Chapter Eleven
Standing Against the Enemy
After Having Eaten the Baby
At the end of a morning service, I told the congregation that I was going to minister to them in the evening service on “After Having Eaten the Baby.” After meditating all afternoon about what they thought they were going to hear when they came back to the service, there were many varied ideas. Some recalled the Old Testament story of the Samaritan city under siege by the Syrians. The enemy had surrounded the city and set up blockades so that no supplies could get to the people. The people were starving to the point that one woman actually ate her own child. (II Kings 6:28-29) Others came to the service anticipating that I was going to tell them the story of black-robed Satanists who had participated in some kind of human sacrifice and had actually eaten human flesh in some kind of cannibalistic mock of the holy communion. Perhaps I was going to tell of a deliverance of one of those Satanic high priests who came to Jesus after having eaten a baby. Some thought I was going to tell the story of aboriginal cannibals wearing nothing but war paint and blood splattered across their faces as they gorged on the feast of their conquered foe.
I surprised them all when I opened my Bible to the book of Ephesians and read from chapter six, Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness… (verses 6:13-14) Of course, everybody wanted to know what that had to do with eating babies. I told them that they had only heard half of my sentence. My sentence actually says, “After having eaten, the baby threw his bowl to the floor.”
The Grammar
The problem with most interpretations of this passage of scripture is that we neglect the commas. When we leave out the commas or put the commas in the wrong place, we do just as much violation to this sentence from the Word of God as the congregation had done to the sentence about the baby’s eating. We get a totally different meaning by misplacing the commas. Most often, we read Ephesians 6:13-14 with total disregard for how it was written. We interpret it as: “Having done everything we know how to do and we have run out of all the tricks of the trade – then, when there is nothing else to do, we just staunchly keep on keeping on.” That may be a good philosophy, but that is not what the scripture is saying. This scripture is telling us to put on the armor of God so we can do two things: to withstand and to stand.
Notice that there are a couple commas in this sentence. One comes after the word “day” and the other comes between the words “all” and “to.” The commas indicate to us that there is a parenthetical phrase that has been added into the sentence. We can remove the parenthetical phrase, and the sentence has exactly the same meaning. There is a little clarification given by having put the parenthetical phrase in, but the clarification is not necessary to convey the intended meaning of the sentence.
In the sentence, “The teacher, not the students, is in charge of the class,” the phrase “not the students” is a parenthetical phrase that is added in. It certainly clarifies the thought, but it is not necessary in order for the sentence to have meaning.
Taking the parenthetical phrase out of this verse gives us the basic meaning of the text. Without the added information, the sentence becomes easier to read and we can see exactly what Paul is saying to us. The verse would then say, “Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day…and to stand.” This is the basic meaning of what Paul is saying here. The next sentence (which we usually blend into this thought) is actually a separate thought. Notice that there is a period that indicates a break in the flow between verse thirteen and verse fourteen. With this understanding, it is clear that Paul is telling us to take up the whole armor of God for two purposes: that in the evil day we can withstand and we can stand.
The parenthetical phrase that we dropped out of verse thirteen reads, “having done all.” Some translations include the alternate wording “having overcome all” leaving the impression that we will be able to stand after we have defeated all our obstacles. Such a reading can be misleading in that it implies that we are the ones doing the overcoming when, in fact, it was Jesus Christ who won the victory through His crucifixion and resurrection. It seems more in keeping with the overall theme of the passage to keep the traditional reading, “having done all.” Once we have touched all the bases, we finally come to the point of putting on our armor and taking our victorious stance. I am convinced that Paul was telling us that these foundational steps that he has enumerated in the first five and a half chapters of his letter must be completed before we can be assured of standing. The picture Paul is going to paint concerning spiritual warfare is far beyond what most Christians ever imagine or experience. The reason they drag from Sunday to Sunday and are always defeated, not knowing who is going to win – them or the devil – is that they have failed in implementing these foundational points.
We fail to see many of the fundamental truths of this passage because we have overlooked the grammar. We miss the adverb “finally.” We ignore the plural nature of the noun “brethren.” We overlook the punctuation in the passage, failing to recognize how the commas and the period set off a parenthetical phrase and break the thought into two separate sentences. But worst of all, we ignore the verbs that carry the meaning of the passage.
