What Happens When You Start Praying & Seeking God Diligently
As you get on your knees to pray, there will be two visitations: The moment you go on your knees in the name of Jesus, the Lord will appear right besides you. Very soon also, the agents of satan will come and fight against you so that your prayer do not accomplish much.
There is therefore spiritual combat that takes place as you diligently seek God. If your spiritual eyes are not open, you might not be aware of these things but here are a few things that will indicate that the devil has arrived to fight against you as you pray:
1. feeling of weariness, tiredness
2. not having a desire to pray
2. slumbering and sleeping
3. mind wondering instead of focusing on the Lord and on the things above where Christ is seated
4. voice not coming out loud and clear
5. not being able to have a right posture
6. being very uncomfortable
7. distraction etc...
SOLUTION
These signs above and much more can go on quite for a while like 30 minutes, more or less… it all depends upon how you have spent your day; if you had prayed prior to coming for example to corporate prayer, you can easily enter in without wondering. You cannot have a break through in prayer while the devil is present, therefore if you see any of these signs mentioned above, take authority in the name of Jesus, bind the devil and cast him out. The devil is stubborn and does not quit easily so you might have to rebuke him 3 times or so… in some instances you will know what spirit is against you. Bind it and cast it out. Before you cast out however, make sure you have repented of your sins. The devil does not have to leave where he has legal ground. Fight powerfully, Shout the name of Jesus, the Blood of Jesus, ‘holy fire’, ‘holy sword’. Quote the scriptures, especially warfare scriptures such as
“Resist the devil and he will flee from you”.
“No weapon formed against me shall prosper”
"The Lord rebuke you satan"etc..
Remember that you can overcome satan “ but they overcome him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony…” As you pray, persist, persevere, continue to resist the devil with everything within you, do not be alarmed if you do this and after 20 minutes, the war is still going on. You might not feel victory coming easily but don’t give up, very soon the atmosphere will change and your prayers will start to flow. RESIST THE DEVIL, HE WILL FLEE.
The Full Armor of God
The full armor of God was given to us by God for a reason. All those who choose to live godly will go through many spiritual warfares, but in all these things, we can overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us! We can win every spiritual battle that comes our way if we fully follow God’s commands and laws in the battle.
Ephesians 6: 10 "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness 15and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit."
4 Forces We Battle Against
1. the rulers (principalities) 2. the powers, 3. the world forces of this darkness, 4. against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places
Spiritual warfare is real. The devil has power and that’s why such words as ‘forces, powers etc…” are used to describe these 4 groups that fight against us. All God’s children should not let satan take advantage of them; they should not be ignorant of his schemes. The devil was defeated by Jesus at the cross but how is he so able to lead countless people astray? The only way satan is able to do such great damage is by deceit. He does all he can to cause people believe in lies. This explains why the very first weapon that God gave us is the belt of Truth. You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Know the truth. Believe only the truth, you will then walk in freedom all the days of your life.
7 Weapons Given to Us by Almighty God
1. Belt of Truth
2. Breastplate of righteousness
3. Gospel of peace
4. Shield of faith
5. Helmet of salvation
6. The sword of the spirit
7. Praying at all times in the spirit
There are more weapons than these, but these are sufficient to help you win the battle.
1. Belt of Truth: Beware of false teachings, they are so cheap in these last days on internet, you-tube, face-book. Many are self appointed teachers; others are agents of satan hidden in your midst at the church... and they are leading God’s children astray. Every time you believe a lie, satan has a great open doors. At our church, many times we have cast out spirits of false teaching in many Christians. The truth is God’s word. So you put on the full armor of the Truth by reading, listening to the word of God and believing it 100%. If you are not reading the word of God faithfully, this means you don’t have the full armor of the belt of truth.
2. Breastplate of righteousness: According to Romans 6:16, our obedience to God results in righteousness. We must obey God’s words no matter what. A person is considered righteous by what they do and not by what they believe alone. When you walk in obedience to God’s law and commands, He will grant you the full armor of the breastplate of righteousness.
3. Gospel of peace: you must evangelize to your neighbor, to those who are near and far. Please note that your feet must be shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. This means that you must go! Go therefore! In these last days, we are using technology as an excuse and so we don’t want to do everything via internet, texting… but we must go my brother and sister! There is a difference when you minister face to face, much of God’s work requires hands on. Jesus said, ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…”
When you faithfully are witnessing for Jesus, He grants you the full armor of the Gospel of peace.
4. Shield of faith: As you read or hear God’s word, you must believe! No room for doubts, no room for questioning! Hasn’t God been faithful? Why would we ever doubt someone who has never disappointed us, not even once! You must believe in Him.
Hear/listen God's Word, read the Word of God and act upon the Word of God. How much? Let me say, as much as you need to eat daily, so should you feast on the word of God. wouldn’t it be wonderful to always feast on the word of God before every breakfast, lunch and dinner? When you faithfully commit to the word of God, He will grant you the full armor of The Sword of the Spirit
5. Speaking in tongues will cause your faith to grow. Jude 20 says ‘But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.’...Praying at all times in the spirit: Pray without ceasing
6. Helmet of salvation
7. The sword of the spirit: This is the word of God that is sharper than two edged sword (Hebrews 4:12)
Why is it Important to Have these Weapons?
