Covering all the bases

First, I want to thank my home church, Vineyard Christian Fellowship, for stepping up and covering Gainesville with 24 hour prayer today!

In my last post I talked about resisting the enemy, and I remembered something I meant to add to it. Many years ago my son was feeling sick before he went to bed. He was about five years old and he was trying not to cry, but he was in pain. I prayed for him, used all the appropriate promises of God from the Bible and finished it off in Jesus name. He was still sick and in pain. I told him goodnight and closed the door.

On the other side of the door, I could hear him crying, and it made me mad. Why was he still sick? Why was he still suffering? I was really angry! I turned, opened the door and shouted, "Satan, I bind you and your spirit of infirmity in Jesus name, and I command you to leave!" I told my son goodnight again and closed the door.

Suddenly, I heard him cry out, "Dad!" When I opened the door and looked in he was smiling, and he told me, "It's gone!"

Sometimes we are asking God for things that we already have the authority to do ourselves. We just have to evict the spiritual forces that are hindering our prayers.

In the Old Testament, there is a story of Daniel praying and fasting to get and answer from God. After more than 3 weeks he got this message:

Daniel 10:11 He said to me, “O Daniel, man of high esteem, understand the words that I am about to tell you and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. 12 Then he said to me, “Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. 13 “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia. 14 “Now I have come to give you an understanding of what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to the days yet future.”

 In the new Testament, Paul refers to the Devil as "the prince and power of the air" in Ephesians 2:2, and later he tells us that we do not struggle against flesh and blood, "but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Ephesians 6:12

So, it's not weird to take authority over the enemy. It's just Biblical!