[Please join me in praying for our nation and world on Tuesdays this year.]
“Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him;
Do not get upset because of one who is successful in his way,
Because of the person who carries out wicked schemes.”
(Psalm 37:7 NASB)
Sometimes it’s hard to figure out how to pray for our messed-up world. Every day is a new report of more wickedness being unleashed, corruption and scandal being ignored, lawlessness, violence, and even tyranny. It can feel like we are at war. And we are. “For our struggle [our war] 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.” (Ephesians 6:12 NIV). The spiritual war we are engaged in is fierce. Adam and Eve’s original sin had given their God-given authority to the enemy of our souls. When he tempted Jesus in the wilderness, he could offer “all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor” because they WERE his.
It seems like most of the world right now is under the authority of our enemy, but it’s not supposed to be that way. After his death and resurrection Jesus announced that, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Not some, but ALL authority was in God’s hands again. So, why does it seem that our world today is largely under a different and wicked authority? Because little by little, or more by more, we humans have ceded to the enemy what belongs to God. We have allowed God’s enemy and other idols to receive our worship and now we are paying the price.
I was reading Joshua 9-11 recently. In this Joshua leads the armies of Israel to defeat all the inhabitants of the Promised Land. With the exception of the Gibeonites, who made a deceptive peace treaty with the Israelites who “did not inquire of the Lord,” all other kings, armies, and peoples who were in the land God promised to them were destroyed. There was even a time when Joshua asked God to make the sun and the moon stand still so they could finish the battle – and God did so! Nobody today wants to see men, women, and children slaughtered by the sword and their kings impaled on poles; this sounds barbaric. But God’s goal was to eliminate all the temptations toward idolatry. That’s what the covenant promise was for the Israelites – if God was their one and only god, they would stay in the promised land under his protection. Finally the last verse of chapter 11 says that “The land had rest from war.”
We must continue to pray for the defeat of the rulers, authorities, and principalities of this world and the enemy of our soul who controls them. But we are not without our own weapons of spiritual warfare. I would never encourage outright physical warfare unless we had to defend ourselves BUT our prayers matter. Let us pray that 1) GOD will fight for us, his people, and help us to root out all idolatry and return authority to the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that when we fight under God’s authority he will not abandon us. 2) May all the strongholds in this nation be broken. 3) May the land have rest from war.
God of the Angel Armies,
Thank you that you fight for us, your people, and never abandon us. Thank you that you empower us when we seek you first and don’t follow evil ideas or idols. Thank you that you have awakened many in your Church to the power of prayer to break the strongholds of the enemy. Please continue to awaken and fan into flames this passion for prayer. Encourage your Church with understanding and wisdom in what and how to pray. Give us great encouragement and remove weariness and discouragement when the battle seems hopeless. In the powerful name of Jesus we come to you asking you to break the power of wickedness in our nation and our world, to tear down every stronghold that steals authority from the Lord Jesus Christ, and to return us to God-centered principles. We pray that evil will not prosper because you will deliver us from evil people, strategies and activities. We pray for awakening, revival and breakthrough in this land. We pray in the name of Jesus that the land would have rest from these spiritual wars, and that we would live in the beauty and peace of Jehovah Shalom. Amen.
“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.'” (Matthew 4:8-9 NIV)
“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.'” (Matthew 28:18 NIV)
“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” (Ephesians 6:18 NIV)
“For the arms of the wicked will be broken, But the Lord upholds and sustains the righteous [who seek Him].” (Psalm 37:17 AMP)
h/t Tim Cross 4-2-23
h/t Dutch Sheets – https://www.givehim15.com/post/march-28-2023