prayer

Types of prayers & why I believe warfare prayers are important!

Lisa

There are many types of prayers. Prayers of thanksgiving, prayers of repentance, prayers of intercession, prayers of forgiveness, broadly speaking. Most of us Christians have no problem engaging in these types of prayers. Yet, many of us neglect or reject altogether another very important type of prayer, these are warfare type prayers. These types of prayers, Christians take their authority in Christ to combat the forces of darkness.

Luke 10:19 “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.”

I believe these are specifically targeted against demons, principalities and the forces of darkness. Many Christians do not want to engage in the pulling down of stronghold type of prayers as it can be exhausting, some believe that if they avoid these, the enemy will avoid them too. But I would like to encourage Christians to not avoid this weapon of warfare. For one, the enemy doesn’t avoid those who avoid him. He’ll just subtly put you in a place of compromise such that when trouble does come your way, and it will because we live in a broken world, we have little fire to fight back. Don’t fall prey to this enemy tactic. Pray without ceasing. Pray all types of prayers, including warfare prayers. And I believe the Spirit of God will lead us in how we are to pray. For starters, you should first be a Christian, that you may inherit sonship authority. While we are all created by God, we are not all His children. (John 8:44) Don’t bother with anything else, unless you have first given your life over to Christ. Afterwards, the Bible tells us to not be anxious for anything, but let all our requests and petitions be made known to God. (Phillipians 4:6)

Prayer of thanksgiving

It is important to be thankful. Thankfulness is attractive to blessings, complaining attractive to curses. Why? Because unthankfulness was a major concern in the livestyle of the ungodly.

Romans 1:21-22 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

God later (verse 24) gave those kinds of people up to their debauchery. Being unthankful is a slippery slope to foolishness and ultimately destruction (Job 2:9). So let’s give thanks always (1 Thessalonians 5:18), that we may walk in humility which God embraces, but pride He resists (James 4:6). If man gives up on another man, then the abandoned can turn to God. But if God gives a man over to his evil, where can that man go? There is no good apart from God. And no salvation in any other, apart from Christ Jesus. (Acts 4:12)

Prayer of intercession

These involve praying on behalf of others or even a nation. When Peter was jailed, the church prayed for him. Peter was released by an angel. Herod was also killed by an angel. Intercessory prayers can involved warfare type prayer language. It depends on the situation.

Acts 12:5 Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. 8 And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands. 23 And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.

Prayer of forgiveness & repentance

As mentioned, I believe the Spirit will lead us. So if we have something against our brother or sister, we should deal with that too. (Matthew 5:24) Why? Because grudges/offenses are hindrances to our boldness to the throne of grace. And oftentimes there is pride at work. I do believe the right way forward is to talk to God first about the situation and His guidance on how to handle it. Oftentimes, He will keep that person, if another person is involved, on our minds, that could suggest a need to ask for forgiveness if we are the offending party or even discuss if we were the ones offended because sometimes talking over things greatly helps.

Husbands love your wives (Ephesians 5:25). Wives respect your husbands (1 Peter 3). Children honor your parents (Ephesians 6:2). And parents do not exasperate your children (Ephesians 6:4). Employers treat your employees well (this include paying their wages – 1 Timothy 5:18). Employees do your best work. (Ephesians 6:5-9) Do unto others as we would have done unto us. (Matthew 7:12) When we fall short in any of these areas, we ought to ask for forgiveness and if we were the ones hurt, we ought to forgive. This kind of prayer is very important.

Should we always pray that God forgive someone? I believe the Bible is very adamant that we ought to forgive, that we likewise may receive forgiveness. And we should forgive, no doubts about it.

Genesis 50:21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.

I also believe there comes a time when a believer becomes so close to God, that He guides on when we are to take a different direction in our response to evil offenses. The key here being, close to God. This leads to further discussion of warfare prayers, especially when the situation involves other humans beings.

Warfare Prayers

Warfare prayers are prayers (or one liners / decrees) that a believer makes against forces of darkness, even if that force is being manifested in another human being. Some might say, surely this type of prayer is forbidden, because of Luke 9:54-55 and even Matthew 5:44. But I would like to offer up a suggestion as to why disqualifying this prayer type is not a good choice.

Luke 9: 54 And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? 55 But He turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. 56 For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.

“Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. “ appears to suggest the disciples were speaking ignorantly. If we don’t know on a topic, we are obviously ignorant on a matter. “For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men’s lives”. This coincides well with Ezekiel 18:32. I do not believe though this means that we cannot engage in targeted prayers against evil workers. Why? Because Jesus Himself cursed a fig tree. (Matthew 21:19) And I don’t believe He was cursing the fig tree for the kicks of it. He was making a great spiritual point. Additionally, David many times prayed such prayers. (Psalm 35:1, Psalm 55:15, Psalm 109:6) And Queen Esther, when her people were targeted by Haman, made it clear to the king who was the perpetrator, she named Haman to the king! (Esther 7:6) And in the end, the same gallows Haman built for Mordecai he was hung on. (Esther 7:10) Likewise, the same lions den that Daniel was thrown into, his adversaries were also thrown into and crushed (Daniel 6:24). Some often call these “back to sender” prayers, Biblically the Bible says we reap what we sow. (Galatians 6:7)

Acts 5:5 And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.

Acts 8:20 But Peter replied, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or share in our ministry, because your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent, therefore, of your wickedness, and pray to the Lord. Perhaps He will forgive you for the intent of your heart. 23 For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and captive to iniquity.”

Acts 13:11 Now look, the hand of the Lord is against you, and for a time you will be blind and unable to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand.

“For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men’s lives” then suggests that it means God’s first order is to see the sinner turn and repent, but there comes a time when a person’s heart or a nation becomes so debased, that God destroys them (like Sodom and Gomorrah).

Another thing we note in many of the examples in the Bible are that the people involved are often specific, the information is clear and comes after much warning or chances to change. We may not always see these warnings written, but based on who God says He is and His attitude to see a sinner repent, surely the correct exegesis is to deduce there was opportunity. Romans 1 tells us that none are without excuse, therefore we all have the opportunity to know God and walk in His ways.

The other thing is that those praying such prayers (David, Daniel, Paul …) have a very intimate relationship with God. It is imperative that we have a close relationship with God that we may pray according to His will. And don’t in ignorance call fire on people, when God’s will is for their deliverance and/or salvation. Or moreover, when we are the ones in error and are overly sensitive requiring change and healing in our own hearts.

So why is it important to pray warfare type prayers? Because while we may be able to dodge some of the attacks of the enemy, we won’t be able to wield hits to his kingdom unless we ourselves engage in the war. We pray the Word of God, which is our Spiritual Sword that allows for the cancellation of enemy attacks.

Have you ever seen the movie Top Gun: Maverick? In the final dog fight of this movie, Maverick ran out of ammunition to attack the enemy jet. He could only dodge for so long. Right before the enemy was able to make a lock on his jet, another jet on his team fired a missile at the enemy. Maverick was saved from destruction.

So you see, just like the natural, in the spiritual there comes a time (Ecclesiastes 3:1) when we must fire or be fired. This does not mean we aren’t loving. It means we are operating in wisdom. God leads, we speak, God acts. If Esther didn’t speak up things would have been very different for the Jews. What if Paul permitted Elymas to continue in his sorcery (Acts 13)?

Job 22:28 Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.

And no, this is not saying that every little “itsy bitsy” thing we ask for we get. Sometimes, we ask amiss, that is, contrary to God’s will. That’s why it all boils down to intimacy with Jesus and our motives. In order to know His will we must know Him personally, and read His Word to understand His character. The more we obey, the better we are able to recognize His voice. The more we recognize His voice, the better we will be able to walk in His will, and that includes praying according to His will.

