The Power to Fight Your Battles - Free Prayer Guide!
The Power to Fight Your Battles - Free Prayer Guide!
Can you win the spiritual war?
As we come to the end of our series on spiritual warfare, you might be feeling overwhelmed. Now that you better understand the enemy and his tactics, what next? Is it really necessary to take the spiritual battle seriously? As we’ve learned, Jesus believed the battle is real: he fought it himself, intervened when others were being tormented, and proved that he is in control of the spirit world through his miracles and resurrection.
With that in mind, we want to give you a helpful resource to use going forward. We’ve prepared a prayer guide for you with sections for each of the topics we’ve covered in this series: your mind, your body, your wounded heart, and your need for the armor of God. You can download the PDF here:
Listen to the audio of Lynn reading “A Powerful Prayer” here:
Now for an overview of this week’s episode!
Listen now: The Power to Fight Your Battles, Series 8 Ep 6
In the last episode of our series, Fighting Your Spiritual Battles, we’re going to learn how to fight back against the enemy. Throughout this series we’ve seen where and how the enemy might be at work in your mind, your heart, and your physical body. With those foundational truths in place, let’s discuss what you can do in response to the enemy’s work.
When we celebrate Good Friday, we remember Jesus' last words on the cross, “It is finished”. Jesus was saying that to us; he wanted us to know what he had accomplished. It was on the cross that Satan was ultimately defeated just as predicted back in Genesis 3. His ending will not be a happy one! Satan had his accusatory power taken away at the cross. Sin cannot win the victory in our lives. We now have the power to say no to sin in our lives as believers in Jesus.
This good news leads to three conclusions:
1. The battle between God and Satan was never in doubt. It wasn’t two equal combatants going against each other with the victory up for grabs. Satan is a created being and can only do what God allows him to do.
2. We fight from a place of victory. The ultimate reason we can resist the devil is because God lives in us. God is not just with us, but he is in us through the Holy Spirit. We can say no to temptation and sin. Sometimes we lose earthly battles, but ultimately, we are his and there is a glorious future reserved for us because of Jesus.
3. Satan is going to do as much damage as he can until the end. Paul describes him as the Prince of the Power of the Air; he will do whatever he can to wage war against the church and humanity until he is finally defeated.
With those conclusions in mind, we’re going to look at three ways you can fight your spiritual battles:
The Power of Prayer
The Power of People
The Power of the Word
The Power of Prayer
Prayer is a powerful tool given to us by God. You can talk to Him directly! It can and does make a difference. James 5:16a says, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power.” The Bible makes many promises about prayer, but we are not guaranteed an outcome. Praying is a reminder to us who is in charge, and also a sign of our love and dependence on God. When you think about prayer, there are things you can pray against, and things you can pray for.
Things to Pray Against
1. You can pray against believing lies. The enemy loves to sow misinformation and loves it when people believe his lies. For example, he wants you to believe that the more you commit the same sin, the less likely it is that God will forgive you and the more likely you are to stay trapped in sin. These are lies. You need to repent and make amends when you have sinned, but you do that because you’re accepted by God, not so that you can be accepted. You always have the choice to confess your sin and make a different choice in the future.
2. You can pray explicitly against the enemy’s influence. Pray against the enemy’s influence when dealing with your family, especially if there is dysfunction, abuse, or other patterns of hurt and sin. Pray against the enemy when you’re having a significant conflict in your marriage. Pray against the enemy’s influence when you are witnessing to friends, family members, or co-workers.
Things to Pray For
1. Pray for clarity and perspective in difficult situations. When you struggle with clarity, think about talking to a therapist, pastor, or trusted friend. Taking a step back can provide perspective to make good decisions in life and relationships.
2. Pray for courage. Pray for the fortitude to have that conversation with a friend, a parent, a child; the courage to stick to your biblical convictions when it might cost you your reputation.
3. Pray for humility and vulnerability in relationships and with God. Humility is the honest acknowledgement of your worth before God: a sinner in need of a savior and also a dearly loved child. Vulnerability is the key to connection!
The Power of People
1. Ask for help. If you’re sensing a spiritual battle going on in your life, who will you ask to help you fight this battle? Who will you ask to pray for you? Who will you ask to walk alongside you?
2. Offer to help. Who can you be a help to? Who can you start praying specifically and explicitly for? If the opportunity arises, let this person know that you are praying for them. Ask God to put others on your heart.
The Power of the Word
You can combat the lies of the enemy with truth from the word of God. Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Other helpful verses include: “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14); “For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10); “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
How Does the Story End?
Jesus reigns from the right hand of the Father, and he is going to come again and claim Earth as his kingdom. When that happens Satan and his fallen angels will be thrown into the lake of fire to be tormented day and night. Satan won’t even get to rule in hell. That’s his end!
We’d like to conclude our series with three questions that you can think about as you face your spiritual battle:
Who will you worship?
To whom do you belong?
Who will you trust?
Answering these questions will guide you as you resist, flee, and fight the enemy. Believe the truth that following Jesus is worth it. Remember that sin will always take you farther than you want to go and keep you longer than you want to stay, but the good shepherd came so that we might have life and have it abundantly.
Remember to download and share our free prayer guide:
