In 1994, Jack Miller wrote a letter to a missionary serving in Uganda who had been discouraged after facing many demonic attacks. Jack’s advice in this letter is wise, pastoral, and practical. The whole letter can be found here (pp. 154-162).
“In my own life, He [Christ] has sent me through much suffering in order to move me from self-confidence to Christ-confidence.” (154)
“don’t permit these things to move you from your foundation in Christ.” (155)
“…the Spirit has been leading you to confess need and weakness in a God-glorifying way. But in all do not lose sight of the goodness of God and the sovereign power of God.” (155)
“Humble yourself, and the devil will have no power over you (James 4:6-7).” (156)
“Timothy Warner says that the bottom-line issue is always one of control. In his view, each of us has many wonderful potentialities within us. Our problem is that we want these potentialities to be realized under our own control and on our own terms, but God wants them to come to fruition by our deepening submission to His rule, His control.” (157)
“Don’t assume automatically that we are relying exclusively on God and His grace. Read Psalm 62 and Hebrews 11, esp. v. 6, and let the Scriptures do a job of unmasking our self-dependence and reliance on our instruments of “magic”: education, finances, organization, etc.” (157)
“Recruit others to pray for you in any demonic encounter. Could you get a group of about 50 people who would pray for you constantly and have special intercession at times of crisis? I am thinking of people who would agree to pray for you 3 times a day.” (158)
“Make the whole ministry center on private and corporate prayer. Do not expect bigger victories in tough areas until corporate praying becomes the complete center of the ministry. It is in prayer together that we find grace to give up control to the Father, rely exclusively on the Spirit, and see the demons subdued. It is here we get our life, vigor, zest, and authority for the battle.” (158)
“Without constant adoration, thanksgiving, intercession, and confession together, we are going to teach people to rely on our traditions, plans, technologies, and methods rather than on grace. Such converts will simply be switching their idols from witchcraft stuff to the tools of modernism.” (158)
“…have prayer for the cleansing of the home from all demonic powers. I would also ask the Lord to rebuke all demon power over the family as a whole.” (159)
To deal with it [spiritual attack] in Bundibugyo, you should consider the following.
1. Take two days to fast and pray to rid yourself by grace of these things. Usually, after about four hours of praying, I detect aspects and elements of self-exaltation, negative attitudes in myself that were concealed from me. Sin and self-deception go together.
2. Have group prayer (team and church leaders) for the same purpose of self-humbling and cleansing moving into reliance on God alone, repenting of all secularism too.
3. Then move into a period of praise, following the pattern of Jehoshaphat.
4. Next, look for ways outwardly to humble yourselves together, confessing sins, affirming one another, etc.
5. Come to one-mindedness as in Acts 1:13-14; 2:1, 42; 4:23-31, and then together claim Bundibugyo for Christ, rebuking the demon powers, or better, asking the Lord to rebuke them.
6. Finally, pray for wisdom to work along the line of James 1, especially the prayer for wisdom, but also get to the end of the chapter where it speaks of tongue control and care for the widows and orphans. Especially ask God to show you as Christians how to fight on a practical level the dark powers in this town.
“I am deeply concerned that all of us as a mission should move from self-dependence and rather casual approach to prayer to a full mobilization for battle.” (p. 162)
(Jack Miller, The Heart of a Servant Leader, pp. 154-162)
Cultivating Epiphanies 