Spiritual Battle Prayer

God calls you to spiritual battle in prayer: not with your hatred or judgment but in humility, standing in faith before God.

Peace is a gift from God. But sometimes He also calls you to spiritual battle. Not the fake battle of hating someone or something, where hatred feels like you’re doing something right! (Literally, GOD FORBID.) But real war, real spiritual battle, is that God’s will be done in your life and in another’s.

Prayer is powerful. It aligns our will with the Lord’s when we’re praying according to Scripture and our heart’s love for Him and others.

It doesn’t always have to be big! Help when we’re running out of a medication. Help for a kid who doesn’t want to go school that day. Help when we can’t find our car keys and we really need to go.

And conversational prayers with God throughout the day seem ordinary but this is how to ground yourself in the Spirit, love, and will of God.

But sometimes, sometimes, we go to war–not through hatred or curses and not by concentrating on an evil power. But by arming ourselves in the armor of the Lord. Training and preparation. Pray before, during, and after the battle. This is powerful. This is glory of God stuff.

Here’s how to do it.

Prepare for Spiritual Battle

Ask God to lead you into His will. Even when we want something good for someone else, it may not be their highest good. And sometimes when we pray to be relieved of suffering, even though that temporary suffering is exactly what you need. So pray for God’s will ahead of time. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Pray regularly, including about your prayer! The best way to pray effectively is to build up those prayer muscles ahead of time. Prayer is wonderful and blessed, but it is hard work! Persistent and regular prayer gets you used to hearing God and praying according to His will. And before you go into battle, ask God to prepare your heart and to help you pray effectively. Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:18)
Make obedience a habit. In the days leading up to your battle prayer, practice obedience. And whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. (1 John 3:22)
Fast. When you’re going to pray hard for something big, it’s a good idea to fast before you pray. If fasting from food is dangerous for you then fast from something else, like T.V. or reading magazines if you enjoy doing those things. Release yourself from earthly concerns like food or T.V. in order to purify yourself and concentrate on God.
Forgive, or be working at it. You can’t do any serious praying if you’re hanging on to rage and hatred. I frankly don’t care how justified you feel your anger is, God says to forgive. When Jesus looked out of that howling mob after his blood after his perfect blood he said, “’Father, forgive them because they don’t know what they are doing.’” If you have a lack of forgiveness toward someone, that may be a deep-seated problem because that person may be an awful person. But in that case, the least that we can do the beginning of the journey is to tell God that you are sorry for hating an individual, a political figure, a race, a nationality, a religion. That you need supernatural intervention to be wise, forgiveness doesn’t mean you have to think everything is okay, but to release that burden from your heart. Because God’s Word is pretty clear about this! For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:14-15)
Rest. Before your prayer day get some rest. Battle prayer is hard work!

During the Spiritual Battle Prayer

Pray with someone else. Having a prayer partner is a great thing and I encourage you all to do it. But whether you do or not, tell someone you trust that you will be praying for this problem, and could they join you in prayer? “Where two or three are gathered together, “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven, for where two or three come together in My name, there I am with them. (Matt. 18:19,20) There is tremendous power in focused, believing prayer when several people are praying together for the same thing.
Consider going somewhere else to pray. It’s fine to pray at home, but sometimes we are freer to pray without the distractions and comfort of home. Consider going to the church if you’re not going to be interrupted! Sneak into the sanctuary if you have to. (!) Or consider going to a place like St. Andrews Abbey in Valyermo, whose monks saturate the grounds with prayer.
Pray in confidence. Believe that God is going to answer you! Pray in faith. And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” (Matthew 21:21-22)
Get moving. Don’t just sit there. Get down on your knees. Prostrate yourself. Get up and take a walk. If you’re worried about the neighbors thinking you’re crazy, then take a drive into the national forest or to the Abbey. There are plenty of times I’ve prayed out loud and fervently when I’m walking my dog. My dog understands.
Listen for an internal feeling of completion. You might feel that it’s time to stop for now. Sometimes the prayer gets fully answered right then and there, and you feel a sense that it is done. Other times you know you will pray for this again but you are done for now. Listen to these feelings, God wants you to rest.
Combine talking to God, imaging, and silence of the heart. Certainly you will talk to God about the problem. Don’t feel that you have to be all righteous and holy. Ask Him for what you believe is best and ask Him to guide and direct your prayers. Ask Him to show you His will beforehand, and then pray boldly! Pray in trust! Combine words with imaging the person or problem you are praying for, and give them over to God. Also be in silence sometimes, not because you are done but because you are praying with another level of your heart and consciousness.

After the Spiritual Battle Prayer

Thank and praise Him! He is working on your behalf and on the behalf of the people you are praying for.
Rest. Battle prayer is hard work.
Write down your prayer and answers. This doesn’t need to be a book, but jot down what you prayed for, date it, and watch for answers. Note: a prayer journal is a cool thing to do.
If you have not received your answer yet, keep praying. Some answers are immediate. Many answers to battle prayers will not be immediate, such as someone’s salvation. Keep on praying regularly and consistently, and listen to the Lord about praying more battle prayers for this situation until you see the answer to your prayer, or the situation resolved in a different way, or you need to seek the will of God more deeply, come to believe that you were not praying in the will of God, or you feel the Holy Spirit telling you that your part in the prayer is done.

Application

Is there a situation that is so stubborn and serious it requires battle prayer? Praise God and pass the ammunition!

Verses on Fervent Prayer

James 5:16 – Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. — Carol

1 John 5:14 – And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. Sandy

Romans 8:26 – Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. — Alice

Matthew 7:8 – For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. — Nita

Colossians 4:2 – Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

Psalm 145:18 – The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. — Jackie

Philippians 4:6 – Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Matthew 7:11 – If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Philippians 2:13 – For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. — Kathy

Luke 6:12 – In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.

Mark 11:24 – Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

1 John 5:14-15 – And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

Hebrews 4:16 – Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

John 14:14 – If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. – Desyl

Matthew 21:21-22 – And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

Matthew 7:7 – “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Mark 11:25 – And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”