Standing vs. Wrestling
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (verses 6:10-11)
Notice that Paul said that he wanted us to be able to stand. He did not tell us to get down and tumble with the enemy. “Stand” is the key word in this verse – and in verses thirteen and fourteen. We usually call this a spiritual warfare passage, but it really ought to be labeled a “spiritual standing” passage. Paul really does not talk about waging war. He is talking about standing. Although it is common to perceive verse twelve as a directive to wrestle against the devil, we have to actually add a word to make it read that way. Notice that Paul told us not to wrestle against flesh and blood but he actually omitted the verb in the second part of the sentence where he mentioned our confrontation with principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. In that he specifically told us to stand in verses eleven, thirteen, and fourteen, it is only logical that we would assume that he was implying that the verb in this sentence would also be “stand.”
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. (verses 6:12-13)
If we have done all the things we have discussed up to this point, we will be able to stand. If we come into a spiritual conflict having done these things, we can put on the armor of God and be certain that we are going to be able to stand unmovable.
Paul used two different analogies here. He mixed his metaphors in this passage, something that he does at other points in his writings as well. In II Timothy 2:3-6, he shifted from a soldier image to an athletic image, and finally to a farming image in just four little verses. In the passage we are studying in Ephesians, the word “wrestle” comes from the sports or athletic arena. Wrestling is not something done on the battlefield; it is a form of entertainment. When we go to the battlefield, we don’t wrestle – we do warfare. Paul said, “We don’t wrestle against flesh and blood.” We have all seen pictures of the famous Greek statue of the discus thrower who is clad only in his discus. The Greeks had no embarrassment regarding the human body. They felt that it was a creation of the gods and that it was beautiful. Therefore, at the time of Paul’s writing, these sports events occurred in the nude because they didn’t want any hindrance in their movements. In fact, the Greek word for “gymnasium” literally means, “nude training.” The same is true today. We don’t go out to play tennis in a three-piece suit and top hat. We wear the briefest of sports apparel because we know that any added weight can hold us back. In fact, I had friends on the college swim team who shaved their heads and their whole bodies because they knew that even a hair would give resistance and slow them down – and this was in the 1970s when all the guys were wearing shoulder-length hair!
It is in order to confront this naked opponent, Paul tells us to put on the armor of God. Just imagine these principalities and wicked spiritual creatures in high places gathered together in their corner of the ring ready to have a wrestling match with the Christian, expecting him to come into the ring in his “birthday suit.” The door opens from the other changing room and out comes the Christian dressed in a girdle, a breastplate, a helmet, shoes, a sword, and a shield. When the demons see a fully armored warrior walking out, you can imagine how they have to regroup. Just guess who will win such a wrestling match. Dr. Lester Sumrall once said it this way, “When you appear with all of heaven’s gear on, every devil in hell recognizes it.”
In Colossians 2:15, Paul expanded the discussion of the devil’s nakedness. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. The literal meaning of “spoiled” is “stripped naked.” The verse is actually rendered this way in some modern translations, vividly reiterating the scene being set here. The imagery behind this wording comes from the ancient practice of defrocking the kings and other political and military leaders of conquered nations. When those defeated enemies were brought back from the battle, they were totally humiliated by being marched through the streets naked – no longer with royal robes or regalia of rank. Through the wording here, Paul painted a vivid picture to awaken his reader to the fact that the opponent against whom we stand is an already-defeated foe.
Think about any wrestling match you have ever watched. How much time is spent standing up? Almost none of it! The two opponents start in a locked position; but as soon as the whistle blows, one of them knocks the other to the floor, and they spend their time tumbling and tossing on the floor until one is able to pin the other down and hold his shoulders to the mat for the ten count. Wrestling matches are not held standing up. But Paul told us time and again that our position is not tumbling nip and tuck on the floor. Our position is to stand. We are told to put on the armor of God so that we will be able to stand. Verse fourteen repeats, Stand, therefore. Our position is not a wrestling position of tumbling on the floor, but it is a standing position. Why is it that we can walk into spiritual conflict and have such a position of authority? If we take care of these first five and a half chapters of instructions – you might call them our layers of underwear – we can put on salvation, knowledge, truth, etc. and walk boldly into the face of whatever the devil tries to do. We will recognize that the devil’s tactics are tricks and lies, and we can withstand them and keep on standing.
