Chapter 28 – You can be a prayer warrior

Effective intercessors whom God uses a lot in prayer are sometimes called "prayer warriors." It
is correct to use the term this way. Because great prayer requires fighting against the forces of
evil. God wants all of his children to be prayer warriors. Have you ever doubted that you
yourself could become powerful in prayer? Do you feel like you know your own weakness in
prayer too well to expect yourself to become one of God's prayer warriors? Be encouraged.
You can develop your own prayer life until God will surely count you as one of His true prayer
warriors.

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How you can win victories in prayer (page 3 of the archive)

Prayer warfare is not about begging God to help you do His will, or trying to convince God of
the magnitude of a need. The war of prayer is joining with Christ to cast out and defeat Satan
and free his captives. He is advancing against Satan's strongholds and dislodging and driving
out his demonic forces. Satan is a claimant, with no right to dominate and enslaves the lives of
those for whom Christ died. He has no right to harass and oppress people, deceive and scare
them by submitting to him. Satan has been totally defeated at Calvary. (see chapter 14).
Compared to the hosts of God, their evil spirits are fewer in number and far inferior in power.
The prayer war is enforcing the victory of Calvary against Satan's deceptions, plans and
defeated spiritual helpers.

1. Take the offensive in prayer

God called Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt, not to defer them in Egypt; attack or defeat
enemy nations, not protect Israel from them. God sent Joshua to invade and conquer Canaan,
not to negotiate a détente. The Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost, not to keep the church
blessed and comfortable, but to make it invincible.

The weapons of your spiritual warfare, Paul says, are not defensive weapons, but weapons of
attack. "The weapons you fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they
have divine power to demolish fortresses. We demolish [Satan's] arguments and every
pretension [literally "sublime thing"] that is opposed to the knowledge of God and we take
captive every thought to make it obedient to 'Christ' (2 Cor. 10: 4-5). We must not build a
detour when Satan hurls a mountain of resistance against us; we must defy Satan and cast his
mountain into the sea (Matthew 17:20). We are not to "hold the fort" until Jesus comes and
rescues us; we must storm the gates of Hades (16:18). 'Ask God to give you a militant spirit.
Ask Him to point out specific needs to pray for. Ask Him to show you the blindness, slavery,
and loss of the unsaved. Ask God to help you feel His longing love for the sinner, His hatred for
the sin that is destroying the sinner, and His passion for the church, the kingdom, and the
harvest that awaits.
Ask God to give you new joy and hope in prayer, a holy courage to see Christ triumph and
Satan defeated. Ask God to give you greater faith to see God's promise fulfilled and shame
Satan. Ask God to kindle a holy fire in your soul by the power of the Holy Spirit, to transform
your prayer from weakness to prevailing power and an urgent insistence to see God's will done
on earth as it is in heaven. Insist on this in prayer for the specific situations that God places on
your heart. Ask Him to clothe your prayer with the authority of Calvary, the power of
Pentecost, and the omnipotence of His name.

This is your time to see the miraculous power of God revealed, purposes fulfilled and the
enemies of God defeated. This is your time to get on your knees with Christ. Victory was won
and secured at Calvary. Satan and all the demons of Hades know that their battle is already
lost. In the name of Jesus, tell them they are deceived!

2. Do everything in the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit has come to represent Christ and deliver the victory that Christ won at Calvary.
He has come to cast out Satan before you. Resist the devil; He will flee from you because the
powerful Holy Spirit will support his faith and his Christ-given authority (James 4:7). “When the
enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will cause him to flee" (Isa. 59:19 NIV alt.).

If the Spirit is filling you and guiding you in your prayer and you are invading Satan's territory
to free Satan's captives, the Holy Spirit is there with you to clothe your words with the
Authority of Christ. In the war of prayer you do not fight alone. The Holy Spirit will be upon you
and pray through you. "Pray for the spirit on every occasion" (Ephesians 6:18).

3. In holy faith resist, blind and tough Satan.

Let me give you a warning: do not become aware of the Devil. Don't let yourself be absorbed
by your enemy. Don't keep talking about him. Resist it when you need to; order him to leave.
But focus your eyes on Jesus sitting on the throne of heaven. Remember, through prayer you
are hastening the day when all things will be placed under the feet of Jesus.

Resist every sign of Satan's work, every attack he makes on a child of God. In the name of
Jesus, rebuke Satan. Tell him to get behind you and Jesus. Call Jesus Himself to rebuke him
(Zech. 3: 1-2). The Lord came to destroy the power of the devil by the omnipotent power of
God. Everything you bind on earth will be ratified, reinforced, and bound by heaven (Matthew
16:19). Don't worry about how it will be done. All Christ needs to do is speak to the world. Just
believe it and bind the strong man of Hades (Luke 11:21). God has myriads of powerful angels
ready to help him enforce his command of faith.

There are situations where Satan is dominating now that will not change until you go on the
offensive and cast him out.

There are people enslaved by satan who cannot free themselves. They will remain in bondage
to Satan until you, or another of God's children, reject the darkness, blind the demonic powers,
and force Satan to release his captives.

Do not tremble before Satan; challenges his authority. Don't be cowed when he roars like a
lion. Take the authority of the name of Jesus and the old lion will slink away with his tail
between his legs; He will slide like the ancient serpent that he is (Revelation 12:9).
 4. Saturate your soul with the Word of God.

Since you never know, the holy spirit may alert you to a special prayer or prayer war, it is
important to maintain your spiritual strength at all times by feeding on the Word of God. No
one can stay spiritually fit by reading a few Bible verses a day. Even one chapter a day provides
a very inadequate spiritual diet. Nothing can be a substitute for the Word of God; no
devotional book can replace reading the scriptures.

