Satan, You Can't Have My Children: The Spiritual Warfare Guide for Every Parent (8 page)

CHAPTER FIVE

PREPARATION TO ENTER
INTO THE ENEMY’S CAMP

B
UILD UP YOUR FAITH

Y
OU MUST BUILD
up your faith through God’s Word in prayer. Before you enter into the battle zone in prayer, make sure that your heart is right with God. Repent, and humble yourself. Renounce sin, confess all to God, and resist Satan in the name of Jesus. These steps are crucial if you want your prayers answered. You must be prepared, and you must be dressed in the full armor of God (Eph. 6:10–17), which is the Word of God, Christ Jesus in us. This armor is necessary if you want your prayers and spiritual warfare to be effective.

The enemy will try to interrupt your thoughts as you pray and as you apply the necessary scriptures for your particular situation. The battleground will always be in your mind. This is the first area where the enemy will attack you. The mind is an important key in the battle against Satan. As you will remember, what a person thinks in his heart determines who he is and what he believes.

One place for spiritual warfare is in the prayer closet. Take all negative thoughts and imaginations and bring them captive to the obedience of Christ. When you do this, you will have peace in the midst of adversity. It is like pressing the
delete
button in order to erase something in your computer, or pressing the
eject
button on your CD player in order to remove a CD. The moment you resist the negative thoughts and confusion from your mind and bring your thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ by quoting the Word, the effect will be similar to ejecting a CD out of your player. It requires faith in God to cause biblical truths to be imprinted upon your mind and upon the minds of your family members. Spiritual warfare is something that must be engaged NOW! God’s Word is alive and active NOW!

When parents are willing to read, learn, and exercise the power of the Word of God to bring the thoughts in their minds into alignment with God’s thoughts, then positive changes will happen.

Many times discouragement and anxiety will creep in as you press on toward the perfect will of God for your life and for the lives of your family. Resist them immediately. Do not become anxious. Your prayers and spiritual warfare are the
keys
that will foil and destroy the strategies of the enemy in the lives of your loved ones. Ask the Lord to open your spiritual eyes and understanding to see beyond the natural realm.

The Holy Spirit will be your teacher and your guide. You will learn to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit as you spend time praying and meditating in God’s Word. Ask the Lord for discernment and for wisdom to understand when the enemy is attacking or when it is something that we are allowing.
God has given you power and authority over ALL the power of the enemy, and nothing shall harm you!

D
ON’T
S
TOP
S
ERVING

Continue serving God and ministering to the needs of others. Use your God-given talents and abilities to rise above the negative circumstances. Wait upon the Lord, and expect to see your miracle unfold. Ignore negative comments from those who know you. Don’t allow guilt, condemnation, and shame to rule in your life. Blaming yourself for your child’s behavior is not going to stop the works of the devil in his life. Immediate action must be taken. This must be action that focuses upon the love of God and upon your faith in the power of God’s Word.

You might have been a victim yourself. Put everything behind you, and set your face like flint. Begin to trust the Lord and His Word. Don’t be moved by what you can see, hear, know, or feel. Don’t allow adverse circumstances to take up all of your prayer and supplication time. You must not allow the situation to consume your time, prayers, and fellowship with God. Continue serving, witnessing, teaching, praying, and doing all of those things that you were doing or have desired to do in your heart.

Parents should not fear any single weapon devised by Satan against their loved ones. Remember that Satan is a defeated foe, and each and every demonic weapon is totally powerless in the face and power of Almighty God accessed by a Christian parent. The choice is up to you. Will you be defeated by fear, or will you be victorious in spiritual warfare because of your faith in Jesus Christ?

You might as well give up now if you are going to limit God by what you see, know, or hear. Get ready to see dramatic results if you can believe that the same resurrection power that raised Christ from the dead dwells within you and that it is able to raise your loved one from spiritual death. Take your eyes off the clock, and allow God to have His way. As long as there is life, there is hope. A person who never gives up is a person who knows who he is, knows who God is, and knows how to access the power of God in warfare against demonic forces designed to cripple those who are weak and disoriented.

T
ESTIMONY OF
A
NSWERED
P
RAYER

It took my mother-in-law approximately fifteen years of intercession and prayers for three of her teenage sons to come back to the Lord after turning to lives of drug addiction. These boys were reared in a Christian home with a dad who was the pastor of the fastest-growing Spanish church in Brooklyn, New York. This praying and loving mom never gave up. When things seemed totally impossible, she increased in faith, love, and prayer. Her endurance paid off in miracles. Today, these grown men are involved in ministry and serving the Lord.

You must not give up! You must never quit!

Fathers, your children are more important than your friends and associates. Invest your love, time, and money in your children. It will be one of the greatest investments you will ever make in the lives and faith of your children.