Paul says that we may be buffeted when the enemy attacks. There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me. (II Corinthians 12:7) When such literal attacks come, we have to add a second line of defense – withstanding as well as standing. Withstanding carries a slightly different meaning from standing. When we stand against the enemy, we are simply exerting our authority; however, when we withstand the enemy, we may be actually taking some blows in the process. Withstanding is when we actually experience all those fiery darts being extinguished. (Ephesians 6:16) To understand this concept, let’s take a quick look at a parable that Jesus told about withstanding. In his story about the houses which the wise man and the foolish man built, we read, And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. (Matthew 7:25, also Luke 6:48) Notice that the house actually endured the howling winds and the crashing waves. Although there is a difference between standing and withstanding in terms of actually taking a few punches along the way, the end result is the same – we wind up standing rather than falling because we are anchored into the solid rock of faith. The rock is a foundation that the enemy cannot topple, And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18) Faith is a shield that the enemy cannot penetrate, Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. (Ephesians 6:16)
This message seems to be the focus of his second letter to the Corinthians. When Paul wrote this letter, he had a specific message that he wanted to communicate. He spelled it out fairly directly in verses three through seven of the first chapter – in every difficulty, we are comforted by God so that we can become comforters to others. The problem that he was addressing in this letter is the same one that is dealt with in the book of Job – why do bad things happen to good men? Paul was certainly a good man, but he certainly had a lot of bad things happening in his life. Several times in this letter, he lists the things he had to endure for the gospel’s sake. (verses 2:4, 4:8-12, 6:4-5, 11:23-28, 12:7-10, 15) These lists of attacks make us realize how easy we actually have it when we confront our little obstacles. However, we are amazed when Paul sums up his trials as light affliction. (verse 4:17) He could say such an unthinkable thing because the real issue he was dealing with wasn’t, “How come?” Instead, his mind was set on the question, “How to overcome?” In chapter six, he presented a sequence of phrases that depict the problems he faced, the approach he took in dealing with them, and the results he obtained.
But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. (verses 4-10)
He listed his persecutions (the problem) as “in” in verses four and five. The ways he overcame them (the approach) are listed as “by” in verses six, seven, and eight. The results of his defense (the result) are listed as “by” – a different preposition in Greek – in verses nine and ten. Interestingly, the approaches he used in his conflict are not the ones that we generally would list as our weapons for spiritual warfare; however, he called them his weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left. (verse 6:7 NIV)
Paul used this same word for weapons or armament in two different places in the book of Romans. We find it translated as “instruments” in Romans 6:13, Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. In Romans 13:12, it is translated as “armor,” The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. From the context, we can see that weapons are actual implications of the godly qualities of light and righteousness. In other words, Paul’s power to overcome was not the “spiritual warfare” we might think of as screaming at the top of one’s lungs, rebuking the devil in tongues. Instead, his victory came through using the godly man’s arsenal of righteous qualities.
Even though he described himself as suffering serious blows, he always seemed to bounce back victoriously. He was like the good man described in Proverbs 24:16 who, even if he falls seven times, always gets up again. The roly-poly toys we know as weebles can help us understand the powerful spiritual truth that dominated Paul’s life. We’ve all enjoyed the amazement of “socking” the punch toy as hard as we can and watching it plop all the way to the floor – only to immediately bounce back totally erect. The lesson – as we all already know – is “Weebles wobble, but they don’t fall down.” When we learn to use the total arsenal that God has provided for us, we’ll soon be able to show forth that same resilience in our lives – no matter how much we may wobble, we’ll always bounce back! Because Paul had become a weeble for God, he was able to say in chapter ten verses three through five that the weapons of his warfare were not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. That’s why he could say in chapter two verse fourteen that God always caused him to triumph. This was the grace that he had to deal with the thorn in the flesh and Satan’s messenger – the “Timex watch grace” to take the licking and keep on ticking. (verse 12:9)
Another side note to this passage is that Paul described having the weaponry in each hand. It seems that the significance of this concept might go back to the time of the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem under Nehemiah’s direction. In Nehemiah 4:17, we read, They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon. These were two-fisted warriors who were slapping mortar on the wall with a trowel in one hand and threatening their enemies with a sword with the other. Building the wall was a passive form of defense while yielding a sword was an active form of defense. In this approach, we see a great lesson for all believers – build yourself up in your faith as a passive resistance to the enemy’s attacks while also aggressively challenging him every time he shows up!
