Teachings from India (5). Spiritual warfare is much more obvious in an Indian village context, but the same principles apply in other places too.
"Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves. Don’t take any money with you, nor a traveler’s bag, nor an extra pair of sandals. And don’t stop to greet anyone on the road. (Luke 10:3-4)"
If you go out into villages making a lot of noise, wolves will have you for lunch! This is serious business. You are in enemy territory. This is not a social occasion. Don't even stop to greet other people. You are there to demolish the enemy's kingdom and establish the Kingdom of God as you prayer walk that village.
Psalm 2:8 says we need to be asking the for the nations as our inheritance. God told Moses that He would give him the land of Canaan and its tribes. When missionaries just asked for people they were thrown out of the villages–that is why they had to build compounds. If they had asked for the land too, they would have been able to stay.
The first thing to do in a new village is to bind the strongman (Matt 12:28-29). What are the possessions of the strong man? The people and the land. The land is cursed because of idolatry and prostitution etc. In prayer we can demolish strongholds and bind the strongman. We have the same Holy Spirit to help us that Jesus had. If we expel the strongman from the village then we can take possession of the village. If all we do is preach, then nothing will happen. As we use the power of binding and loosing (Matthew 16:18-19), the strongman is expelled from the village and we can establish a church there.
(We have friends in India who tried an experiment. They picked two villages. One they prayer walked in extensively before trying to reach out to people and in the other they just reached out without any preparatory prayer. In the first village, 45 families came to faith. They were thrown out of the second village.)
3 replies on “Lambs and Wolves”
Thanks for the reminder about how important
spiritual warfare is! This is so easy for us
Westerners to forget. Bless you for this series.
Great stuff – thanks for passing it along!
Don’t take my comments as negative about prayer. When one prayer walks, hopefully one listens. It is important that the Lord preceed us into a place, and that we are doing what he tells us, and doing the works that he is doing. Many religions and nations pray without ever hearing God.
This message is a bit too simplistic. It is the gospel that has power. We have a command to go everywhere with it. But, it is the Holy Spirit that accomplishes the work.
If you don’t live a life of prayer, and if you don’t listen to let the Lord show you what he is doing without a prayer walk, then by all means do it. Walking and praying in town might also make one more sensitive to the people, so that would be good preparation.
But don’t place your faith in the prayer walk. It is hearing and obeying the direction of the one who calls and saves that will bring the result.
Iris Ministries in Mozambique has created more than 6000 congregations in a Muslim nation without spending 45 days in prayer. they pray all the time, and challenge the works of the devil with the works of God. Now That Works Wonders!