Prayer Night

One of my roles at CSF is leading "prayer night" each week. Myself along with a couple other staff members meet and plan this "prayer night", that each week consists of a small teaching on prayer, individual prayer time and a group prayer time. Sometimes as many as 30 people join us at 8 PM to simply pray together.

At CSF, we want to be a ministry rooted in prayer and allow prayer to lead the ministry. 

This week, I taught on "Spiritual Warfare" and how each day and each prayer is a constant battle. Here is the talk I gave.

We can all think of multiple reasons for prayer. We praise and worship, we ask for things, we confess our sins, we improve our relationship with God—but there is one reason that I think is often left out of those lists—Spiritual Warfare. 

One thing that is often forgotten is that there is a very real battle going on for our soul. Both sides are trying to get a foothold on our lives and invade our thoughts and become our master and Lord. 

 It seems today in America, there is a certain Biblical illiteracy, one that leaves us believing that there is no such thing as real demons here on earth. Yet that doesn’t line up with the New Testament. That doesn’t line up with Jesus’ teachings.

Shockingly, nearly 60% of people who proclaim to be Christians in America don’t actually believe in a literal Satan, just that he is a symbol of evil. Somehow, 30% of Christians (in other words, someone who claims to believe in the Bible) say that a person can not be under any type of spiritual influence, such as a demon or the Holy Spirit. 

The New Testament was written in historical style and we should believe that Jesus really does cast out and warn us against demons. In light of that, it’s something we should give careful attention to.

Paul was not just writing for his health when he wrote: Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:11-12)  

This is a real battle. The world likes to paint this picture that our struggle is against flesh and blood. It is a battle going on that our senses don’t always detect. This is the important battle. There is nothing in the material world that can compare to this battle. This is the only armor that can protect us. 

So what’s their strategy against us and what should be our strategy for them? How do we defeat     them? CS Lewis offers some wisdom as usual.

One of CS Lewis’ most famous works is the Screwtape Letters. It is a fictional work in which a older, wiser demon “Screwtape” is writing to his nephew “Wormwood” and giving him advice on how to attack his “patient”. Of course, since it is demons doing the talking, “enemy” refers to God and “master” to the devil. The “patient” is a human subject…or us. I think this particular letter perfectly illustrates what we face in America today. Perfect illustration of spiritual warfare. 

“My Dear Wormwood,

I wonder you should ask me whether it is essential to keep the patient in ignorance of your own existence. That question, at least for the present phase of the struggle, has been answered for us by the High Command. Our policy, for the moment, is to conceal ourselves. Of course this has not always been so. We are really faced with a cruel dilemma. When the humans disbelieve in our existence we lose all the pleasing results of direct terrorism and we make no magicians. On the other hand, when they believe in us, we cannot make them materialists and skeptics.” Interesting differences in America and Haiti or Africa—no materialists or skeptics in Africa. When we compare the two, it makes CS Lewis’ idea of the demon’s strategy much more real and vivid and how it can vary. There is clearly a spiritual realm.
 “I do not think you will have much difficulty in keeping the patient in the dark. The fact that "devils" are predominantly comic figures in the modern imagination will help you. If any faint suspicion of your existence begins to arise in his mind, suggest to him a picture of something in red tights, and persuade him that since he cannot believe in that (it is an old textbook method of confusing them) he therefore cannot believe in you.” 

Well, that complicates things a bit. Not only do we have an evil spiritual realm that is in a constant state of attacking us, but one that is trying to conceal itself and do it in secret.

We live in a world that tells us that seeing is believing. Devils are characterized with red horns and a pitchfork. People dress up like the devil for a Halloween part just like they might for any other fictional character. 

So how do we defeat this—prayer.
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 

All of these are things we get through prayer. Truth, righteousness, readiness from the gospel, faith, salvation and the word of God. In other words, THIS IS NOT A PHYSICAL BATTLE. It is a spiritual battle and our best battle plan is to pray to the one who can defeat it all. 

And right after Paul wrote that last section about spiritual warfare to end the book of Ephesians, he writes: And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. ¹⁹ Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. 

He uses the word “pray” “prayer” or “Prayers” 5 times in three verses. He understood the power of prayer and its usefulness in the battle against the real enemy.
Back to Screwtape…
“Whenever they are attending to the Enemy Himself we are defeated… “ 

Through prayer, we can defeat a powerful enemy who has many powerful schemes and strategies at his disposal. But God has given us a way to defeat the enemy. And that is through our prayers. 

So that’s it, right? We just bow our head, close our eyes and start praying and we win? Not exactly. The enemy can be in a constant state of attack and divert your attention elsewhere during prayer.
“Whenever they are attending to the Enemy Himself we are defeated, but there are ways of preventing them from doing so. The simplest is to turn their gaze away from Him towards themselves. Keep them watching their own minds and trying to produce feelings there by the action of their own wills. When they meant to ask Him for charity, let them, instead, start trying to manufacture charitable feelings for themselves and not notice that this is what they are doing. When they meant to pray for courage, let them really be trying to feel brave. When they say they are praying for forgiveness, let them be trying to feel forgiven. Teach them to estimate the value of each prayer by their success in producing the desired feeling; and never let them suspect how much success or failure of that kind depends on whether they are well or ill, fresh or tired, at the moment.”And he goes on a little bit later… 

“I have known cases where what the patient called his "God" was actually located—up and to the left at the corner of the bedroom ceiling, or inside his own head, or in a crucifix on the wall. But whatever the nature of the composite object, you must keep him praying to it—to the thing that he has made, not to the Person who has made him.” 

As Screwtape says earlier in the letter, “when the patient (THAT’S US) is attending to the Enemy (THAT’S GOD) we are defeated…” 

But as Screwtape notes: the demons will do whatever necessary to make sure that doesn’t happen. Even if that’s sitting down and “praying” a completely empty prayer or letting our minds wonder elsewhere. They always find a way. 

This is why spiritual warfare is important. If you’ve ever prayer with Pastor Tim, you know he starts out every prayer: I pray the blood of Jesus over this time of prayer. I pray that only your spirit, oh God, will come close and prosper.” 

The name of Jesus has power against the dark forces we may come against.
Philippians 2
“ …that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”   “I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.” John 16:23 

We are constantly being attacked. And this is how we wage battle. This week, practice spiritual warfare in your prayer lives. In the journals, write down areas in your life that you think the enemy could have gotten a foothold in. Maybe it is your prayer life. Ponder on it and write down ways in which you can do battle against that.