The Apostle John amens this truth when he says that we can actually become immune to the effects of the work of the enemy, We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. (I John 5:18)
Several years ago, I went to see the prehistoric pagan shrine Stonehenge in England on June 21, the only day of the year that the British government grants permission for people to go inside the fence surrounding the monoliths. The sun-worship cults demanded their religious rights and convinced the government to open the gates on this one day so they could do their ceremonies on this particular day when the sun rises over the central altar. As I was touring the site, one of the sun worshipers stood up and began threatening our group because he felt that we were desecrating the sun worshiper’s event by talking. One of the guys in our group – a huge hunk of a man – walked around to the man making all the threats and started cracking his knuckles as if he were ready for a fight. The sun worshiper whimpered and went back to his devilish chants trying to pretend that we weren’t there. This big hunk of a man never had to get down and tumble on the ground. Our “hero” never had to do anything physical to anybody. He just walked toward our opponent and stood there. His massive presence demonstrated that he was in authority. When he cracked his knuckles, he sent out such a strong message that the challenger simply left us alone. The sun worshiper knew that he had met more than his match. Our friend defeated the enemy the same way Jesus did Satan during His temptation when He stood firm on His authority – in Jesus’ case, the Word of God – until the devil left Him. Imagine how much more authoritatively we can stand now that we have the New Testament to add to the Old Testament authority on which Jesus stood.
Paul was telling us that we Christians can go into spiritual warfare with confidence that we will not fail. If we have done everything to properly prepare, we can walk onto the battlefield and stand our ground. We don’t have to get down and roll on the mat with the devil. We can walk in the kind of authority that makes the devil shiver.
If we submit ourselves to God and resist the devil, the enemy has to flee. (James 4:7) The devil doesn’t tumble around on the floor with us and maybe win one round and get in a couple of good blows – instead, he gets up and runs! He may try to growl, but he cannot stand against us because we are walking in authority. However, we cannot get that authority by just starting in chapter six verse ten. We get that authority by starting in chapter one verse one and making sure that we have on all our layers of underwear. Then we can put on our spiritual armament and we walk out onto the battlefield, able to stand. Having done everything, we stand.
When my three sons were children, I would wrestle with them. They would grab me around my legs and begin jerking and pulling. Eventually, I would lie down for them so that we could roll and tumble a little bit. That would make the boys feel more like my equal. Paul declared that if we have this armor on, we will not be on the floor with the devil. We will be able to stand. He is not our equal. We can stand firmly if we want to. It is only when we lie down willingly (perhaps through ignorance of our authority) that he can get us to the floor.
Standing without giving up is what putting on the armor of God is all about. The Word of God is replete with admonitions about standing:
We stand in faith. (Romans 5:2, I Corinthians 16:13, II Corinthians 1:24)
We are instructed to stand in our divine election. (Romans 9:11)
We must stand in God’s ability. (Romans 14:4)
We can stand in the power of God. (I Corinthians 2:5)
We are admonished to stand in the gospel. (I Corinthians 15:1)
We are told to stand in the liberty that Christ has given us. (Galatians 5:1)
We are required to stand in one spirit. (Philippians 1:27)
We can only stand in the Lord. (Philippians 4:1, I Thessalonians 3:8)
We are able to stand in the Word of God. (II Thessalonians 2:15)
We will stand in the will of God by intercessory prayer. (Colossians 4:12)
We victoriously stand by the grace of God. (I Peter 5:12)
We triumphantly stand in the day of wrath. (Revelation 6:17)
We must learn to stand against the wiles of the devil. (Ephesians 6:11)
Chapter Twelve
Pulling Down Strongholds
Let’s look at another passage that demonstrates our area of spiritual dominion.
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. (II Corinthians 10:3-5)
For many years when I read this passage, I thought that the things that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God were ideas like atheism that says there is no God or Hinduism that says that Vishnu, Krishna, Ganesh, or any one of the other millions of their deities is God, or Buddhism that claims Gautama to be divine, or even New Age that tells us that we all are gods. Then one day, the Holy Spirit prompted me to realize that even though I rejected all these pagan beliefs, I still harbored thoughts that exalted themselves against God. When I challenged Him as to how it was possible that I could possibly have such thoughts, He questioned me as to what I know about God. I responded that He is Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals all my diseases. The Holy Spirit then quickened to me the reality that any time I thought that my healing was in the medicine cabinet, a doctor’s office, or a hospital, I was actually entertaining a thought that was exalting itself against what I really knew about God. He then asked me what else I knew about God. This time, I answered that I knew Him to be Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides all my needs according to His riches in glory. Again He challenged me that every time I thought that my provision was in a bank loan, a higher credit card limit, working extra hours, or asking the boss for a raise, I was again entertaining thoughts that exalted themselves against the true knowledge of God. By the time that this little soul-searching session had taken me through several more truths about the Lord, I began to understand what this passage is really saying. It is a truth that can and must be applied to every area of our lives. Our weapons are strong enough to destroy the arguments against the knowledge of God. There are many areas of truth that we should know about God; however, for some reason, we don’t comprehend and live in them because there is an idea that has gotten into our heads that keeps the true knowledge of God from getting inside of us. We know that God exists, but we fail to attain the true knowledge of who God is and what God does.
