This will likely be my last post on this short series on spiritual warfare. I have exposed several tactics of the enemy and told of the battle we have before us, but how can we actually engage in this battle? The easy answer (and the only answer) is prayer, but in prayer, we can engage tactfully. One of the most inspirational biographies I have read is that of Rees Howells. During World War II, he turned his Bible college into a “war room.” With maps and figures representing army positions, he would pray like a soldier on the battlefield. He would pray over battles and tactics, and he was very specific about what he was aiming at in his prayer life. In this post, I want to hit several tactics we can use in our prayer life to engage in the battle over souls and against the principalities, teachings, and even demonic forces that we face.
Charles Spurgeon described the prayer life as shooting the enemy in battle. He described that many people’s prayer lives take a “shotgun” approach. The whole idea is to get a broad scope in prayer and just pray in generalities, but that’s like shooting with a shotgun. While a few parts of the bullets may hit, most of it will not. Instead, prayer needs to be more like a sniper where you are dealing with accuracy and precision. You know precisely what you want to pray for, and you target that thing specifically. Again, we aren’t talking about praying for desires or wishes here to fulfill dreams. We are talking about tactics here. We are talking about military strategy. We are talking about praying specifically against enemy moves and praying specifically to uplift and support specific allies in the battle. In fencing, Epee is a very precise, finesse weapon. Point control is everything. While the entire body is a target, the better you get, the more precise targets you want to practice hitting. If your point is everywhere and chasing the opponent’s blade, you will more likely miss the target than hit. You will give your opponent a free chance to get the point in a sport where millimeters and milliseconds make the difference between a touch for, a double touch, or a touch against.
One of Howell’s tactics was to pray for confusion in enemy ranks. He would pray that Hitler would make blunders in his decision-making that he would normally not make, and that is precisely what happened. The normal brilliant tactics Hitler used suddenly became really stupid, like not having his panzers in position to aid at Normandy. When we are dealing with plots to overthrow Christianity, we can pray for enemy confusion that their organization will not be well set up, that they will have infighting among their ranks, so that their efforts to stop the church will be thwarted.
Did you know that the Bible has such an account of this as well? When Absalom’s coup began, David fled, and one of his very wise advisors, Ahithophel, defected to Absalom. David sent Hushai to confound Absalom, and Hushai’s advice saved David’s life because it bought David time to regroup. Perhaps Howells got his idea to pray for enemy confusion from this passage. We need to pray that the enemy will not be able to read us or see what our tactics are. Sometimes, to answer that prayer, God may need to put us into a fog where we cannot see what is going on; if you cannot see through a fog, often, the enemy cannot see you either.
We need to pray for the enemy to be blind, for God to not let them see our movements, and to not connect the dots with what they are seeing. I grew up on the mission field, crossing the border into Mexico regularly. We would regularly pray that the guards would not see all the things we were carrying on the bus. We are talking about things like boxes of apples, water, clothing, Bibles, and even wheelchairs and insulation. We spread them out on the bus so they would not be concentrated in one place and be obvious, but it was truly backed by prayer that a guard on a bad day would see the food and kick us back. Another missionary, Brother Andrew, would smuggle Bibles through the Iron Curtain of the Communist East. He would frequently pray that the guards would be blind to all the Bibles that were being carried through, which would certainly get him arrested and killed if caught. What about today? Can we pray for blindness and deafness to eyes and ears that hate the Gospel in our workplace so we can share the Gospel?
What about support for our allies? Paul asked for specific prayers from his church support, and in one case, to the Ephesians, he prayed for utterance. Did you know that Paul was terrified of speaking in public? After all, what did that get him? Jail time, the whip 5 times, stoned twice, shipwrecked, thrown into the cold, and he very likely had some severe physical limps and ailments from such treatment. Yet he prayed for the courage to speak, that he may proclaim boldly the message he had been given. So when we ask for prayer, let’s be specific so our allies know how to pray for us, and when we pray for others, let’s also be specific. Jesus asked his people, “What do you want me to do?” When we present our needs to God, let us be specific about them.
But when we are praying for those out there, let’s also be more specific. Sometimes, we may not know what to pray for, and in that case, a general cover may work, but let’s not use that as an excuse for lazy generic prayers. We have allies in the battle, and they need our support for wisdom, protection, and especially for those who are out there and their loved ones at home. Remember, the enemy plays dirty, and he loves going after the wives and children of pastors and missionaries when they are away.
This is just a quick snapshot of a few tactics that we can start incorporating into our prayer lives. Pray tactically. The battles that we fight are fought and won on our knees, not in political rallies or in conferences (though conferences can help equip us). Let us pray and learn how to pray once more. Let us be ambitious enough that when Satan has his “planning parties,” our names are the ones that have his attention. It makes his job easier without us to focus on – one fewer soldier for him to deal with. But it means we have to get up and fight and be ready for the pushback. We are called to fight, we are called to contend for the faith, and we are called to fight until the battle is won. Let us rise up and fight for the glory of our God so the flag of Zion, the flag of Jesus Christ, may fly on every hilltop and tower. It will be done on our knees, and then God will send us into action. It will not be done through political means but by spiritual means. Let’s answer the call.
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