I have another real good story to pass onto to all of you – once more showing the power of intercessory prayer and how God will not only answer prayer, but sometimes very quickly like He did in this story!
This story happened several years ago with a woman who I used to work with. She called me up one day and said her husband had been under a lot of pressure at work and that it was really starting to get to him.
He works for big airline company and had been employed with them for a long time. He was only 5 months away from retiring, so he did not want to quit with what was going on. He was one of the foremen in the department he was working in.
To make a long story short, this company had hired a guy about 6 months ago to basically be a headhunter and hatchet man. This new man had a very demeaning attitude towards those who were working under him. He acted just like a drill sergeant would if you were in the marines. He was calling his employees all kinds of demeaning names, constantly ridiculing and harassing them, and making their lives at work completely miserable.
My friend’s husband was working on this man’s shift and he was her husband’s direct boss. After about 6 months of working under this kind of severe demeaning dictatorship, my friend said it was really starting to get to her husband and that he could not take much more of it.
Her husband is a good Christian man, but he did not have much knowledge on the real power of prayer, or how to engage with an enemy by going on the offensive against it operating under God’s anointing.
I had immediate leading from the Holy Spirit to give her the following advice.
- Since her husband really did not have much knowledge on spiritual warfare, I told her that she could stand in the gap on his behalf and go directly to God the Father to handle this bad situation for them. I told her with her being his wife, that there was a real good chance that God would honor her prayer on his behalf and that He may just move very mightily to completely take care of this adverse situation.
- I told her to do 2 things. I told her to Plead the Blood against this drill sergeant and any demons who may be operating behind the scenes influencing this man to act like he was doing. I then told her to Plead the Blood with the intentions of stopping any further demeaning attacks coming against her husband from this man.
- I then told her to ask God to take complete care of this situation and for Him to bring complete and total deliverance to her husband from this man. I told her to tell God that her husband could no longer take it anymore, that you were standing in the gap on his behalf, and that you are asking Him to bring complete and total deliverance to him so that he would not quit or possibly get fired from his job by this man.
She went ahead that night and Pleaded the Blood of Jesus and petitioned God the Father with the above request. This prayer was done on a Tuesday night.
The next day – Wednesday – her husband went into work on the regular 8-5 shift that he was working. You won’t believe what happened next when he walked into work that morning!
As soon as he arrived, one of his other bosses called him in to speak with him in private. This other boss told her husband that this drill sergeant that this company had just hired was indeed a hatchet man, and that they had hired him to get rid of some of the dead wood in the place. This drill sergeant was getting ready to fire 6 people on her husband’s shift.
His boss then told him that he was not on the list to get fired – yet! He told my friend’s husband that this drill sergeant did not like him and that he was just looking for a good excuse to also fire him along with the other six people that were definitely going to get fired.
He then proceeds to tell my friend’s husband that he considers him to be a keeper, that he has always been a real good worker for the company, and that they did not want to lose him due to the fanatical whims of this drill sergeant.
So in order to protect him from this hatchet man, they tell him that they are going to transfer him to the third shift, which is the night shift.
This meant that he would no longer be under this man’s dictatorship and that he would be completely set free from him. He would now be working under a completely new and different boss.
My friend said she just about fell over when her husband came home that afternoon and told her about what had just happened.
She had just Pleaded the Blood of Jesus and asked God to take care of this situation the night before – and God literally moved in the space of about 12 hours to completely set her husband free from this man!
What are the odds of all of this happening in just 12 hours after she went on the offensive with the type of battle prayer I drew up for her below? Coincidence? I seriously doubt it!
Just more proof that not only does God answer prayer – but sometimes He can move very quickly like He did in this story. This story is another one to add to our ever-growing list on the power of Pleading the Blood of Jesus and engaging with an enemy head on when we are forced to do so.
Prayer warfare will work if you are willing to step into the arena with God and take your enemy head on like my friend did on her husband’s behalf since her husband did not know how to do this for himself.
This story also shows the power of intercessory prayer – that we can stand in the gap for someone else and pray to God for their deliverance.
I really believe that God loves it when we move into intercessory prayer on behalf of someone else. I think the reason He likes it so much is due to the fact that we are praying for someone else, not for ourselves! Intercessory prayer is a completely unselfish type of prayer since you are not praying to God for your wants and needs. You are praying for someone else’s need. This fact right here is why I believe God will sometimes answer intercessory prayer for someone else very quickly and very powerfully like He did on this story.
The other positive thing about the above story is that it really elevated my friend’s faith in the Lord. It showed her that God could answer one of her prayers – especially if she is standing in the gap for someone else and praying to God for their deliverance.
When you see God move to answer a prayer so quickly and so supernaturally like He did in this case, it makes you want to try it again with Him!
I will let you know if any more good stories like this come in. The above story is just another good faith-booster showing all of us how active God can really get when we properly approach Him with our prayer requests, and are willing to take an enemy head on by Pleading the Blood of Jesus directly against that enemy. I will end this article with the Battle Prayer that I gave to her to set her husband completely free from this adverse situation at work.