God is Jehovah Tsidkenu, which means that He is the God of our righteousness. The day that Jesus came into our lives, His righteousness came into us. However, the devil will come to each and every one of us with accusations to combat any awareness we have of this righteousness. If we open ourselves to these accusations, just like David’s stone found that tiny eyehole in Goliath’s armor, the devil will aim for this vulnerable spot. If that lie penetrates into our minds and we agree with it, he begins to build a stronghold against the knowledge of God’s righteousness within us.
God is also Jehovah Rapha – the God who heals all of our diseases – but the devil wants to plant lies inside us saying that our ailment is either too big for God to heal or too insignificant for Him to notice. The truth is that God is just as willing to heal the little aches and pains as He is to heal major diseases. He is just as able to heal the most dreaded plague as He is to cure a minor ailment.
We can go through all the redemptive names and qualities of God to learn what we should be thinking about God. Any time we allow thoughts contrary to these truths into our hearts, we have permitted the enemy to use his deceit to begin a stronghold in our minds.
When we look at the armor, notice the extremely significant relationship that keeps occurring. It always comes back to our mind, our voice, and our spirit man – these are the areas where the devil wants to exert his authority: in our minds, our thinking, and our hearing and speaking.
We have a girdle of truth because truth works in the area of the mind and voice. Our feet are prepared with the gospel of peace; “gospel” also means “good news,” and it relates to our minds and voices. Our shield is one of faith that comes by hearing of the Word (Romans 10:17); faith works in the area of our voice when we speak the word of faith (Romans 10:8). Our offensive stance is taken in prayer and relates to our mind, voice, and spirit. The sword that the apostle admonishes us to take hold of is the Word of God, but not just a general word. The Greek term used here is rhema, which means the specific word on a topic – not logos, which means the general concept behind the topic. When Jesus taught us about the word that was sown in the fields with uncertain results – some was eaten by ravens, some was choked out by thorns, some was scorched by the sun, and only part was productive – He used the term logos. (Mark 4:14) However, when the term rhema is used, the context is always in reference to the word that does not return until it accomplishes the purpose unto which it was sent. (Matthew 4:4, Luke 5:5, John 6:63, John 6:68, John 8:47, John 15:7, Romans 10:8, Romans 10:17, Ephesians 5:26, Ephesians 6:17) Using the rhema word means that we have specific words that are individually tailored for each unique situation we face. In our spiritual warfare, we arm ourselves with the specific Word of God for the individual confrontations we meet and we have an invincible weapon that ensures us unquestionable victory.
Until David took the city of Jerusalem, it had never been captured. When Joshua came into the Promised Land, he defeated the king of Jerusalem, but the city itself was never taken. (Joshua 10:23-24, 15:63) The Jebusites boasted that Jerusalem was so secure that its guards were the blind and the lame men. (II Samuel 5:6) Its natural position made it virtually invincible; therefore, it was unnecessary to position the able-bodied soldiers there. These strong warriors were used elsewhere while the rejects defended the city. The city actually defended itself since it was built on the top of high cliffs with deep ravines surrounding it. When an attack would come, all these handicapped soldiers had to do was to simply push boulders over the edge of the cliff upon the approaching forces. They did not need to be marksmen or skilled warriors.
David outfoxed the Jebusites by sending some men up the water duct to take the city from the inside. After David took the city, Jerusalem then became his stronghold. From the city of Jerusalem, we learn a lesson concerning strongholds: their power is in their natural position; you don’t have to have a strong warrior inside a stronghold to be able to protect it because the stronghold itself is its own protection. The devil doesn’t have to be strong. If he is able to fill our minds and hearts with lame ideas and blind assumptions, he can easily defend the strongholds of our lives.
