prayer life? I certainly do. In fact, Ive been on a quest to improve my prayer life for years. Ive read books, attended seminars, filled journals, listened to countless sermons, and preached over a hundred sermons on prayer. One year I taught fifty-two weeks in a row on prayer, which we called: 2001, A Prayer Odyssey. In three decades of ministry, it was the only sermon series that people requested I repeat the following year. I even chose to focus my doctorate of ministry on prayer, primarily in order to deepen my devotional life.

But the most meaningful, practical, and easy-to-remember method of prayer for me has been praying the armor of God.

In this book, I share my journey with you. Part 1 explains why we should pray the armor of God, including what the different pieces of the armor signify. Part 2 is a guidebook for daily prayer, illustrating how we can pray the armor of God.

How is this book different from other books on prayer? Its this: the pieces of the armor of God are arranged to correspond to the seven days of the week. Since you already know the days of the week, you can easily remember how to pray the armor of God. For instance: S undays we S trap on the Belt of Truth, T uesdays we T read in the Shoes of Peace, F ridays we F ight with the Sword of the Spirit, and so on.

In the beginning, you may want to pray the Part 2 prayers verbatim. Just pick a day of the week or a weekly topic, and pray one of the suggested prayers for those you love. If you pray one page per day, corresponding to each day of the week, you will finish in about ten weeks. Then you can start over and do it againand again.