At the beginning of any extended prayer time or prayer battle, be deeply nourished by the
Word of God. "Faith comes by hearing the message, and the message is heard by the word of
Christ" (Rom. 10:17). Saturate yourself with the Word of God. (For a more extensive
discussion, see Chapter 19.)

During your prayer war, quote or read God's promises. If possible, use one or two special
promises that you can claim for the victory you seek. If God so directs, read the promises aloud
into the devil's ears. Remember, the most powerful name in the Bible is "Jesus." Time and time
again Satan, his demons, or demon-motivated enemies have been defeated by the use of the
name of Jesus. Millions of times demons have been cast out by the authority of the name of
Jesus.

I know of no better exhortation in a prayer battle than Ephesians 6:17: "Take up the sword of
the spirit." The Holy Spirit will support and strengthen your use of the Word in prayer. As I
mentioned above, you may even feel led to hold your Bible in your heart, or in your hand, or
place your hand on a promise you are claiming. This, but it symbolizes what you are doing in
the spiritual realm as you defeat Satan by the Word. As Jesus made a whip and drove the
merchants out of the temple, take the Word and drive out every demon that blocks God's will
and fights in the rearguard against God's people.

5. Flee from the devil with praise.

Just as in human warfare soldiers use whatever weapon helps them achieve victory, in
spiritual warfare the Holy Spirit can lead you to change your prayer focus from time to time.
He will lead you to such faith that your mouth will be filled with praise to God. Satan is
frustrated by praise, because he fears the name of Jesus. Praise the Lord!

"May the saints rejoice in this honor and sing for joy in their beds. May the praise of God be in
their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands... to bind their kings with shackles, their
nobles with iron shackles, to fulfill the sentence written against them. This is the glory of all his
saints. Praise the Lord" (Ps. 149: 5-6, 8-9).

With the Word of God, your double-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12), in your hand and the praise
of God on your lips, all the demons of hell will flee before you. Just as the Lord laid ambushes
(probably by angels) when the Israelites praised Him, so, as you praise the Lord, you can
ambush Satan.

6. Get prayer from others.

There are spiritual situations of such difficulty that the prayer of many of God's prayer warriors
is demanded. That is why the Lord gave the special promise to those who agree in prayer
(Matt. 18:19). There is additional spiritual power in united prayer. It was after ten days of
united prayer for the one hundred and twenty believers that Pentecost came, and three
thousand were saved in one day (Acts 1:14).

after the united prayer of hundreds so that the place where they were praying would be
shaken and God gave them great grace, great power and great harvest. (Acts 4:23-33; 5:12-
16). It was while the Jerusalem church was praying fervently that Peter was released from
prison by an angel and "the word of God continued to increase and spread" (Acts 12:24).

WHO International began its work in India in 1941. The first twenty-five years of hard work,
sweat, tears, prayer and fasting saw an average of one to two new local churches per year. As I
flew across the Pacific for leave in 1964, I was praying about what more we could do to bring in
India's harvest. God led me to ask for at least a thousand prayer partners to spend fifteen
minutes a day praying for India and our work.

A few years ago I was back in Allahabad, India, with senior leaders for a day of prayer and
reporting. One by one they told how powerfully God was working. One of them turned to me
and said, "Duewel Sahib, all of us... we are all seeing results beyond anything we have ever
known."

"Praise the Lord!" Said.

He continued, “Duewel Sahib, are you surprised?”

Yes, praise the Lord! ", I replied.

"You shouldn't be!" he immediately responded "Did

Don't you go to America and get a thousand people to pray fifteen minutes a day for us? -More
than that.

"Then why are you surprised?"

"Thank you, George. I needed that reminder,” I said, “Why should we be surprised when God
answers prayers!”

Now our churches number about three hundred with about twenty-five thousand believers,
and with twenty-five or more new churches established each year. A thousand prayer warriors
united to pray for the harvest was the secret!

The higher the spiritual resistance, the more difficult your task of moving the mountain before
you will be. The more entrenched Satan is, the greater the need to enlist the support of more
and more prayer warriors to drive him out. It may take multiplied prayer times and more hours
than you had anticipated, but as sure as God is in heaven, in due time he will reap if you don't
give up (Galatians 6:9).

7. Pray until Satan is defeated.

How long should you continue the prayer battle? Until victory comes. If God gave you The
burden of initial prayer, the battle is not yours, but His. If the battle continues over a period of
days or months, you may not always have the same prayer load or the same amount of time to
devote to it, but you can maintain your prayer commitment.

You can stand firm on God's promises, praising Him for the answer that is yet to come. Keep
the pressure of prayer on Satan. Take your place of authority with Christ.
Stand firm in the authority of Christ's name. Continue with longer repeated prayers as the holy
spirit guides and empowers you.

This was Isaiah's determination: "For Zion's sake I will not be silent, for Jerusalem's sake I will
not remain still, until her rigidity shines like the dawn, her salvation like a burning torch" (Isa.
62:1, italics added). What instruction from Christ kept the disciples praying in the upper room?
"Stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24:49). How long should
you pray? Until.

When God assigns you a prayer task, consider it your sacred responsibility until (1) the answer
comes, (2) the situation or person is removed, or (3) God removes the worry of prayer from
your heart. When you know that you have been praying in God's will, you can be sure that
Christ continues to intercede as well. Do not break your prayer relationship with Him until the
need has passed.

How long should you ask? Until the answer is given. How long should you search? until you
find. How long should you keep knocking on heaven's door? Until the door opens. Let me
repeat, as surely as God is on His throne, in due time you will reap if you do not surrender
(Galatians 6:9) Heaven and earth may pass away, but His word will never pass away or fail.