The truth is that every last man reading this has loved ones—a wife, kids, friends, neighbors down in the valley—who will lose spiritual battles if we do not pray for them and will win those spiritual battles if we do. Prayer defeats Satan.

After Jesus’ ascension, the eleven returned to the upper room in Jerusalem where they were staying and were “devoting themselves to prayer.” Not surprisingly, such intense devotion to prayer brought a huge advance for the kingdom. A few days later, on the Day of Pentecost, when Peter preached to the crowds, 3000 souls came to faith.

Wouldn’t you love to see more spiritual fruitfulness in your life in 2026—your love for Jesus growing stronger, your heart becoming more like his, your loved ones putting their roots more deeply into Christ, the vine, more opportunities to plant the seeds of faith in the lost around you? I know I would. And the path to such spiritual impact is clear—devote myself to prayer. May this past episode re-energize your determination to wage war for the kingdom to prevail in your sphere of life in 2026, as it has re-energized mine.

Today’s episode is from is the final week of a 4-week series we produced in August of 2023, entitled Five Habits That Shape Godly Men. What drives our podcast/blog is the desire to hear, “well done” from the lips of our Lord after running the race marked out for us. Just as the key to success in athletics is training—building the right habits—we know that in the spiritual world the same principle holds true: WE shape OUR HABITS—and then OUR HABITS shape OUR LIVES.

Do you wish you had a little more motivation for your prayer life? I know I could use more. That is our objective as we examine Jesus’ prayer life in this episode. But first, let’s review the first 4 habits we’ve covered in this series. We began with the most important habit of all—REGULARLY REALIGNING OUR HEARTS—building the habit of re-setting our heart affections on Lord, as our first love. The importance of keeping the affections of our heart set upon God first is underscored by our Lord who told us that the first and greatest of all commandments is “to love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). Keeping our hearts properly aligned is the most vital discipline any human can have, because God says to us, Above all else, guard your heart, for from it flow the springs of life (Prov 4:23). In this episode (# 34, August 14) we looked very specifically at how to build a weekly habit into our lives that resets our affections on delighting in the Lord. Then, in the second half of that episode, we examined a second habit that shapes the life of a godly man–the practice that caused both Joshua and David to flourish—meditating on the Word of God. Frankly, the promises of God that accompany gaining God’s wisdom are staggering. Her profit is better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasant ways and all her paths are peace. SHE IS A TREE OF LIFE to those who lay hold of her” (Prov 3:14-18).

Then we saw the power of investing our treasure in kingdom ministry because wherever our treasure is, our hearts will follow. We looked to Scripture to answer the question, “how do I determine how much my check each month to support kingdom work should be?” Then, last week, we studied a fourth habit—the pattern we observed in Jesus’ life of escaping to the wilderness to meet with his CO—God the Father—to pray about his mission. We asked the question, “If God has ordained a world in which success in nearly every pursuit requires a game plan—why would we think accomplishing HIS MISSION for us would be any different, especially when we see Jesus modeling the practice of getting away with his heavenly father to pray about his mission?” We invited a busy, 27-year-old high school teacher and football coach to share his practice of finding an hour Sunday morning before church to focus with his CO on his mission.

So, let’s dig into another discipline of Jesus—praying specifically for the spiritual battles of those he cared for. Jesus’ life was as full and busy as ours is, yet Luke was amazed that in the midst of his frenetic pace of ministry, Jesus got away to pray so much. Listen to Luke’s description. After Jesus heals a leper, Luke says Now, even more, the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. BUT HE WOULD WITHDRAW TO DESOLATE PLACES AND PRAY (vs5:15-16). Luke the historian, while recounting the life of Jesus, was struck by Jesus’ radical devotion to prayer. The crowd is exploding, the needs and opportunities to teach, heal, and cast out demons are growing exponentially. But nothing could change Jesus’ astonishing devotion to shut out the crowds and pray.

Then later, in chapter 22—some details about the text reveal more about Jesus’ devotion to interceding in prayer for those he loved. Jesus said, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat” (Luke 22:31). Here, the Greek word, you, is plural, indicating that all the disciples are in view. Satan is seeking to violently shake every one of the disciples. Satan is real. He is the destroyer. He hates followers of Christ. Jesus devoted himself to interceding in prayer for his team, his loved ones, his disciples. Jesus’ method of combat to fight Satan was PRAYER. When I read this story, I think, “Jesus was God. Why didn’t he just command Satan to leave Peter and the other disciples alone? Why did he have to pray to the Father? There is much that we don’t know about the way God the Son emptied himself—as described by the Apostle Paul in Philippians 2. But we see here that Jesus, God’s Son in the flesh, fights Satan with prayer.

As Jesus continues the conversation in Luke 22, he switches to the singular word you to address Peter: “but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Notice how specifically Jesus’ prayer was tailored to the spiritual battle surrounding Peter. “I have prayed, Peter, that though you will betray me, your faith ultimately will not fail. I have prayed that you will come back to me.” Then Jesus instructs Peter, “When you do, strengthen your brothers.” “My prayer will be answered—you will come back to me after failing me; and when that happens there is something I want you to do—strengthen the other brothers.” Very specifically, his prayer gave spiritual power to Peter—the power needed to resist Satan’s attempts undermine Peter’s faith. Consistently Scripture reveals that prayer for others empowers them to defeat Satan. Let’s examine a few more texts.

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