A number of years ago, a contestant in a beauty contest knew that she was going to lose to one of the other entries, so she decided to resort to dubious means to defeat her. Her tactic to get the girl out of the competition was to curse her by telling her that every time she looked in the mirror, she would see how ugly she was. The curse worked, and the front-runner dropped out of the competition. In fact, she totally dropped out of life and spent the rest of her life as a recluse in her house. She spent all of her fortune on beauty products and cosmetic surgeries. No matter how many people tried to convince her that she was still a gorgeous lady, she never overcame the lie that had been planted in her mind during that pageant. It was a lame idea, but it took root in the stronghold of her mind and destroyed her future and life.
One of the unique characteristics of strongholds is that they are positioned so that in the event of an attack, enemies would actually bring destruction upon themselves. In Sri Lanka, I have climbed to the top of Sigiriya, the spectacular “Lion Rock” fortress on top of a gigantic rock whose sheer walls rise about twelve hundred feet above its luscious green jungle surroundings. This fortress, built in AD 473, was surrounded by huge slabs of stone that were triggered with rope mechanisms so that an avalanche of destruction would instantly engulf any intruding army. In Israel, I was able to climb the equally impressive fortress of Masada that was built by King Herod. This encampment poised atop the thirteen-hundred-foot precipice became the last bastion of the Jewish people against the Roman invasion. When the legion laid siege to the fortress in AD 72, the Romans realized that the only way to take the stronghold was to build a circumvallation wall to allow them to approach the plateau. They forced Jewish slaves to haul in the thousands of tons of stones and earth that it took to build the ramp because the attackers knew that the Jews in the fortress would not kill their national brethren. Otherwise, the Jews barricaded inside the fortress would have pummeled their attackers to death with their arsenal of rocks. From my vantage point perched atop Sigiriya or Masada, thinking of the sheer insanity of launching an attack against either of these strongholds, I began to gain a perspective of how well defensible our position in Christ can and should be if we only renew our minds to become strongholds of truth rather than citadels for the enemy’s blind assumptions and lame ideas.
Chapter Thirteen
Becoming a Prayer Warrior
Prayer is the battle for which we get dressed in Ephesians 6:11-17; yet how many messages do we hear about the getting dressed and how few do we hear about the actual battle? The old rhyme tells us that it’s “one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, and four to go.” Let’s not get all dressed up with nowhere to go! Paul tells us that we must enter into “all prayer,” meaning all types of prayer. Prayer is an all-encompassing factor in the Christian life. We are directed to pray all the time (I Thessalonians 5:17), in every place (I Timothy 2:8), with every kind of prayer (Ephesians 6:18), about everything (Philippians 4:6), for all people (I Timothy 2:1). The biblical summation on the topic is found in James 5:16, The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
In Ephesians 6:18, the Apostle Paul admonished us to pray always with all prayer. Literally translated from the Greek, his command to us was to pray with all kinds of prayer and to do this on a regular and ongoing basis. There are many components to prayer and many types of praying. One of the many kinds of prayer mentioned in the scriptures is confession – a cleansing of our souls and an elimination of the obstacles between ourselves and God through acknowledging our sins which include both our wrongdoings and our shortcomings. (Psalm 51:1) Another kind of prayer is thanksgiving – a prayer of appreciation (Psalm 107:1) and faith in that we can actually speak forth thanksgiving as we are still making requests for prayers that have not yet been answered (Philippians 4:6). As we thank God for what He has already done and thank Him for what He has promised to do, we have no reason to worry whether our requests will be granted. Another kind of prayer is praise and worship – focusing on what God does and who He is. When we concentrate on Jehovah Rapha (the Lord our Healer), it is easy to receive healing. When we acknowledge Jehovah Jirah (the Lord our Provider), it is easy to receive the supply for all our needs. When we focus on Jehovah Shalom (the Lord our Peace), it is easy to have peace in the face of any storm. When we focus on Jehovah Nissi (the Lord our Victory Banner), it is easy to go into any conflict knowing that we will come out victoriously. When we focus on Jehovah Shammah (the Lord Who is There), it is easy to know that He is our ever-present help in time of trouble or difficulty. Another form of prayer is meditation – contemplation on the person of God as well as His works and His words. (Psalms 1:2, 63:6, 77:12) Another form of prayer is called supplication or petition. This is an earnest and sincere entreaty of God. (Philippians 4:6, Hebrews 5:7) Although this type of prayer speaks of a humble request, it does not imply begging. Because of our relationship to God as adopted sons, we can boldly make our petitions before the throne of God our Father. Closely akin to this kind of prayer is intercession – a petitioning on behalf of others. This prayer is when we care for the requests of others with the same – or even a greater – level of intensity as we would exhibit when praying for our own needs. This is what Abraham did for the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18:23-32 and what Moses did for the rebellious Israelites in Exodus 32:30-32. Persistent prayer is a prayer that doesn’t give up. (Hebrews 6:12) Persistent prayer may be repeated prayer. Elijah had to pray seven times before he saw the cloud that was only the size of a man’s hand. But it was effective prayer. When the cloud did come, it brought a flood that inundated the whole vicinity. (I Kings 18:42-44)
