Silas
Beloved of All
Your desire to walk in victory and to see the Lord glorified is good, and I join you in prayer with thanksgiving in the name of Jesus Christ.
The Scripture teaches that our real battle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and spiritual forces in high places. There is a constant spiritual warfare going on around us between the holy angels who serve God and the fallen angels who rebelled with Satan. We are often not aware of how real that conflict is, yet we feel its effects in unsettled emotions, heaviness, or opposition, because there is a battle being waged for the souls of people and for influence over minds and hearts.
For that kind of battle we need spiritual weapons, not physical ones. God has provided them, and the central weapon is prayer in the authority of Jesus. On the cross Jesus defeated those spiritual powers. Paul says in Colossians that He spoiled principalities and powers and made an open display of His triumph through the cross. The enemy now works only with usurped authority, not rightful authority, and he works within limits that God allows. When we come against him on the ground of what Jesus has already won, he must yield, not because of any power in ourselves, but because of Christ's victory.
That is why understanding authority matters so much. A Roman officer once told Jesus that he understood authority because he himself was under authority while also having soldiers under him. He could say go and they went, come and they came, because he stood in a chain of command. True spiritual authority works the same way. We can only exercise authority as we ourselves are under authority. No one can rule well or stand against darkness rightly unless he is first submitted to the lordship of Jesus Christ. The chain of authority must go all the way up to God. Apart from being under Him, any claim to power becomes empty or even dangerous.
Jesus Himself showed what that authority looks like. He taught with authority unlike others, and even unclean spirits recognized it and obeyed Him. He has authority in the physical realm to heal sickness, in the material realm to calm wind and sea, and in the spiritual realm to command evil spirits. Those spirits know who He is and that their final judgment is coming. For those who belong to Him, the promise holds that greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world, so you do not need to live in fear.
Be careful also about how you seek this power. There is a counterfeit way that tells you to see yourself in a place of power and to visualize until your subconscious makes it real. That method is a device of the enemy, who is a master deceiver. God does not call us to create reality by visualization, but to submit to Christ and to pray in dependence on Him. When Daniel prayed, there was fierce resistance in the spiritual realm until help came, which reminds us that answers can involve unseen conflict, but the outcome rests with God.
Jesus once gave His disciples power over unclean spirits and they rejoiced that spirits were subject to them, but He told them to rejoice even more that their names were written in heaven. Our confidence is not that we can chant words like favor or miracles or blessings and force God to act, but that we are known by Him, forgiven through the blood of Christ, and kept by Him. God does give favor and He does work miracles and He does bless, but He does so according to His wisdom and will, for His glory, not as a result of repeated phrases.
So I will pray with you in a biblical way. I pray that you will be firmly submitted to the lordship of Jesus, trusting His finished work on the cross as your only ground for standing against any controlling or oppressive influence. In His name we ask Him to bring His peace where there has been turmoil, to expose deception, to guard your mind and heart, and to make His victory real in your daily life. I ask that He will keep you from the enemy's schemes, since we are not to be ignorant of his devices, and that He will clothe you with His spiritual armor so you stand firm. And I pray that whatever He does, it will result in glory to Christ alone, and in your own growth in faith, holiness, and thankfulness, rejoicing most of all that you belong to Him.
May the Lord grant you discernment, humility, and steadfast trust as you continue to seek Him in prayer.
The Scripture teaches that our real battle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and spiritual forces in high places. There is a constant spiritual warfare going on around us between the holy angels who serve God and the fallen angels who rebelled with Satan. We are often not aware of how real that conflict is, yet we feel its effects in unsettled emotions, heaviness, or opposition, because there is a battle being waged for the souls of people and for influence over minds and hearts.
For that kind of battle we need spiritual weapons, not physical ones. God has provided them, and the central weapon is prayer in the authority of Jesus. On the cross Jesus defeated those spiritual powers. Paul says in Colossians that He spoiled principalities and powers and made an open display of His triumph through the cross. The enemy now works only with usurped authority, not rightful authority, and he works within limits that God allows. When we come against him on the ground of what Jesus has already won, he must yield, not because of any power in ourselves, but because of Christ's victory.
That is why understanding authority matters so much. A Roman officer once told Jesus that he understood authority because he himself was under authority while also having soldiers under him. He could say go and they went, come and they came, because he stood in a chain of command. True spiritual authority works the same way. We can only exercise authority as we ourselves are under authority. No one can rule well or stand against darkness rightly unless he is first submitted to the lordship of Jesus Christ. The chain of authority must go all the way up to God. Apart from being under Him, any claim to power becomes empty or even dangerous.
Jesus Himself showed what that authority looks like. He taught with authority unlike others, and even unclean spirits recognized it and obeyed Him. He has authority in the physical realm to heal sickness, in the material realm to calm wind and sea, and in the spiritual realm to command evil spirits. Those spirits know who He is and that their final judgment is coming. For those who belong to Him, the promise holds that greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world, so you do not need to live in fear.
Be careful also about how you seek this power. There is a counterfeit way that tells you to see yourself in a place of power and to visualize until your subconscious makes it real. That method is a device of the enemy, who is a master deceiver. God does not call us to create reality by visualization, but to submit to Christ and to pray in dependence on Him. When Daniel prayed, there was fierce resistance in the spiritual realm until help came, which reminds us that answers can involve unseen conflict, but the outcome rests with God.
Jesus once gave His disciples power over unclean spirits and they rejoiced that spirits were subject to them, but He told them to rejoice even more that their names were written in heaven. Our confidence is not that we can chant words like favor or miracles or blessings and force God to act, but that we are known by Him, forgiven through the blood of Christ, and kept by Him. God does give favor and He does work miracles and He does bless, but He does so according to His wisdom and will, for His glory, not as a result of repeated phrases.
So I will pray with you in a biblical way. I pray that you will be firmly submitted to the lordship of Jesus, trusting His finished work on the cross as your only ground for standing against any controlling or oppressive influence. In His name we ask Him to bring His peace where there has been turmoil, to expose deception, to guard your mind and heart, and to make His victory real in your daily life. I ask that He will keep you from the enemy's schemes, since we are not to be ignorant of his devices, and that He will clothe you with His spiritual armor so you stand firm. And I pray that whatever He does, it will result in glory to Christ alone, and in your own growth in faith, holiness, and thankfulness, rejoicing most of all that you belong to Him.
May the Lord grant you discernment, humility, and steadfast trust as you continue to seek Him in prayer.
