Prayer for the Battle (episode 34)

0:00 Do you love a prodigal? Do you feel like you are lost in a scary and endless wilderness? Welcome to the When You Love a Prodigal podcast. I am Judy Douglass and I spent more than 15 years in that wilderness. I believe together we will discover help and hope for your journey. Welcome back. I hope our conversation last week on the mystery of prayer, the invitation to talk with God, and the possibility of lament were helpful to you. This week we look at another important way we pray, especially when we love a prodigal. In middle school our prodigal had joined a gang looking for friends he could identify with. He lost touch with them in the year he was in a program for troubled teens for which we were very grateful. But when he went back to school, now high school, his gang was there and he dropped right back in. One day he came home with terror in his eyes. His gang had gotten in a fight with another gang and somehow the members of the other gang had felt that our Josh was the cause of the conflict. They were coming after him. We prayed with him and for

1:33 him recognizing that he was under attack from the evil one. But how? How do we pray against the devil? Do you believe that? Do you know that there is an enemy and he really likes our prodigals? We all want to live in peace, don't we? But our world is filled with terror and war and climate and all sorts of things. Almost daily enemies attack and kill. They are frightening, unpredictable, and deadly. Yet we have a more powerful, more sinister enemy who hates us and has a terrible plan for our lives and for our prodigals. Because he is unseen, we tend to forget or ignore him. But we are warned and admonished in scripture to be on the alert. We have seen that he is clever, looking for just the right moment, masquerading as good when in fact he is abominable. Our natural tendency is to cringe in fear or to run and hide. God's word though tells us to do just the opposite. Scripture says, submit yourselves then to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Now that's

3:07 a wonderful thought. But how? How do you resist the devil? You can do so for yourself and on behalf of your loved one. Here are some simple but practical ways you can stand up to the demonic bully. The first two help prepare you to be strong to resist in the moment and as a way of life. The first one is to praise God. The evil one does not like hearing our God being lifted up, glorified, praised. So we do just that for scripture tells us, yet Lord you are holy and enthroned on the praises of Israel. God's glory and greatness are revealed as we praise him. We praise him in these simple ways daily or when we feel under attack. These are ways to praise God or to lift him up. Name his names, his attributes and qualities.

4:11 He is good and faithful and loving and merciful. He is God Almighty. He is Jehovah Jireh the provider. He is our shepherd who cares for us. You can think of many more names of God and every time the devil hears them, it pushes him away. You can read aloud from the Psalms that especially praise our Lord, such as Psalms 95-100. They are full of praise for God. If you can sing or not if you are by yourself, sing the doxology, praise God from whom all blessings flow. That just lifts God up and again sends the devil fleeing. Sing praise songs, read aloud from your church liturgies, anything where you are praising and lifting up God is anathema to the evil one. You send him away. Here's another thing you can do to send him away. Thank God in all things. Giving thanks in all things is probably the most life-changing way of life practice I have learned. I have mentioned this concept numerous times on this podcast because it is so vital to our trust in God and our ability to resist the devil. When Satan has confronted or attacked, giving thanks has rescued me

5:43 over and over. When I give thanks to God, especially in difficult, challenging, painful or frightening situations, several things happen. Almost immediately my perspective begins to change from negative to more positive. Just saying thank you, Lord, changes my attitude. It may be small to begin with, but it does. Another thing that happens is I am affirming to God that I trust him to be who he is. He is God and he is good. I say it aloud, so listening minions of the evil one hear that as well, and it sends them running. Often saying thank you, Lord, is like handing God a key to open a door, to show me what he is doing and to rescue me. These are ways for us. Then God tells us, since we're going to be engaged in battle because the evil one really wants to hold on to our prodigals, it's really important that we wear the armor of God. The apostle Paul in Ephesians 6 reminds us that the real battles in life are spiritual. He says, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the authorities, the powers of this dark world and the spiritual

7:16 forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground and after you've done everything, to stand, to stand firm. He lists the pieces of armor that we are able to be clothed in at all times. The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the fact that we have the righteousness of Christ as ours now. The shoes of the gospel of peace. The gospel will give us peace wherever we go, walk, run. The shield of faith. Faith is a protector from the darts that the evil one throws at us. The helmet of salvation. The assurance we have that we have been saved by the blood of Christ and it's a protection of our head, our mind, our thinking. The sword of the spirit. The offensive weapon that we have that we are wearing, the armor, is the word of God. But we also have prayer. He tells us in this passage that we are to be praying in the spirit. Not just in our own thoughts and words, but letting the spirit guide us so that we're praying the things that God wants. Another way that

8:49 we send the enemy away, that we resist him, is we speak truth. When you sense you're under attack, when you feel oppressed, when confusion reigns because the devil loves confusion, speak aloud to the demons that are tormenting you, announcing the truth of scripture. Choose to confront them with truth rather than just making a power play and say, I'm stronger than you because you're not in yourself, only in the Lord. Seek out verses that address the way you are being harassed. Quote scriptural promises such as, from Philippians 1-6, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you and in your prodigal will carry it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. And this in Deuteronomy 31, the Lord himself goes before you and will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. And one of my very favorite verses, which we talked about when we did several series on time, in Isaiah 60-22, it says, I am the Lord. In its time, I will do this swiftly. And then in Hebrews 4, we are admonished, encouraged, invited.

10:28 Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Not infrequently, I speak the following truths aloud when I feel attacked by the evil one or that my loved one is. Satan and all your demons, you have no authority in my life. I belong to God, washed and cleansed by the blood of Jesus, adopted by the Father into God's family, filled and guarded by the Holy Spirit. You must cease, desist, leave, go wherever Jesus tells you to go. I speak on behalf of my prodigal who has professed faith in Christ. This is such an assurance that we can trust God. He will fight for us, but he also says, you have the Spirit living in you to resist the evil one and to stand in the gap for your loved one. And then finally, walk in the Spirit. This is the ultimate means of resisting the devil. Make sure that I am consistently living in the power of the Holy Spirit. Think about it. The Spirit of God comes to live in us as we put our faith in Jesus and his sacrifice for us. He offers

12:00 us so many realities. He gives us comfort, counsel, encouragement, wisdom, reminders, help, truth, peace, the presence of God, power for whatever our need. Every day, every moment, even as we are harassed by the evil one, he is available to you and to me as we let the Spirit fill us, guide us, and empower us. So when our enemy comes at us at our weakest moment or approaches us with subtle variations or counterfeits, we can resist. God gives us praise, thanksgiving, armor, truth, and a Holy Spirit so we can stand strong and resist the devil, which is what we did for our frightened son. We resisted the attack of the evil one and asked God for a rescue. God gave a solution that took Josh far away for a month, living and working with people who loved God and loved our wayward one. Josh was grateful when he returned and determined to make better choices for his life, at least for a while, so we can resist the devil for ourselves as he attacks us and on behalf of, in the gap

13:37 for, our loved ones. Think about it. Where have you seen the evil one attacking you or your prodigal? Which of these approaches—praising God, giving thanks, putting on the armor, telling the truth, speaking truth, or making sure you're walking in the Spirit—do you think will help you resist the devil in any way he's attacking you right now? God bless you. Thank you for joining me today on the When You Love a Prodigal podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. Your review helps the show reach more people with the hope and encouragement of Jesus. Don't forget, take a look at the show notes, and for more helpful information, resources, and books, check out JudyDouglass.com. That's Douglass with two S's. You can find me on Facebook and on Twitter and Instagram at JudyDouglass417.

14:53 Until next week.