We see God determining the fate of the individuals. Again, let me emphasize, this doesn’t mean we go looking for trouble, calling fire on people in ignorance, as Jesus will just rebuke us as He did in Luke 9. But there comes a time when righteous people are to take by force spiritually things of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Matthew 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

And finally, why should we pray all these prayers? Because I believe everyone of them can be found in the model prayer Jesus taught us. The blueprint prayer found in Luke 11.

And He said unto them, When ye pray, say,
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.Prayer of thanksgiving / acknowledging who God is
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.Prayer of intercession
3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us.Prayer of repentance & forgiveness
And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.Prayer of warfare / deliverance

Some Christians may still be convinced to not engage in warfare prayers. I understand. Many movements sometimes pervert what is of God and in our quest to stay holy, unspotted or not carried away in cults and false doctrine, we throw out the baby with the bath water. This throwing out then creates a bit of a new not so correct doctrine, to put it nicely. I would suggest all of us to carefully look into warfare type prayers for ourselves in the Scripture. Holy Spirit did it and we cannot be holier than Him. If He instructs us to tear down, tear down the forces of darkness we must.

Impeach Witchcraft

Lisa

On January 6th, witchcraft sieged the Capitol. On January 20th, it was inaugurated.

The whole earth groans. We have celebrated this evil and embraced it as carnival or “freedom”. Witchcraft, she no longer hides. She comes out blatantly in the movies as “entertainment”, in the video games as “cool” and in the music as “contemporary”. She has crept into the compromising church as “tolerant” and all over the government as “progressive”. To sound “cheesy”: witchcraft has no shame, is no game and is to blame. For as long as we continue to rebel against God, we welcome her, witchcraft. We took the Holy One out of schools and way out of our government. And now witchcraft shows us her fruits in plain sight daily: murder, sexual immorality, greed, envy …

The empowered church moving in JESUS’ Name has the ability to cast and overthrow this spirit of divination. God can’t answer prayers that were never prayed. Church, pray. Pray and fast. Let us put away every yolk that easily ensnares us, and press forward to the high calling in Christ Jesus. That we may walk in confidence and in His grace to wield a righteous scepter against the forces of darkness.

Acts 16 16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

The world is dark, but it is not hell. There is still mercy, there is still grace. These good things come from God. The ability to enjoy a sunset, enjoy the love of our family and friends, take a deep breath of fresh air, for our ligaments to move in health, all good things from God. So while it may seem hellish, it is not hell. God’s goodness is not available in hell, there is an eternal separation from Him and all that He offers. So if you do not know the Lord Jesus, I pray that as you read this, you will purpose in your heart, that is, to set firmly to turn from sin (repent), reject evil, impeach rebellion, which is witchcraft, and put your faith in Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins and follow Him as LORD and Savior over your life.

Fill Your Prayer Bowls

Lisa

I am telling you the truth. Prayer is one of the most underused activities in the kingdom of God. After we are done reading His Word, we need to pray so that Holy Spirit may apply the Word to our lives. Holy Spirit knows how to properly suit us up that we may be able to shield from and resist the enemy, causing him to flee. Prayerlessness is like going to war without first talking to the army general, God. Don’t let your prayer bowl be empty. Talk to God daily, bind on earth, use your authority in Christ Jesus.

Abortion is always on the table.

Lisa

During the 2020 election, I was in some Facebook comments, and I read one person respond to another’s comment “abortion is not on the table”. As if the issue of abortion is not that important.

Actually it is. If it would only click in the minds of Christians that the blood of the innocent is to witchcraft as fuel is to an automobile. And we don’t even want to pray or engage in prolonged and deep prayer as part of our lifestyle or walk that we may counteract the darkness with the power of prayer.

But if it is one thing I believe without a shadow of a doubt, it is absolutely wrong to engage in child sacrifice. (Any form of murder for the matter, but that’s outside the scope of this post.)

