Spiritual Warfare (8 page)

Let’s start with some promises in Psalm 91:

¹
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
²
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust.”
³
Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence.
⁴
He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler
.

How do you apply the sword of the Word of God in your life? Let’s say that you wake up one morning and you read the newspaper. The main story states that one out of every five men by the age of 50 will have XYZ disease. Whoosh! The devil has just thrown a fiery dart at you. You never know when his darts are fired at you. You may be watching a television programme and the presenter says, “This region can expect a big earthquake within the next five years!” Whoosh! The devil has just thrown another fiery dart at you.

When that happens, it is time to declare, “It is written, ‘Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence.’” (Psalm 91:3) What are you doing? You are countering the devil’s attack with the sword of the Word of God! You are also deflecting his fiery darts and protecting your heart with the shield of faith!

Here is another scenario: You have just returned from the funeral of a Christian friend who died of a disease. She was the same age as you. By the way, we often don’t know the full story of how and why Christians die. For instance, there are Christians who
want
to go home to be with the Lord. We are responsible for our own lives. But one thing we do know is that God loves us and He wants us to live long, healthy lives. (Psalm 91:16)

Release the Word from your mouth and turn its latent power into actual power.

Now, when you walk away from the funeral service, you are all alone and right there, the devil throws a thought at you: “You know, she was such a spiritual Christian, such a nice Christian, such a wonderful Christian…” He throws another fiery dart: “If it can happen to her, it can happen to you.” Now, fear starts to creep in. What must you do? You must say, “It is written, ‘A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you.’” (Psalm 91:7) Counter the devil’s move with the sword of the Word of God!

God’s Word Is To Be Spoken

My friend, it is not enough to just know God’s Word in your heart. You have to speak it out. That is when latent power becomes actual power! Jesus in the wilderness did not just think of the scriptures or hum them in His head. He spoke the scriptures out loud.

You can memorise thousands of scriptures, but if you don’t learn to say, “It is written…”, you won’t actually release the Word. Until the Word is released from your mouth, there will be no actual power, only latent power. In other words, until the Word leaves your mouth, it is just power lying dormant inside you. You have got to speak it out. When you speak it out, it is like God speaking. God’s Word in your mouth is like God speaking.

Here is another situation you may find yourself in: You wake up one day and you don’t know why, but you start to think about your parents and grandparents who all died of a particular disease. Somehow, the thought begins to plague you. The fears are unreasonable, but they still plague you. A thought enters your mind: “You will die of the same disease! You will die young! It’s a generational curse!” What should your response be? Quote Psalm 91:16 out loud: “It is written, ‘With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.’” Speak the Word of God into your fear.

Use the sword of the Spirit against the devil and he will get the point every time!

I have discovered that you cannot reason away fear. You cannot analyse it away. There are some fears that come into my mind and I say, “Joseph Prince, what are the chances of that happening?” But it doesn’t help. The fears are still there. I say again, “Come on, Joseph Prince, it will never happen to you.” But the fears remain. So you can’t reason away fear. Because our warfare is spiritual, the only way to defeat fear is to speak the Word of God into the fear by saying, “It is written, ‘For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.’” (2 Timothy 1:7)

You need to memorise that one. It is a powerful scripture. I don’t care what kind of fear comes against you. It could be a fear of growing old, fear of a particular disease, fear of losing your job, fear of failure… Whatever your fear is, use the sword of the Word of God. Declare, “It is written, ‘For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.’”

When you speak His Word, you will see that it really is sharper than any two-edged sword. In the book of Revelation, when John saw the Lord, he said that
“out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword”. (Revelation 1:16) In the Greek, it is “two-mouthed sword”
. Why? Because the Word leaves God’s mouth first, then it leaves yours. That is when it becomes a two-edged sword! That is when it becomes powerful! When you speak His Word, when you agree with it, it becomes a two-edged sword. Sometimes, you have to say it a few times. Sometimes, you have to say it in the morning, then in the afternoon and again in the evening. If the devil wants a fight, give him one! Use the sword of the Spirit against him and he will get the point every time! There is something about the sword of the Spirit that the devil doesn’t like. He doesn’t hang around God’s Word too much. It reminds him of someone — Jesus! And Jesus reminds him of his defeat!

A Scripture For Every Need

There are many powerful scriptures for every area of need. If you have financial problems, go to the Bible, take out your notebook and write down scriptures on finances. You will find scriptures like,
“And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
(Philippians 4:19) Even if your employer retrenches you, say, “My God shall supply all my needs according to
His
riches”. It is not according to your employer’s riches. Your employer is not your source, God is! If your employer is your source, then you are very poor. If God is your source, then you are very rich! If God is your source, you will no longer be afraid of losing your job. And you will have such a confident expectation of good that if you do lose your job, you know that God has a better one waiting for you.

