Article: How Satan Stops Our Prayers - 6

I said to him, "Do you mean an angel can be held in captivity by demonic forces?" This man did not even know the scriptures by the time he was saying all this. He did not know very many scriptures. He was just sharing his experiences. And he said, they wouldn't hold the angel too long because as other Christians prayed elsewhere, reinforcement would come, and the angels would go free. If the Christian responsible did not pray through, he remains a captive. Then the enemy sends his own angel as an angel of light to this person, and that is where the deceptions come in. False visions and false prophecies. False leadership, I mean leading, guidance in the spirit, making wrong decisions of all types. And many times this person is open to all kinds of attack and bondages.

And I asked the Lord. I left that dinner so troubled, so troubled. I said, "Lord, I don't want even to try and believe this." It removes all my confidence, my security. When I went to seek the Lord, it was ten days, the Lord did two things. He did not only confirm the things I had heard, he opened my mind to see a lot more that this man could not tell us of what happens in the spiritual realm. And two, he led me to see what we are supposed to do as the things are happening so that we are not overcome but that we can overcome. And we need to know three things and really come to terms with these three things.

1. One: how to operate with the weapons of our warfare. The Bible calls them the armor of God. It is not our armor; it is God's armor. When we use it, we allow God to fight on our behalf.
2. Two: understand the relationship of the ministering spirits-the angels-to our spiritual lives. And to be sensitive to what is happening in our hearts as a leading to what needs to be happening in the spirit concerning us.
3. That brings us to the third thing: that is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not supposed to come as our servant, serving us and bringing things to us. He does not run to and fro to the Father to tell Him what we need. That is the work of angels. But He stands by our side. Doing what? Guiding us, teaching us, leading us, helping us to pray the right way.

• And when these things are happening in the spiritual realm, He tells us, sometimes He wakes you up in the night and says, "Pray." You say, "No! My time is not yet come." And He says, "Pray now!" Why? He sees what is happening in the spirit. Sometimes He says, "Tomorrow-fasting!" You say, "Oh, no, I'll start on Monday!" But He understands what is happening in the spiritual realm. We should learn to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. He guides us in the paths of righteousness.

Beloved we've got to stop here. Maybe tomorrow morning, we can talk about how we can pray through, knowing the battles in the spirit and how we can break through. How we can maintain our breakthrough once we have scored it. And once we learn this, it becomes enjoyable. Then we learn one thing: the battle is not ours; the battle is of the Lord! Hallelujah!

Let's just stand up. Look someone in the eye, and just think about how many times that person could have missed what God had for him. But join your hands if you can, two or three people, and just tell each other, "There's no need for more defeat! We can overcome! There is enough power to overcome! Jesus has already done the whole work."

Pray for each other that the Lord will help us to overcome. We should not lose. There is enough grace, enough power for victory. Thank you, Jesus.