Warfare Prayers Series

WARFARE PRAYERS

Dr. D. K. Olukoya

Beloved, our message this week focuses on one thing that seems very difficult for a lot of Christians to do and yet is the only solution to their numerous problems and that is Warfare Prayer. In this message, we will examine how to fight and win warfare through prayers. Revelation 12:7-8 says, "And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon fought and his angels. And prevailed not; neither was their place found anymore in heaven." Verse 12 says, "Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." The devil therefore wants to spend that short time very well. Psalms 2:1-5 says, "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his anointed saying, Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh and the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure."

Psalms 2: 9 says, "Thou shall break them with a rod of iron and thou shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel." The above statements are so tough that they do not sound like that of gentlemen. 1 Samuel 2-10 says, "The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces, out of heaven shall he thunder upon them, the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king and exalt the horn of his anointed."

There is a raging battle going on day and night between two opposing forces. You may not believe it. But whether you believe it or not, you are involved in that battle anyway. This battle is going on between negative and positive powers, evil and good, the real thing and the counterfeit, light and darkness, right and wrong. Even if you are a perfect gentleman and you do not like to talk about wars and bloodshed or violence, you have no option when it comes to spiritual wars because you are already involved. Some people got involved from their mothers’ wombs and are still fighting. Some started as soon as they were born. It is a serious battle where no one can be neutral. We have been born into it and we have got no choice but to fight it out. We cannot run away from it. The world is not like a commercial bus where you can stop your journey at any moment. No, you are in it and therefore, you are part of it. It is a fiercely contested conflict. Satan is an intelligent strategist and an obstinate fighter. He refuses to acknowledge defeat until he is completely defeated. Therefore, all the lost grounds must be recovered from him. Because he sometimes renews his attack, any ground that you have recovered from him must be properly defended. It is not enough to find yourself in the promised land, you must also defend it. Satan never gives up, he keeps trying. If he fails on Monday, he will come back on Tuesday. You have to consistently defend your ground.

Prayer is not preparation for the battle, it is the battle. This is why the enemy will first take away the prayer life of any christian he wants to finish up. Once that prayer life is finished, all other things are easy. If you notice that your prayer life is going down, know that the Holy Spirit is blowing an alarm indicating that there is a renewed battle against you. You must stand up and start fighting. Let it be clear to you that the flesh does not want to pray. It is not interested in it so, you have to force it.

You and I find ourselves in a geographical location where demons were already ruling before we were born. It is an environment where practically all our land has been donated to demons, a land where market places are places of spiritual transactions. We find ourselves in an environment where the average person believes hundred per cent in herbalists, and anything they say goes. In this kind of environment, you have to know what you are doing. I have an American preacher friend who preaches American messages to Nigerian demons. He is the kind of person who puts his two hands in his pocket and will be talking about "Gad." One day, he was invited to a certain church to preach and he preached as he normally did, jumping all over the place and sweating. That day he got to a level where he was able to settle a bit and the Holy Spirit said, "Son, make an announcement that anybody here with charms in his pocket should bring them out now and throw them in front of you. He said, "Holy Spirit, which kind of announcement is that in the church, it is not possible." He attempted to bind the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit said, "You cannot bind me, say what I am telling you." Then he made the announcement thinking that he was going to face a serious embarrassment and would likely be banned from coming there again. But to his amazement, he saw hands coming up and things began to fly and were dropping by his side.