I recently had a bad case of jet lag. Now, this was spiritual warfare because it was the first time I had experienced jet lag and it was bad! Wendy had it too. We were both so tired. Yet, I couldn’t sleep. So I memorised scriptures. I quoted Psalm 4:8 before I went to bed:
“I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.”
I also quoted Proverbs 3:24:
“When you lie down, you will not be afraid; yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet.”

I said these scriptures aloud as I lay down, “It is written, ‘You will lie down and your sleep will be sweet.’” After a little while, I got sleepy, and I started slurring and saying, “Your sleeeeep will be sweeeeeet. Your sleeeeeep will be sweeeeeeet.” Then, it became just, “Sweeeeeet…. sweeeeeeeet.” You know, I fell asleep and it was one of the sweetest sleep ever!

Words from the Bible are so powerful. They are pregnant with power because those words came from the same source that created the heavens and the earth. When you declare the scriptures aloud, the Word of God fights for you. The devil has no defence against the Word of God. He has no defence against the sword of the Spirit. It cuts him every way!

And there is a promise in the Bible for every need. Write them down, memorise them and declare them. If you like, you can start quoting each scripture by saying, “It is written…”

If you are concerned about your family, find scriptures on family life. For instance, Proverbs 11:21 (KJV) says,
“…the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.”
Psalm 128:3 says,
“Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, your children like olive plants all around your table.”
If the devil says to you, “You will die young!” your response should be, “It is written, ‘With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.’” (Psalm 91:16).

If you are experiencing fear — for example, you may be afraid of your boss — Hebrews 13:6 says,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”
If you wake up in the morning and you feel like it is going to be a bad day, declare, “It is written, ‘This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.’” (Psalm 118:24)

So go and do your homework. The Bible is full of powerful scriptures. Find scriptures that speak to you and write them down in a notebook or on 3-by-5-inch cards. Memorise the scriptures and speak them forth. I look for scriptures that speak to me and I write them down on 3-by-5-inch cards. And I carry them with me wherever I go!

chapter
9

Prayer

chapter 9

Prayer

“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.”

Ephesians 6:18

Pray In The Spirit At All Times

T
he last piece of the armour is prayer —
“praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit”.
Like the sword of the Word of God, it is an offensive weapon. But what does praying in the Spirit mean? It means praying in tongues. (1 Corinthians 14:14) If you are experiencing a season of evil, my encouragement to you is this: Learn to constantly pray in the Spirit. If you are going through a tough time, pray in tongues whenever you can and wherever you go. When you wake up in the morning, pray in tongues. When you drive your car, pray in tongues. When you are in the train, pray in tongues, but do it under your breath or people may look at you strangely!

What is so special about praying in tongues, especially when you are going through a difficult time? Well, praying in tongues will recharge your batteries, so to speak. The Bible says that speaking in tongues provides rest and it refreshes you. (Isaiah 28:11–12) Praying in tongues will keep you flowing with God. (1 Corinthians 14:2) Praying in tongues will also help you emotionally. (1 Corinthians 14:4) And according to Christian psychiatrist Carl R Peterson, MD, praying in tongues for an extended period of time will even help boost your immune system.

Let me show you something else about praying in the Spirit. Have you ever prayed for something, believing that it will happen, and yet, you had to wait for the manifestation of the answer? I want to show you how praying in the Spirit can help you receive the manifestation of what you are believing God for.

While waiting for the manifestation of your miracle, stay in prayer.

In Mark 11, we see that Jesus saw an unfruitful fig tree and He cursed it. Now, the effects of the curse were not obvious straight away. The tree did not dry up instantly. It wasn’t until the next day that the Bible records that the fig tree had withered as a result of the curse. What happened between the curse and the withering? Well, whatever happened will reveal to us what we can do in the period between praying and seeing the manifestation.

Look at Mark 11:12–14:

¹²
Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry.
¹³
And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.
¹⁴
In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.” And His disciples heard it
.

Then, on the morning of the next day, verse 20 tells us that
“as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots”
. So what happened between verses 14 and 20? Well, this is what happened: After Jesus cursed the fig tree, He went into the city of Jerusalem. He went into the temple there, and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple. He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple.

In verse 17, Jesus said something very interesting:

¹⁷
…“Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”