Spiritual Warfare

Powerful words from Octavius Winslow on remembering prayer is coming before God’s throne of grace. A reading from Morning Thoughts, which has been my favorite devotional this year.

“The throne of grace.” Hebrews 4:16
Forget not, dear reader, it is the throne of grace, to which you come in prayer. It is a throne, because God is a Sovereign. He will ever have the suppliant recognize this perfection of His nature. He hears and answers as a Sovereign. He hears whom He will, and answers what and when He will. There must be no dictation to God, no refusing to bow to His sovereignty, no rebelling against His will. If the answer be delayed, or God should seem to withhold it altogether, remember that “He gives no account of any of His matters,” and that He has a right to answer or not to answer, as seems good in His sight. Glorious perfection of God, beaming from the mercy-seat!But it is also a throne of grace. And why? Because a God of grace sits upon it, and the scepter of grace is held out from it, and all the favors bestowed there are the blessings of grace. God has many thrones. There is the throne of creation, the throne of providence, the throne of justice, and the throne of redemption; but this is the throne of grace. Just the throne we need. We are the poor, the needy, the helpless, the vile, the sinful, the unworthy; we have nothing to bring but our deep wretchedness and poverty, nothing but our complaints, our miseries, our crosses, our groanings, our sighs, and tears.

But it is the throne of grace. For just such is it erected. It is set up in a world of woe- in the midst of the wilderness- in the very land of the enemy- in the valley of tears, because it is the throne of grace. It is a God of grace who sits upon it, and all the blessings He dispenses from it are the bestowments of grace. Pardon, justification, adoption, peace, comfort, light, direction- all, all is of grace. No worth or worthiness in the creature draws it forth- no price he may bring purchases it- no tears, or complainings, or misery moves the heart of God to compassion- all is of grace. God is so full of compassion, and love, and mercy, He does not need to be stimulated to pour it forth. It gushes from His heart as from a full and overflowing fountain, and flows into the bosom of the poor, the lowly, the humble, and the contrite; enriching, comforting, and sanctifying their souls.

Then, dear reader, whatever be your case, you may come. If it is a throne of grace, as it is, then why not you? Why stand afar off? If the poor, the penniless, the disconsolate, the guilty are welcome here- if this throne is crowded by such, why make yourself an exception? Why not come too? What is your case, what is your sorrow, what is your burden? Ah! perhaps you can disclose it to no earthly ear. You can tell it only to God. Then take it to Him. Let me tell you for your encouragement, God has His secret audience-chamber, where He will meet you alone, and where no eye shall see you, and no ear shall hear you, but His; where you may open all your heart, and disclose your real case, and pour all your secrets into His ear. Precious encouragement! It comes from those lips into which grace was poured. “You, when you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father which is in secret; and your Father which sees in secret shall reward you openly.” Then, upon this promise, go to the throne of grace. Whatever be the need, temporal or spiritual, take it there. God loves your secrets. He delights in your confidence, and will honor the soul that thus honors Him.

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)