Jesus found children to be so precious that He said:

“But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 19:14

Notice in the Old Testament God didn’t shy away from stating that the people sacrificed their children to Baal. It was something that concerned the heart of God and detestable to Him really.

They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. 37 They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. 38 They shed innocent blood—the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood. Psalm 106:36-38

They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire and practiced divination and soothsaying. They devoted themselves to doing evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger. 2 Kings 17:17

And there’s a lot more where that came from! Many of us may not be in front of law makers to fight for the unborn. But we can be part of the battle through prayer.

If you are a Christian reading this and have had an abortion. Please understand once you have repented and asked for God’s forgiveness, you are completely forgiven. This post is in no way any condemnation. Just a call for many to realize the significance of abortion in the unseen realm. And ultimately, for us to mobilize even harder in prayer for these precious lives.

It’s Not Normal

Lisa

Meshach-kitten

A family pet kitten called Meshach died today. My brother was out washing his car and she followed him out. Because he was there she assumed all was well. She let her guard down and trusted the world. Unfortunately, because the world is not operating according to God’s original plan, she got killed by a neighbor’s dog.
Sometimes, we let our guards down too. We lack the discernment to see that some things are not our friends, and not there to build us up, but to tear us down, steal from us, kill and destroy us. I am guilty of this, and still healing from wounds caused by poor and sometimes sinful decision making. I’ve acknowledged this, and looking forward to God’s help in rebuilding me, restoring me better than the former, returning to me everything stolen and everything I foolishly, like Esau gave away. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, trust not the world, nor the things in this world.

“And I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, and the consuming locust, and the cutting locust, My great army which I sent among you.” – Joel 2:25

What does that look like?

1. It looks like daily prayer. Daily listening to God. You can be anywhere: driving, bathing, doing domestic chores; it doesn’t matter, talk to God daily, and often. Be open with every emotion, and let Him know when you feel wronged and when you have done wrong.
“Never stop praying.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:17
“Leave your troubles with the LORD, and He will defend you; He never lets honest people be defeated.” – Psalm 55:22

2.After you’ve come to God letting Him know what’s on your mind (He of course already knows what the problems are, we just put our faith in action when we talk to Him), don’t stop there. Use scripture related to your case so as to focus on God’s promises, instead of the problem. The Bible says that we can remind God of His promises. This shows that we are not focusing on the problems but the faithfulness of His Word to heal, comfort and deliver us. See this list: http://reapwhatyousow.org/remind-god/

3. Always thank and praise God for who He is. The world is full of pain. But that’s not God’s fault. He didn’t want it this way. Even in the storm, He is still the Good God, our Good Good Father. Besides, praise is also a powerful weapon which confuses the enemy. When we are going through hard times and we choose to worship Jesus, this is especially annoying to Satan, because he wants to keep us in a pit of despair.

“In every thing give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:18

4. Listen. Practice listening to God. He speaks in various ways, but always in alignment with His Word. He may speak as a still small voice, through a friend, even maybe a non-friend, through a song, through dreams, through an event or occasion and the list goes on. Don’t limit how you should hear Him. He’s creative and purposeful. He knows just what we need, and when we need it. So trust Him.

“Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for He will speak peace to His people, to His saints; but let them not turn back to folly.” – Psalm 85:8

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.”- Proverbs 3:5-6

It’s not normal the heartaches of the world, because it is not part of God’s original design. Sin brought pain and death. It is up to us, with God’s grace to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and not let our guards down. The enemy is very persistent, and we must be violent in prayer. We must keep a constant flow of communication with God. Then when He instructs through whatever way, we need to trust and obey. He’s coming back again, so this struggle is only for a moment until we see Jesus again on His second return.

Be very blessed indeed.

———

In loving memory of my cat Meshach. Rest in peace where ever is that place God takes His animals. If there is one…God knows. But I know that you Mesh, are in no more pain.

