Are you a journalist?

I have been thinking about spiritual warfare lately—what else is new!

When we are not seeing the answers we want or when the answers are slow in coming many times we allow our knees to buckle. If you think about it that is a great battle technique. The enemy turns our focus from stopping him in what he is doing to “laying our stuff on the throne” and then taking it back and asking God all over  again “who, what, why, when and sometimes where”.

Our battle should not be keeping our own faith intact. It should not be a journalistic approach (Get the pun? Who, what why when and where? Ok, never mind, bad joke).

No matter what your maturity level in the spirit BE there and be growing. Do not go back and forth, making excuses for why you are where you are. Don’t act like you don’t know as much as you do so you will not have to be responsible for what you know. Don’t act like you know more than you do—crashing hurts you and the Lord when you fall. You are where you are. You do not expect a 3 year old to act 30.  But you do not expect a 30 year old to act 3 either. Be who and where you are. Do not long for someone else’s life—you have no idea how they got to where they are. Often times people say to me that they want to pray like I pray or be bold like I am or something along those lines. The fact is you do not want the first 25 or 30 years of my walk. Come to think of it, you probably don’t want my today either. You want your walk and you want to overcome the circumstances and the obstacles in your life because you want to be exactly who God called you to be. Right? And even if you do not recognize it right now you are FABULOUS just like you are. He made you in His image right? He is pretty fabulous—think about it.

So, the delays and obstacles you have in life are usually fairly easy to recognize and go after. Is it sin opening doors? Then stop it. Is it circumstances? Something you can change? If yes, do it and if not learn to be content—start praising God no matter what and the view of your circumstances will change even if the circumstances do not change right away. Is it just life? Then who cares? When you get to heaven God is not going to say, “Wow Sally, on Tuesday, June 25, 1976 you let 2 pounds of hamburger spoil in your fridge and I had to supply more meat for your family—sorry you cannot get into heaven.” Crazy huh? So are some of our thought patterns!

But, if little foxes are spoiling the vine then it is time to take care of them, all of them, not just one or two until you get some relief. Little foxes only come when we are the most productive.

Song of Solomon 2:25

Catch for us the foxes,

      the little foxes

that ruin the vineyard

     our vineyards that are in bloom.

Are you blooming? Are you at a place where you feel you are being the best you have ever been and then the little foxes start? You know the scenario. First you just pray each little thing off—or worse, ignore it. Then it starts to be over whelming so you pay attention and there are several things wrong. Now you are going to actually break down and pray. Then more and more happens so you resort to that first paragraph that started all this—the journalistic approach. Why God? Who God? When God? How God? Where God?

Often when someone calls me to pray they are desperate. They need a lot of prayer just to get to -0-. This is not an indictment or a criticism just an informational statement. After praying about how to pray, it often turns out to be a very intense warfare that is formidable. There is a spirit called “formidable foe”. Let’s look at how accurate his name is:

Formidable

1.      Causing fear, dread or apprehension

2.      Having qualities that discourage approach or attack

3.      Tending to inspire awe or wonder

So here we have a spirit whose very name is to cause dread, fear or apprehension. (Remember the whole part about people being desperate when they come for prayer? Most have been so in fear, dread or apprehension that they gave up fighting the enemy and are curled up in a spiritual fetal position wondering what is happening. Look at the second definition, qualities that discourage approach or attack. Interesting isn’t it? Ever feel like that? Afraid to even find out what is going on or afraid to attack?  How about that third one? “Wow this attack is really big. I don’t even know how God can do this.”

The thing is EVERYONE has thought these things and been through this!

Formidable foe is just what his name implies—a mask of fear, dread and discouragement to keep you from approaching him. He is like a brick wall in the natural, built of many bricks and hard to climb. The thing is, after you recognize him bricks are easy to break—a sledge hammer (the word) does it.

Do not look at the whole wall (all the oppositions) and think it is too much; it is too hard, it is impossible. Do not go into the journalistic approach: How will I do this? When is it going to happen? Etc.

Get out the word and so you can begin breaking each brick in the spirit realm and scattering the pieces. Are you fighting on your finances? What does the word say? He desires that you prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers. Are you having health issues? By His stripes you are healed. Just 2 basic examples.

 Put formidable foe on notice. Let him know you are coming after him so he better back off. You will be shocked at how afraid of YOU he is!  Analyze the different issues. One at a time. Write them down—no matter how small they are. Dig in the word. Find your answers and write them down by the problem. When your list is finished (the problems will probably be gone by then, he really IS afraid of you but he may wait to see if you mean it) formulate your plan. Do you need to fast to get yourself ready? Do it. Need agreement? Get an intercessor** to pray with you. Got your scriptures written out or memorized—or both? So you have your weapons and your plan. Wash yourself in the word. Make sure you have a clean heart before Him. Ready?

Go worship. Praise the one who adores you. Dance before His throne in abandon. Tell him how much you love him, bask in that love relationship. Sit at His knee and feel his hand on your hair. Sing in tongues. Act like you just fell in love all over again. Remind yourself of all the things He has done for you. Thank him for them. When you cannot do anything else go take a nap. Crazy huh? You should be exhausted by now and you do not want to fight a war exhausted!

Ready? Praise some more, gets the atmosphere ready. Get your list out. Is formidable foe still around? I doubt it but if he is, take your list out and one brick at a time take him down. Declare the word in the he power of the Holy Spirit. He cannot resist the word. He cannot resist you—you are armored and powerful and moving in the authority of Christ himself. Doesn’t matter how long it takes. You are the one in charge. Decimate the wall. Don’t stop when you feel like a little relief is in sight. Make him sorry he ever messed with you. Make him afraid to do it again. Got every brick?

Wash off with the word again and get back into that throne room. He is waiting to hear from you. He wants to share in your victory. His love for you is waiting to overwhelm you. We don’t rejoice that we have authority over demons but that our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. But, we do rejoice in His love and provisions for us. We do rejoice in victory. We rejoice in the love of a God who has done so much we cannot even begin to comprehend it.

See any bricks in the future—don’t let them become a wall. Destroy them….

**The reason I say get an intercessor is that so many times we go to someone for agreement prayer and it ends up being a gab session. Lots of commiseration. Lots of talk. Lots of philosophy. Lots of talking about the problems. Skip all that and get to the war so you can get out of the mess.