(Every year I spend 3 to 5 weeks in India leading pastors’ conferences and ministering to people and churches. I teach about spiritual warfare, which is very real in India, as this blog shows. Prayers for my ministry there would be greatly appreciated. For more information see India.ChristianTrainingOnline.org) Spiritual Warfare in India 1
One of the good things about the long travel time is plenty of time to read, pray, meditate and worship. I kept a list of things God was showing me.
1. I don’t like being away from my family. Of course I already knew that. The ONLY reason I would do such a thing, since I have no desire to be away from my family and no real interest in travel or seeing the world, is that I know God wants me to do this. I knew this from the first, walking down the aisle after church to tell David B. I was willing to go along on the trip to India he has mentioned during his report to the church. That is what keeps me going – God wants me to do this! That’s the only reason – but then that should be the only reason I come, shouldn’t it? Whatever God has in store for me or though me or for the family at home, His will be done.
2. I’ve been reading TOTAL TRUTH by Nancy Pearcey. It’s a great but deep book about world view. I was struck again with something God has been trying to show me: whatever He calls us to do in life is equal to whatever He calls others to do.
3. The book WAKING THE DEAD by John Eldredge clearly makes the point that God gives us the abundant life now. Satan is defeated, but this life is not all it should be! We must fight the battles to gain the ground God has won for us on the cross. When the Jews went into the land they left some Gentile nations for the next generation to fight so they could learn warfare as well. A lioness will let her cubs kill weakened prey so they will learn to hunt and fight on their own. Japanese soldiers in the Philippines were still fighting even after the strength of Japan was broken. They were a defeated nation but mop-operations had to be won to remove all of them. That’s what we do spiritually, fight defeated demons in order to learn warfare. God is the victory but we must do the fighting.
4. Related to this is the truth we are at war. We shouldn’t expect things to be smooth and fine. We are constantly under attack. A lot of the negative things that we say are “God’s will” (like not seeing my other children all these years) is part of Satan’s attack to get us down on ourselves or God. Our wounds are not accidental. They come from Satan. We are not exempt. The loss of time and money with the recent cello event is another example. Satan tries to get us to become discouraged, to believe his lies that God doesn’t care, to feel sorry for ourselves, to believe that this is just the way life is and forget God has more and better. We have great worth in God’s sight. We do evil but aren’t evil. We have God’s glory in us and Satan wants to diminish that any way he can. We must trust in God no matter what the battles bring us or what we don’t understand.
5. Also related to this is the fact that quick prayers won’t win the battle! I need to pray longer and deeper – better quality and quantity in my prayers!
6. John Eldridge says that when going on a new mission he asks God for ‘advance words’ about it in order to hear Him more clearly before things get busy and to let him know what to watch out for. This is something I want to do before counseling, teaching, trips, etc. I prayed and thought about his while on the plane and these are things God told me about this trip:
-just be ‘me’ – open, vulnerable, not some pro from afar
-identify with them, encourage them
-talk from my heart, not from my head
-don’t compete with others for popularity (my own jealousy, insecurity, etc.)
-listen to God (through HS) speak to my heart within and follow that as I teach
I look forward to seeing what else God will be teaching me during the time here. That is a very exciting part about this whole trip. (Friday, January 6, 2006)
Luke 6:12 One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.
What does the statement “quick prayers won’t win the battle” mean? Why won’t they get the battle done? Obviously it’s not just how the long the prayer is that gives it power, so what else must there be for longer prayers to be more effective? Would you say your prayers are too quick?
(If I can answer questions or offer personal counsel, or if you would like a free copy of my Spiritual Warfare Handbook, email me at Jerry@ChristianTrainingOrganization.org or download it from http://sw.christiantrainingonline.org/. My next book, Spiritual Warfare in the Bible, which is a more advanced treatment of spiritual warfare, is also available for free.)