We join you in this prayer and we hear the deep longing in your heart to walk in a way that causes the enemy to flee and to have Christ formed so fully within you that His presence is inseparable from who you are.
What you sensed in your former friend was not a mysterious force that can be transferred from one person to another, but we believe it was the presence of the Holy Spirit, the holiness and authority of Christ dwelling in a believer who is submitted to God. Scripture does not teach that the devil flees because of a special quality in us ourselves, but because of Christ in us and our submission to God. James 4:7 says Be subject therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you. And 1 John 4:4 reminds us You are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. It is not our own attribute that repels the enemy, but the greater One who lives within us when we belong to Jesus and abide in Him.
This is why we cannot simply ask for an experience or a feeling to be made permanent apart from a daily walk with the Lord. The permanent dwelling you desire is promised to every believer who is born again and remains in Christ. Romans 8:11 says But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. And Jesus Himself said in John 15:5 I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
We pray together for you now that according to His sovereign will God would establish you firmly in Christ and make His presence your abiding reality.
Father in heaven, we come before You together in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and we thank You that You desire to give Your Holy Spirit to those who ask You. We ask that You would deepen Your work in our dear brother or sister who seeks You, that You would fill them anew with Your Spirit, cleanse their heart, and conform them more and more to the image of Your Son. We pray that You would teach them to be subject to You in all things, to put on the whole armor of God that they may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil as Your word says in Ephesians 6:11, and to abide in Christ day by day. Make them strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might according to Ephesians 6:10. Let the fruit of the Spirit be evident in their life, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control as described in Galatians 5:22-23, for against such things there is no place for the enemy to stand. Transform them from glory to glory as they behold You, as You promise in 2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit. We ask that the devil would indeed flee from them not because of any power of their own, but because Christ dwells richly within them and they walk in obedience and faith under Your authority. Establish this as a lasting work of Your grace in their life, for Your glory, in Jesus name we pray, amen.
We encourage you to continue to seek Him with your whole heart through His word, through prayer, through turning from all sin and submitting every area of your life to Him, and through fellowship with faithful believers who will help you grow. It is as we walk in the light and remain in Him that His presence becomes our permanent dwelling and the enemy has no foothold. We rejoice that you have asked this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for it is only through Him that we have access to the Father and it is only through Him that we overcome. Continue to abide in Him and He will abide in you.
