Tag Archives: darkness

Forty Days of Praying the Word of God: Day 33

“The Lord thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded. He shot His arrows and scattered the enemy…”

“God arises. His enemies scatter, and those who hate Him flee from His presence”.

Psalm 18:13-14; Psalm 68:1

Lord, we need You! Darkness is over this nation, over the earth. Violence is moving through in waves and hatred is a contagion among us. There is wickedness in high places, and corruption surrounds us. The noise levels have become deafening, as the enemy stirs division and death in our melting pot.

So I am asking that You would arise on behalf of this nation. Rise up Lord, and let Your voice thunder. Rise up and shake the mountains. Part the heavens, Lord, and let Your power like lightening come forth. Scatter the enemy, Lord!

It is Your power, Your presence, Your thunderous glory that causes darkness to tremble and flee, so we cry out to You God, and we ask that You would rise on our behalf. And I pray that those who hate You, those who hate mercy, who hate righteousness, who hate justice…I pray they would flee from this place.

God, arise, I pray, and let Your enemies be scattered.

In the mighty name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

Forty Days of Praying the Word of God: Day 17

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not 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. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”.

Ephesians 6:10-17

Father, I pray that in this day, in the growing darkness, You will teach Your people how to fight the battle for which You have equipped us.

I pray that we will not war with our own strength and power, but in Yours. Help us lay down our fights with flesh and blood, and take our stand against our true enemy. Give us eyes to see the difference.

I pray that in this hour, Your Church will stand her ground, fully covered in the armor of her God, shielded by faith, wielding the sword of Your Spirit well.

I pray that every stronghold the enemy has established in Your body will come down, in the Name of Jesus. Every lie that has crept in, may it be overcome and cast out by those willing to bring down the sword of Your Word against it. Every evil being called good and every good being called evil, torn down in Your Name.

I pray for a renewed thirst for Your Word, God. I pray we will look first and always to the scriptures for what is true. I pray that every other source of “truth” that we turn to will fade to the background, and our plumb line will once again be the very words You have spoken.

I pray for our homes, our marriages, Lord, that Your truth will come against every lie sown by the enemy. I pray that we will turn away from our battles with one another and come together against the works of darkness in our families. I pray that every effort at disunity and enmity within the marriages of Your people will be thwarted in Your Name. I pray that we will again fight for and not against one another.

I pray that in every place occupied by Your people, resistance to the devil will rise up. I pray that we will awaken from our slumber, submit to You and see the enemy flee. (James 4:7)

Train us Lord, to demolish the strongholds established by the evil one, to take our thought lives captive to obedience to Jesus. May we cast out every thought that does not express truth. I pray that we will not conform to the world’s thinking, but will have our minds renewed by Your Word. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Romans 12:2)

Lord, the enemy is prowling. Seeking to devour. He is a liar and the father of lies, coming to kill, steal and destroy Your people. But You have come! You came to destroy his works, and to give us abundant life. So I pray that we will rise up, sober, alert, and fully dressed for the battle, with swords ready to cut through every lie, every stronghold. And I pray we will rise up praying, calling forth the will of our God on earth as it is in heaven. (John 10:10; 1 Peter 5:8; Matthew 6:10)

For every seed of hate being sown by darkness, I pray the children of the light will uproot through love. In every place where division and discord are ruling, may Your people bring the spirit of unity and peace. Wherever there is death and decay, pour us out there as the salt of the earth. Send us with the light of Christ within us to light up the darkness. Teach us to love and care for those who have been oppressed and overlooked.

And in every storm, in every hard place we walk, may our praises be heard ringing out. I pray that Your people will raise their voices in praise and worship, exalting the name of Jesus through every valley, every wilderness place, and in every prison cell they are found.

This is how we fight our battles.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

a King is coming. no vote required.

November 6, 2012. The candidates will once again line up and let this country’s citizens choose their leader, and the great machine called democracy will roar to life at voting booths everywhere.

At no time in my life has the political arena been more prominent to me than these past few years. The election of President Obama, if it did nothing else, stirred people’s indignation like no other in my memory. And while I have stayed blissfully ignorant of most political issues, I often found myself joining in the fiery frenzy of the great Republican outcry, but all the while it felt like I was shouting and shaking my fist at something that had little or nothing to do with me. I think God was whispering to me; I just needed to stop shouting so I could hear Him.  I discovered that there is something familiar in our shouting.

The Jewish people had been promised a Messiah, and they eagerly waited for Him to appear. But it turns out, their reason for wanting a Messiah was different than God’s reason for giving them one. They were looking for a political ruler, a King who would free them from tyranny, and set up His rule over Israel. He did not meet their expectations, so they turned on Him and crucified Him.

Even after His death and resurrection, we see His disciples’ inability to fully grasp what Jesus came here to do. They had embraced Him as the true Messiah, were confused at His death, and were still trying to get the picture in focus after His resurrection, when He spoke with them of the Kingdom of God. Their question shows the fuzziness of  that picture.

“So when they met together, they asked him, ‘Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?'” (Acts 1:6) 

We aren’t all that different, if you ask me. Don’t we elect our president with the hopes for restoration of America? Those in the Church ally themselves with the candidate who looks most like us, and on election day we are essentially asking the same question the disciples asked. “Lord, are You at this time going to restore America to You? (did we cast enough votes, Lord?)”

And we, including those in the Church, are outraged by those on the other side of our political alliance, who, in our minds, vote for the darkness to increase. I think our outrage is rooted in a mistaken belief that we have a right to live in a darkness-free zone because, after all, this is America (one of roughly 196 nations on the earth, and not even the one referred to as the apple of His eye…but still), and our money clearly says we trust in God.  

So, in our great indignation we rail against the government/president/mayor/grocery store manager. We can see them, so its easier than railing against the “rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” that we cannot see. Wait. Did you catch that? Rewind it. “against the powers of this dark world…”.  And there you have it. Our world, all 196 nations, is dark, and getting darker. As it turns out, it’s not the Democrats’ fault. Who knew?

We will never be able to vote darkness out of our country. We are the light of the world, and our light is to draw people out of darkness. It is to reveal not a political ruler, but a crucified Savior. Our agenda is the Kingdom of God, not the kingdom of America. By virtue of living in a democracy, we have the civic right to cast our vote for a leader, but we are not voting in the one man who can turn back the darkness. Scripture clearly tells us that darkness will increase.

“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God…” (2Timothy 3:1-4)

But, lest we become discouraged, let us also remember that there is an end in sight. There is a King. He has made the world a promise, and He will fulfill it.

Yes, a King will come, and the light will be taken from the world.

“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words. “ (1Thessalonians 4:16-18)

A King will come, and it will be a bad day for darkness.

 “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True… He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean….He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:

   KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” (Revelation 19:11-16)

A King will come, and the darkness will be no more.

“And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” (Revelation 20:10)

A King will come, and it will truly be finished.

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.  I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:1-4)

In the meantime, darkness does threaten. But when we read scripture, primarily Paul’s letters to the churches, we see that he wasn’t so much concerned about the darkness outside the church as he was the darkness threatening the church from within. 

There are rulers, authorities, powers of this dark world and spiritual forces of evil that target our own hearts and minds, our homes and our families, and thus, the Church. 

Does it have our full attention? Are we casting aside our own deeds of darkness, renewing our own minds, guarding what our eyes see and our tongues speak? Are we asking God to ruthlessly search our hearts and expose our own darkness?

Or are we just convinced it’s all the President’s fault, while we hope that this time we’ll vote darkness outa here and once again be right with God?