For the past two months Tony and I have been engaged in some of the most intense spiritual warfare of our lives.
We were in Taiwan when we received a phone call detailing a situation very close to the heart of our family. God challenged us to be willing to pray and intercede over it, and especially that one of the people concerned would surrender their life to the Lord–something we had been praying about for years. We knew from previous experience what this could mean–every spare minute engaged in intercession and warfare. It would mean that some nights we would be up half the night in prayer–not because we had chosen to but because the Lord would wake us. No more lazy evenings watching TV. Up early in the mornings so we could fit in extra prayer time.
The verses that we sensed we were to pray over particularly come in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.
A book by Paul Billheimer, which I highly recommend, called Destined for the Throne: How Spiritual Warfare Prepares the Bride of Christ for Her Eternal Destiny
Within two days, we saw our first, very small breakthrough.
Shortly after this at one of our home church gatherings, everyone broke into small groups to pray about the “impossible situations” they were facing in their lives–for example, two families wanted to pray for people with serious drug and alcohol problems. Maybe 5 or 6 people were prayed for.
Within a month, the person Tony and I were praying for had found the Lord due to a remarkable series of circumstances–thank you Jesus, we are so very grateful–and had led someone else to Christ. Another one of the other “impossible situations” had become a Christian too And it is very clear that God is working in two more.
Yes, the timing was right in our particular battle, but spiritual warfare will result in people finding Christ.
The end of this story has not been written yet–it is still an ongoing journey. We have won the first battle and that gives us confidence that we can press through to see the war won. We know that Jesus has won the overall victory.
If anyone would like a list of the verses we use in spiritual warfare, let me know.
I’d love to hear any stories where you have seen something similar.
10 replies on “You want to see someone become a Jesus follower? Try spiritual warfare”
Felicity,
Just recently we have experienced someone become a Christ follower through prayer (Spiritual Warfare Ephesians 6:18). A sixteen year old girl in our simple church strategically prayed for another young lady (an atheist) at her school. The strategic prayer that was used came straight out of Neil Cole’s book, Cultivating a Life for God. This happened on a Sunday night (9 days ago).
Wednesday (6 days ago) the young lady that was prayed for was walking through the park after school. She was contemplating life, specifically how her life was good, but something was missing. In her contemplation she came across a bed. I know this sounds crazy, but the bed was sitting in the middle of the park, head board, foot board attached, and perfectly made with comforter and pillow.
Now this young lady has no experience or knowledge of the Scriptures, but immediately upon hearing this story I immediately thought of Jesus’ words, “Come to me all who are weak and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” The young lady saw the bed and for some reason, in her contemplation, thought of God. She concluded that what was missing in her life was a relationship with God.
She felt compelled to pick up the phone and call someone. The person that she called was the 16 year old that prayed for her salvation three days earlier. The 16 year old was able to talk to her and lead her into a relationship with Jesus Christ. Amazing!
If you are familiar with Cole’s LTG process, then you are familiar with the prayers that were prayed for this young lady. All of which were answered for and experienced by the person who prayed them.
This is an amazing testimony to the faithfulness of God and the reality of Spiritual warfare. Not only was one young lady ushered into the Kingdom by God Himself, but the faith of we who prayed has been strengthened and fortified by the Sovereign God of the Universe.
We are thankful to be able to experience the mighty workings of God.
Thank you for your life and experience with Him that is shared with all of us insignificant but very significant members of the body of Christ.
bygracealone,
Buck
Buck, thank you for sharing this amazing story. It’s a great encouragement to faith to hear stories like this. I sometimes wonder how much more we would see God do if only we prayed more.
I pray every day. Sometimes I am able to connect but most times it feels like I am going through the motions.. so my praying more doesn’t really result in connecting more.
I would like the list of verses =). Perhaps you could e-mail me? It has really been encouraging reading your blog the last couple of weeks. Thank you!
I’ve tried to send you the verses, but the email won’t go through
Interested in seeing the verses and learning more. I am a non Christian very committed to my own faith but very moved by your postings and stories
Felicity, I’m very interested in this and I’ve ordered the book you recommended. I’d like to see the scriptures you mention, too. I want it to be true; it would be great to have some sort of actual potency to do battle in spiritual realms. We’ve talked about this in our group and everyone else feels pretty much as I do. We’d like it to be true, but we don’t want to go off on some tangent or into error.
I spent a lot of time in pentecostal/charismatic churches and have participated in the spiritual warfare sessions, but to be honest I always felt a little silly — like we were play-acting. And as far as I know nothing ever came of it. Maybe we were doing something wrong, or maybe with no understanding. I don’t know. I would so love to hear more about this from someone I feel I can trust (such as you) and see the scriptural backing for it.
I know about the binding and loosing and the spiritual armor and all, but I’m just not sure they’re intended to be taken so literally. I’m not set in concrete, but I’m genuinely not persuaded one way or the other.
So, anything you can say would be appreciated — by all of us.
Thanks! Cindy
Felicity, I would love to have the list of verses you use in spiritual warfare that you offered to share. Thanks, Janice
Janice, I’ve sent it to you via email.
Just discovered your site this morning…. Very encouraging… thank you for being here…I would like
a list of the verses you use in spiritual warfare.