God is my [our] home

Lisa

A poem about the wonderful Jesus. I hope you enjoy.

Be blessed.

God is my rock, my home
In His presence is where I belong
He’s all faithful, my entire hope
He’s my shelter from the storm

My God provides all I need
He sees all and watches over me
My God of great comfort
The God who broke my chains and set me free

When He called me that’s when life begun
Now I live, I live for Him
I am His servant
I pray I won’t leave His will undone

God works for the good of those who love Him
All glory to the eternal King
More praises to Him my heart will sing

His mercy endures to everlasting
I just want to be like Him
So more worship, more honour I can bring

Devoted to You LORD am I and many more like me
We live for You Oh God
You Jesus are our home, our life, our all.

Always Something to Talk About

Lisa

Simply speaking, prayer is talking to God; having a conversation with God. It involves crying out, petitioning, listening, waiting, praising, worshipping, asking, interceding. Wow, why does it include waiting? Well, it ought to be continuous and God works in His own timing. While we wait, we continue to serve God, we continue to ask Him for deeper intimacy with Him. We might think that we’re all prayed-out; that there’s not much more we can ask for as God already knows and sees all we and the people around us need. Yes, God knows everything, but we should still continue communicating with Him. Only God is independent in nature, we  are eternally dependent on God, otherwise we cease to live, believe it or not. Having said that, we can see why we need to talk to Him about everything. Here are some prayer points that we can take to God:

1. Pray for desire of God’s Word – Pray that a desire to read God’s Word will overshadow our souls, pray also that His Spirit will open our eyes to understand His Word. Psalm 119:18

2. Pray for our hearts – Pray by the power of God’s Spirit our hearts will be inclined to receiving and applying God’s ways in our lives. Psalm 119:36

3. Pray for immediate obedience – Pray that we will not do what Jonah initially did, run from God and His command, but instead do what Jonah eventually did. When God told Peter to cast his net, Peter though through his experience didn’t see how he’d catch any fish at that hour of the day, obeyed Jesus’ command. The Bible shows no evidence of Peter grumbling at Jesus’ command, and though this does not mean he did not grumble, due to the silence of the Word in this regard I choose to accept Peter’s response was immediate. Ultimately, it is important that we obey God’s command. So if there is an area in our lives we know we are disobeying God, today we can ask God for forgiveness and heed to His Word now.

4. Pray for our fellowship group or church – Pray that we will not give up meeting together as some are in the habbit of doing. Pray we will build up and encourage each other.

5. Pray for those who do not know Christ – Either at your place of work or study, family members or friends. Pray for their salvation. Pray that they will respond to God’s callings and will not harden their hearts towards His opportunity of grace.

6. Pray for the persecuted siblings in Christ – And there are many. North Korea and Egypt are some major ones. Find out more at http://www.worldwatchlist.us/. Pray that they will not give up hope but will remain steadfast in their faith in Jesus Christ.

7. Pray for boldness – A boldness that the Spirit of  God granted the Apostle Paul. Pray that we will use our gifts to share the gospel with others. Remember what Jesus said in John 9:4 (“As long as it is day, we must do the works of Him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.”), also remember His last words to us before going back to heaven (Matthew 28:19). To be frank, I believe He means to say: go tell everyone about Me!

8. Pray for Bibles – There are actually people who are craving a copy of the Bible, craving for His Word. Pray that those with the means (even ourselves) will not hesitate to donate Bibles to those needing to hear the truth that comes from Him. [Read more]

That is by no means a finite list. Every area of our lives is completely dependent on God. We cannot do anything without Him.

Ultimately, let’s just pray that we will understand how much God loves us and we ourselves will love Him more. The more we love God the better servants we are to His people which brings about His glory. God is truly worthy of all our love and devotion. He is our entire hope..and I do not say this lightly. God IS our ENTIRE hope.

May the peace of God be with you all.