Paul goes on to say that our prayers must be “in the spirit.” Although most translations capitalize the word to indicate that Paul was referring to the Holy Spirit, it is just as accurate to use a small “s” since both are possible from the Greek text. If the small “s” is used, the meaning of the passage would be that the prayer has to come from our human spirit rather than from our soulical nature – the mind, the will, the emotions. Of course, the only way to get beyond our soulical motivation is to be directed by the Holy Spirit; therefore, the same message is communicated whether we use the capitalized “S” or the small “s.” Before we go any further with the discussion of prayer in the spirit, let’s back up a few words and notice that Paul referred to the offensive weapon in our armament as the sword of the spirit. Again, we could have the same discussion as to whether to capitalize the “S” or leave it small, but we could come to the same conclusion. The Word of God is only powerful when the Holy Spirit quickens it to our human spirits. (John 6:63, II Corinthians 3:6) Since that life-giving quickening comes through our human spirits, we again see that the Word of God only becomes a formidable weapon when its use comes from our human spirits under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. In the final analysis, our real power in spiritual warfare is prayers laced with the truths and principles of the Word of God that come from our human spirits under the direction and anointing of the Holy Spirit.
This dimension is opened to us when we allow the Holy Spirit to work through our spirits and assist us in our communication to God. (Romans 8:26-27) Most often this kind of praying is associated with prayer in unknown tongues, but the Holy Spirit can also anoint and direct prayers in our native language. (I Corinthians 14:15) Prayer in the spiritual realm is prayer that builds us up on our faith (Jude 20), that brings results for others (Ephesians 6:18), and that is in accordance with the Father’s will and mind (I Corinthians 2:11). When we pray under the Holy Spirit’s direction and know that our prayers are in alignment with the Lord’s rhema will, we can have confidence that He will answer our prayers (I John 5:14-15) and that everything will work out for our best interest (Romans 8:28).
Prayer is our offensive weapon that changes things that we could never influence through brute force, military action, or litigation. Dick Eastman, a world-renowned teacher on prayer, shares a couple testimonies that prove this truth. On an expedition into Bhutan, he and his team were impressed with the controlling grip that Buddhism had on the country. As they prayed while walking around one of the main temples, one of the young men in their party said something to the effect of, “Lord, let fire out of heaven come down and consume this place.” Within just hours, an electrical storm came up and lightning struck the main Buddhist temple in the country – not the one where they were praying, but actually one that was of even more significance. The centuries-old wooden structure was totally consumed within minutes. But that’s not the end of the story; not only was the physical temple destroyed, but the spiritual stronghold of Buddhism began to crumble. Within a few years, a secular government replaced the strict Buddhist regime that had dominated the country and kept it isolated from the rest of the world for hundreds of years. Before long, reports of a move of the Lord and the birth of a thriving Christian fellowship began to surface in this once forbidden land. Another story relates to a legal battle that was being waged over a television station in the United States. Dick and a group of students from his school of prayer had met for an all-day prayer session at a Christian television station. The president of the Christian network came in early in the day and said that he had planned to join them; however, he had to meet with attorneys that day concerning an issue with another station in the area that was broadcasting pornographic programming. As the group prayed that day, they occasionally remembered the issue. To their surprise, the president of the network showed up to join them before the day had ended. When they asked him how the meeting was going, he responded that the whole thing had been dropped because a very strong wind had suddenly come out of perfectly clear weather and had blown down the broadcast tower of the ungodly company. They had gone out of business without the attorneys having to challenge their broadcast permits.