By Greg Pruett
The Yalunka churches had struggled without a formally trained pastor for over 20 years, when a young man named Sori finally stepped up to take three years of training at the Bible school. We invested significantly in Sori. The church had never had a paid pastor, but they saw the opportunity to have their first ever full-time preacher, dedicated to strengthening their church, but also to traveling around evangelizing and starting new local churches in completely unreached villages. They arranged to provide food for his family so he could focus on preaching. Only a few Yalunka villages had a church, so there were plenty of opportunities to make disciples. We had begun to dare to believe that the tide had turned and the Yalunka church could finally multiply. Then, Sori tragically died in a motorcycle accident just five months after he started. This catastrophe felt like a vicious attack from Satan. It took us 20 years to raise up a trained pastor, but only a moment for an accident to destroy Sori and his pastoral ministry.
Sometimes church planting among unreached peoples feels like a decades-long spiritual knife fight. We strike a blow for the kingdom, then the forces of evil stab us right in the back. Satan is mean as a snake. How do we bring to bear the full power of prayer to deal with the unseen forces of darkness on the mission field?
Sometimes when people become aware of the reality of spiritual warfare, everything becomes about that. Other people become aware of spiritual warfare for a time and address it for a season of life, but then they lose track of it. I have compared spiritual warfare to changing the oil in my car. I don’t have to change the oil in my car if I don’t want to. And it will be fine . . . for a long time. Then the engine might blow up.
Spiritual warfare is similar. You can do without it just fine for a long time . . . and then your ministry might blow up. I regularly practice these seven tools for spiritual warfare about one to three times a week.
Put on God’s Armor
I spend time regularly praying for help to put on each piece of God’s armor, but not as some kind of magical incantation. Instead, I like to reflect profoundly on the meaning of each armament. It fascinates me that the armor that defeats Satan isn’t creepy, magical stuff like we see in the movies. The explosive spiritual power that roughly shoves aside the darkness turns out to be living the fundamentals of the Christian life.
Paul teaches us the following truths in Ephesians 6:13-18. Protect your core with truth. Cover your heart with right living. Train hard to race from place to place with the Good News. Block Satan’s temptations with faith in God and a faithful life. Refute the thoughts the devil would insert into your mind by intimately knowing that you are saved and by listening to your Savior. Sharpen your knowledge of Scripture so the Spirit can use it to cut away Satan’s strongholds in peoples’ lives. Protect the backs of your fellow soldiers every day by covering them in prayer. That’s how we fight with God’s weapons! Armor up. Think about how each weapon protects your vulnerable soul.
Pray, “Deliver Us from Evil.”
Jesus taught us to pray for God to deliver us from evil. So, following the example of the prayer Jesus taught his disciples, I often pray, “Deliver us from evil.” The way it’s worded in the Greek language, it can mean either “deliver us from the evil one” or “deliver us from evil” in general. So I take the opportunity to pray against both.
The Bible talks about evil people, evil thoughts, evil spirits, and evil events, such as catastrophes. My regular prayers elaborate the words of Jesus: “Lord, deliver us from evil: evil people, evil thoughts, evil spirits, and evil events.”
Ask God for Angels
The work of angels clearly includes taking care of us. “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14). For me, part of spiritual warfare includes asking God to send mighty angels to guard my home and family. This is what angels look like.
“I looked up and saw a man dressed in linen clothing, with a belt of pure gold around his waist. His body looked like a precious gem. His face flashed like lightning, and his eyes flamed like torches. His arms and feet shone like polished bronze, and his voice roared like a vast multitude of people” (Daniel 10:5-6, New Living Translation).
If God sent one of these angels to protect you and your family, would demons be powerful enough to harm you? Ask God to send angels to guard you.
Dedicate the Places Where You Live and Minister
Sometimes I walk around my house or workplace with my arms outstretched in prayer. “Lord,” I say, “as surely as the Tabernacle and the Temple were set apart for holy purposes, so I dedicate this house for the gospel of Jesus as a place of worship for you.” This resembles Jesus’ teaching for his followers, “Whenever you enter someone’s home, first say, ’May God’s peace be on this house.’ If those who live there are peaceful, the blessing will stand; if they are not, the blessing will return to you” (Luke 10:5-6).
Jesus believed in blessing homes to be places of peace. He commanded his disciples to do that everywhere they traveled. So can we.
Regularly dedicate your home in prayer as a place of peace, worship, and prayer.
Drive out Demons in Your Home or Workplace
There also comes a time when prayer is not the only thing to do. Whenever I walk around, dedicating my house or office to God, I also take that opportunity to command demons to leave it in Jesus’ name. I don’t know if demons can hear what I’m thinking, so I speak out loud. And I prefer to do that when my neighbors aren’t watching.
Try it out. Say, “In the name of Jesus, I command you to get out of this house and go wherever Jesus sends you.” Get used to driving out demons you can’t see. That’s an important habit in spiritual warfare.
Turn Away from Evil
Spiritual warfare requires repentance. When I cast out demons, I say, “Get out of this house, in Jesus’ name,” then I go on to add, “I have nothing to do with you and you have nothing to do with me.” Often when I say that last part, a secret sin that I have been harboring in my life will pass through my mind, as if the demons are answering, “Ah, but you do. You have this sin in your life. That’s the red carpet you rolled out for us.”
Then I say, “All right, as of right now, I am turning away from that sin. So now, I really do have nothing to do with you and you have nothing to do with me. You get out, in Jesus’ name.” I don’t mean to say that we need to be sinless to drive out demons; but we do need to continually repent and turn away from our sins to be in a strong spiritual position.
Pray Scripture
Recently our worldwide ministry endured a period of a couple of years that seemed like one spiritual attack after another. I tried all six of the previous means of spiritual warfare only to get no relief. I was out of ammunition. We decided to try one more approach: our leadership team would all pray one Psalm a day (150 chapters) rephrasing the content to bless our colleagues. When we finished the Psalms, we sensed we were beginning to fight free of the attacks. But we continued praying: one Proverb a day asking God for wisdom for our ministry (30 chapters). We seemed to be making progress, so we kept going. We prayed through Psalms and Proverbs again to finish the year. By spreading the longest Psalm over three days, you can exactly fill a year with praying Psalms and Proverbs together twice. We prayed through Psalms and Proverbs for two whole years. As we prayed, we sensed a great spiritual breakthrough.
Jesus set the example of using Scripture to defeat Satan (Matthew 4:4). You can fight Satan in a similar way by praying the content of Scripture for the people you love. The Word has power.
Take Your Stand
Don’t run around the battlefield barefoot in your gym shorts and a T-shirt. Put on the armor and take full advantage of all the weapons God gives you to fight! Don’t let demons hang around. Why let them turn temptations into addiction or conflicts into bitter fights? Instead, “take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6:13) and run them off in Jesus’ name. Imagine what your life can be like when they are gone.
Greg Pruett is president of Pioneer Bible Translators in Dallas, Texas.
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