There are records of people upon their deathbeds who were asked what were the most important things in life to them. Most of them declared that their relationship with their God and their relationship with their families were the most important things in life. All of their careers, accomplishments, and possessions were totally worthless at the end of life when compared to relationships.

A V
ERY
I
MPORTANT
S
ECRET

Practice
God’s love
. Nothing disperses the darkness, confusion, and the works of the enemy more effectively than walking in and practicing God’s love. God is love, and He is motivated by love. As we dare to love our children and family unconditionally, the darkness has to depart from them eventually. Parents, your display of love in action in everything that you do will have a tremendous impact upon your family life.

I remember that both my husband and I found it difficult to demonstrate love and affection to our daughters when they were young. As we gained knowledge from reading and studying God’s Word, we made a concentrated effort to be more affectionate and more loving in word and deed. My husband was reared in a home with four brothers and one sister. I had eight brothers and sisters in my family. Our families were neither affectionate nor demonstrative in their love. We played together and interacted but at a very shallow level.

My father-in-law was the pastor of a thriving church in New York. His first priority was his congregation. He had no quality time for his children. My father was a troubled man who was driven by evil spirits to abuse his family. My mother was very busy rearing nine children, and she was unable to stop to show much affection to any one of us in particular. Her free moments were dedicated to the church and prayer.

I am painting a picture that represents many families in America—always too busy or always too involved with the busyness of life, but never enough time for the things that count the most.

My husband and I were destined to continue passing on to our children the same lifestyle and patterns of behavior that we had experienced in our original families. In addition, the same attitudes, habits, and beliefs passed on to us could easily be passed on to our children. I call this living under the curse of ignorance.

But, praise God, we received knowledge while our children were still young. Today we are reaping the fruit of love, kindness, joy, and peace. We have a loving relationship with our children and grandchildren. It is a natural thing for my husband and me to hug, kiss, embrace, and say, “I love you,” to each one of our daughters and grandchildren. It was not easy at first. We had to practice and practice. Like practicing piano lessons, the more we practice, the better it gets.

The same is true in our relationship with our heavenly Father. The more we practice entering into God’s presence and fellowship with the Holy Spirit, the more intimate and familiar we become with Him. It becomes a relationship instead of a mere acquaintance. Learn to say, “Father, saturate my family with Your love. Cause Your love to permeate their beings and transform their lives.”

P
ASSING
J
UDGMENT

We must be very careful not to pass judgment upon our children. God is the judge. Our flesh wants to predict and to dictate the verdict. We must be moved by faith in God’s Word and not by our feelings and emotions.

Parents must learn to do as many things as they possibly can to encourage their children into becoming what God intended them to become. This includes:

• Loving them unconditionally

• Praying and interceding on their behalf

• Engaging in spiritual warfare against demonic forces coming against them

• Being a reflection of God’s mercy and compassion

• Creating a peaceful environment at home

• Being a peacemaker

• Treating your children with as much respect as you would give to a guest

• Administering reasonable punishment as required

• Keeping your word and promises

• Apologizing when you have wronged them

• Controlling your temper and temper tantrums

• Never screaming or yelling

• Not doing or saying anything that you do not want your children to imitate

Learn to separate the sin from the child without condoning the sin. Always allow God’s love to flow through you. There is sufficient cause for a child to continue in disobedience when parents continue to tell him that he is not good enough, he will never amount to anything, or he will never make it.

Reinforcing negative behavior only leads to more rebellion.

Remember that children are just that—they are children, not small adults. For example, if they accidentally spill a glass of milk, try to treat them in the same way that you would treat a visitor who spilled a glass of water. Your self-control can create incredible benefits for you and your family. It is worth the effort to thoughtfully teach and lovingly correct your children.

It is up to parents to control their own tempers, emotions, minds, and behavior. Parents must repent before God for their out-of-control emotions and behavior. It is important to ask the forgiveness of children who are still at home or children who are away from home who have endured out-of-control emotions or behaviors of the parents.

It is important for children to know that their parents are taking a stand in order to please the Lord in all things. Children need to know that their parents love them and that they are praying for them. It is important to leave the past behind and to create a positive future. God is able to heal any hurt, no matter how devastating the wounds or how deep the scars.

As God restores each person to wholeness, it is easier to embrace each new day. Your children will learn that God is real when they see how much you trust God, how well you serve Him, and how much your behavior has changed toward loving each one of them as unique gifts from God.

G
UILT AND
C
ONDEMNATION

A very delicate area in which I see many parents fall is the overwhelming feelings of guilt and condemnation for the sins of their children.

You must remember
that Satan is the deceiver and the father of all lies. Sin originated with Satan. The enemy will lie to you, telling you that it is your fault because of your past sins and mistakes. This is a lie of the enemy that you absolutely must not believe.