Preparing for tonight's Prayer Encounter: How to fight against Spiritual warfare.

Tonight as we gather in the Fireside Room at 6:30 for our Prayer Encounter - I sense we need to call upon the LORD  and prepare for the battle! 

As long as you desire to draw near to God and to become more like him, Satan—the enemy of your soul—is working against you and against God, trying to steal, kill, and destroy every bit of goodness within and around you.

He will do everything he can to thwart your efforts. He will whisper lies to you and try to distract you with temptation and sin.

So what should you do?

You have to fight back.

You have to understand that this kind of fighting is different from anything you’ve experienced before.

2nd Corinthians 10:3-5 says it this way: “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.”

But are you equipped to fight off temptation and sin?

2nd Peter 1 tells us that God has given us everything we need to live a life of godliness in Him. But again, what do you fight with?

The answer is simple. Prayer. It’s the greatest spiritual weapon you have. In fact, you don’t have the strength to fight in any other way.

1. Pray God’s Word

When you’re praying, stand on the anointed Word of God. In other words, take what God says is true and actively believe Him in the way you pray.

Here’s how it works: First, write down a fear, a struggle, or a need. Then find out what God’s word says about it. Finally, pray God’s Word in faith.

Here’s an example: If I’m feeling afraid, I’ll look up a verse on why God tells us we don’t have to be afraid. Then I’ll write it down and stick it in my pocket, or memorize it, or add it in a note in my phone. And the next time I’m afraid, I’ll speak that verse out. “Perfect love casts out fear!” and I’ll say it with oomph, using God’s words in that moment to cast away the thing I’m feeling overwhelmed by.

2. Pray God’s will

1 John 5:14-15 says this: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”

So what’s the key to powerful prayer? It’s praying according to God’s will.

How do we know God’s will? We pray in the Spirit.

When we pray in the Spirit, God himself is praying through us. Like Romans 8:26 says, when we don’t know what to pray, the Holy Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans words cannot express. You can also ask God to reveal His will to you directly—to give you a word from the Bible that will give you direction and strength. And when you are given a word, you can pray it in faith, knowing God is going to answer your prayers.

3. Pray in faith

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double minded and unstable in all they do.” – James 1: 5-8

This passage is clear. You need to get a word from God and then pray it without doubting, believing that God is bigger than anything you could ever see.

You need to not let your circumstances shake you, tossing your emotions around like waves in the sea. You need to stand on His word and believe that He’ll bring it about.

Satan is hard at work against you as you look more and more like our Heavenly Father. And while you need to fight, you don’t need to fear, because in the powerful name of Jesus, you can pray and have all authority in heaven and on earth on your side.

Scott Wilson is the Senior Pastor of The Oaks Fellowship, ministering to about 3,000 people every week in Dallas, TX. He is a frequent conference speaker, and provides mentorship for dozens of pastors and church leaders through Scott Wilson Consulting. Scott is a loving husband and proud father. Scott and his wife, Jenni, have three boys: Dillon, Hunter, and Dakota.