Can you win a spiritual warfare without these weapons? To answer your questions, suppose a nation is about to go to war against another nation. Will the nation win if they don’t have proper weapons? In the same way that even in earthly terms, no one can win a war if they don't have weapons, neither will God’s children win a spiritual combat without the full armor of God. God gave us the full armor of God not just some… so have the full armor of God. Did you know that the angels that God send to fight for you only have weapons that you possess?
In other words if you don’t have the word of God implanted in you, your angel will show up during the time of warfare without the shield of faith and also without the Sword of the spirit. Imagine that…
During one of the prayer times at church, one prayer warrior’s spiritual eyes were open to behold a spiritual battle they were fighting. The demons charged against the prayer warrior who was on the knees praying in English. The prayer warrior wondered why the angel was not overcoming the devil. All of sudden, the Holy Spirit reminded him to pray in tongues, when he did so, the angel warrior came forth and defeated the demons. In spiritual warfare, pray in tongues powerfully. For we don’t know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit of God knows how to intercede for us.
WHERE DO YOU GET THESE WEAPONS / FULL ARMOR OF GOD? As we have seen, God has these weapons available for His children, just claim them and put them on. Remember, those who can claim and receive them are only the ones who are doers of His word Not merely hearers.
Spiritual Combat at Blazing Holy Fire Church
Our church prays mainly every day at 7pm to midnight or 1 am or through the night. Those who have spiritual eyes open, they can behold that every night from 7pm to 9pm, as we pray, there is a spiritual combat going on, in which the devil is beaten badly. God has taught us how to fight and so we use all the means He has given us to fight a good fight of faith. By 9pm, the battle is over and by God's grace we win most of the times and then we take a quick break to come back and pray till 12 or 1am or through the night. When we come back from the break, we enter another realm of intimacy with the Lord, receiving gifts and sometimes there can be another warfare but the devil does not have a chance to resist at this time... The followings are what we have learned and would like to share with you.
PRAY DAILY: Pray daily without skipping. when Jesus taught us how to pray, He said “Give us today our daily bread”. Prayer must be done every day and preferably at least 3 times a day. - Daniel prayed 3 times a day. “Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously.”
SET TIME TO PRAY: ! Have a prayer schedule, not whenever. God does not eat lefts over. You have a schedule set for your job, you don’t show up any times at the Dr’s office, how much more should we honor God – our creator!
God deserves the first fruits, so give him the best. Don’t pray whenever you feel like it, whenever you just get a chance. Set aside a time that you are going to commit to prayer. Once you set this time aside, make up your mind that no matter what you will do it. Pray for the Holy Spirit to help you be faithful in this. When we pray @7, those are not the only prayers we have, I advise people to always have time of prayer before the meeting, at home and everywhere they are able to pray. Once you set a time to pray, be consistent and start right on time.
POSITION:
KNEEL: Luke 22:39-46 tells us that when Jesus prayed He went on His knees. From experience we have seen that your position before God as you pray is very important. Remember, you are before The Great King. There is a proper protocol before The King. You don’t just behave however your body feels like.
LIFT UP YOUR HANDS: This is so very important! A few months ago, we were doing deliverance on an ex-satanist. The evil spirits did not like this person to lift up the hands in prayer. They would do all they can to prevent them because whenever she would lift up the hands and start praying, these evil spirits will start being cast out one by one. But when the hands went down, they were not frightened. Though this person wanted to lift up their hands, in the flesh she could not it, the spirit was willing but the flesh was weak – she was not yet totally free. So the church always provided two people to help lift up the hands, one on the left, the other on the right and we did so until the person was completely set free.
Exodus 17: 11Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.
Exodus 9:33 Then Moses left Pharaoh and went out of the city. He spread out his hands toward the LORD; the thunder and hail stopped, and the rain no longer poured down on the land.
Ezra 9:5 Then, at the evening sacrifice, I rose from my self-abasement, with my tunic and cloak torn, and fell on my knees with my hands spread out to the LORD my God.
CLOSE YOUR EYES: close your eyes, lift up your heart, mind, thoughts towards God in heaven.
VOICE: when you do spiritual combat, pray powerful and loudly. The devil who attacks you during your spiritual warfare prayers cannot be cast out by a nice sweet voice. He is so stubborn, you must rebuke him powerfully with your voice and most important with a strong faith.
Hebrews 5:7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.
PRAYING IN TONGUES: as you do spiritual warfare, pray in tongues, focusing on the Lord Jesus. As you start to do so, the enemy will attack your mind with for example a to do list, things that take your focus away from the Lord. In order for your praying in tongues to be powerful, at the same time as you pray in tongues, think scriptures, quote scriptures in your mind or out loud. This is a sword you have in your hand and very soon it will cut off the hands of the enemy.