A Spiritual Warfare Prayer against the Strategies of the Enemy
By Kelly Balarie
“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” - 2 Corinthians 10:5
I saw it clear as day: a cockroach climbing up the wall! All my insides wanted to scream out with horror and disgust. Did I not keep the house clean enough? Are these critters all over the house? Do I have an infestation problem? It took everything in me not to stand up and handle things. The only reason I didn’t is because my husband was sharing his heart. I didn’t have it in me to interrupt him mid-sentence during our morning bible study. What he was saying was very important to him.
But finally, I couldn’t contain it any longer!
“I’m getting a paper towel! You have to get that thing behind your head.” I pointed and told him.
My husband tried to grab it, but it scurried away.
We pulled out all the furniture. I got a vacuum.
What was our morning devotion turned into complete commotion. My husband, being the wise man he is, turned stopped cleaning, and said to me, “Kelly, isn’t this exactly how the devil does it? He distracts us from godly affection through incoming distraction.” My husband was right.
Dear friends, it is a fight for the devotion of our minds. We either stay with God and demolish demonic strategies being set up against us, or we fall into fear, worry, and anxiety that lead us away from God. We choose our own adventure… Devotion or distraction. Affection for the One True God or demoralization due to circumstances. Communion or division from our Lord.
Truly, this daily walk includes an immense battle against our minds. But we must remember that we never win the mental war that we refuse to fight. What do we do when we feel distracted? Demotivated? Disengaged from God? Detoured?
Here are three biblical strategies:
1. We Take Every Thought Captive
To go through life without noticing what we are thinking is to let what we are thinking drive our life. The only way to begin the battle is to identify the enemy. When we think about what we are thinking about we begin to recognize what is not truth, what may be our flesh or what is clearly a thought from the enemy of our soul.
2. We Make Every Thought Obedient to Christ
“What does God have to say about it?” is what we should ask ourselves. Would God’s Word agree with our line of thought or would it disagree? Is our thought filled with faith, hope, and love, or is it partnering with the enemy who wants to steal, kill, and destroy?
3. We Demolish Every Argument
To demolish means to destroy. We don’t hang around that thought again. We annihilate it by the power of the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, as we wear the belt of truth. Feelings are not our maker; God is. God is the Maker and Creator of all truth. Only when we bring our problems and circumstances under His Word, do our feelings come into submission and the reality of our problems take right size.
Take heart!
Let’s pray:
Father, I thank you that my problems are not my maker. I thank you that I am not a servant to the hardships of life nor the problems of the day. They are not ruling over my emotions or my outlook today. I thank you that I am an overcomer through Christ Jesus. Today, Father, I bring you my problems and circumstances. I give them to you. I ask that you handle what seems impossible, that you resurrect what looks dead, and that you restore relationships that feel broken. I thank you that resurrection-life power is real and that you can do all things. I trust you. I submit to you. Give me fresh grace, thanks to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to hope for the best and to believe the best going forward.
In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.
Editor's Note: We're proud to announce we've just launched a new nighttime companion to Your Daily Prayer: the Your Nightly Prayer devotional. You'll soon be able to subscribe to receive Your Nightly Prayer via email, or as a podcast, but for now you can find it on the website at crosswalk.com/devotionals/your-nightly-prayer. We hope it's a relaxing and soothing way to wind down your day with rich meditations on who God is.
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Originally published Saturday, 13 April 2024.
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