Table of contents
The Battle Prayer
Here was the battle prayer I gave her to war against this adverse situation at her husband’s place of work. Notice that she will Plead the Blood of Jesus directly against this foremen, directly against his verbal attacks, and directly against any demons who may be operating behind the scenes influencing this foreman to act like he was acting. I then had her Plead the Blood of Jesus as a bloodline around her husband in order to prevent any more attacks from coming his way.
“Father,
In the name of Jesus, I now come boldly before Your throne to stand in the gap for my husband. As I know You already know, he has been under severe attack at work from a new foreman who seems to want to get him fired. My husband is only 5 months away from being able to retire and there is no way that he can quit his job at this time
Father, in the name of Jesus, I now ask that You take this battle up for my husband and that You bring complete and total deliverance to him from this new foreman who has been unjustly harassing him.
Father, in the name of Jesus, I now Plead the Blood of Jesus directly against this foreman. I now Plead the Blood of Jesus against all of his verbal attacks against my husband.
If there are any demons influencing this foreman to harass my husband, I now Plead the Blood of Jesus against each and every demon that is operating behind the scenes causing this to happen. Demons, go now, in the name of Jesus Christ! I repeat, go now in the name of Jesus Christ!
Father, in the name of Jesus, I now Plead the Blood of Jesus as a Bloodline around my husband. Father, from this moment on, I believe this Bloodline will now protect my husband from any further attacks from this foreman.
Father, I now ask that You move as quickly as You possibly can to end this harassing situation with my husband, and ask that You bring complete and total deliverance to this adverse situation.
Father, I have full faith and belief that the Blood of Your Son Jesus will now protect my husband from any further attacks from this man, and that You will now move in the time frame You so desire to set my husband completely free from this man.
Thank You Father.
Thank You Jesus.
Thank You Holy Spirit.”
www.bible-knowledge.com
If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Spiritually cleaning up your work place does not have anything to do with the drek seen from Hollywood.
Office help: let’s start with the basics
As I ramp up to start producing help for you in your daily work, it strikes me that the most basic things are often forgotten. So, let’s start with something real basic.
As we get started on this we need to talk about some basics of warfare. Rest assured, it would be extremely easy to prove to you (if you don’t already know) that the Christian walk is warfare. As a soldier on duty, you have some things you need to take care of for simple protection.
The enemy will do anything he can do with no guilt or compunction. Satan wants to destroy you. He wants to confuse your office and thwart any real ministry or communication to help your church or ministry. He wants your equipment to break, your suppliers to make mistakes, the members of your congregation to hate you, and all the rest of the attacks that happen to church and ministry staff on a daily basis.
But he cannot override your authority, and he has no power over any part of the Kingdom of God. If you are the office manager, you have both the responsibility and the authority to clean up your office spiritually and give you and the rest of your staff peace. More than that it is simple and easy to do.
Maintaining spiritual security in the midst of a war
The real problem is realizing that we are in a war—that we volunteered to fight in this war, that the weapons of our warfare are spiritual, not physical, and that the enemy is totally ruthless, brutal, nasty, and hateful. Let’s take a little reminder from Ephesians 6:
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
What this means in day to day work in your office is that we must take this walking in the Spirit thing seriously. It is life and death. In the kingdom of God we have a wonderful world with a truly good King. He called us and we serve him—liege warriors in the service of our King. We are to be vigilant, observant, available, and alert. Most important, none of this can be done without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. We need to take these things seriously and get with the program. Paul talks about it in Ephesians 5:15-16 (again in the ESV).
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
We need to be prepared for action and on guard against an enemy who is truly after us. We are not paranoid. We are warriors.
The spiritual battle never ends until the Lord returns
Most people are completely unaware of the spiritual world before they are born again from above. Did you know anything about this before you met Jesus?
Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist. So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spirits of this world?
This phrase is similar to the one found in Colossians 2: “the elemental spirits of the universe” in the RSV. It is easy for us to dismiss these things as ancient superstitions, but that is really not the case. What has happened is that these spirits have gone underground in America today and we do not talk about them anymore—but they have not gone away.
Paul calls them weak and useless, or worthless, and this is certainly true. However, many of these so-called gods, like Buddhas, kokopellis, kachinas, totems, and the like have demon spirits attached to them. They are only a harassment to believers, but cleaning them up or getting rid of them is a normal part of Christian living. Their harassment can distract you to the point where you are spiritually non-functional.
Many of the things we can purchase today are made in other countries. Many of these items, while they are being made, are prayed over during their construction. All we have to do is clean them up with a simple prayer (see below). They are nothing to be afraid of—as Jesus’ power and position makes them into a bad (but still evil) joke. But you should be aware that these things are real.
Is there a demon under every bush?
One of the problems you will have as you begin to have victory in spiritual warfare is the tendency to blame everything on demons. Most of the time the trouble will be the fallen state of the world or your own sinful nature. However, there is reality here and many times you will see quick and powerful deliverance with a simple quiet prayer.
No! You do not need to shout. The power comes from Jesus, not the strength of your voice. Don’t give the evil one more glory and attention than you give God.
Where do we run across these spirits?
We have found that we drag them into work with purchases we make—especially purchases of products made in countries where these spirits are worshipped like India, Bali, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, China, and so on. You should check out the country of origin when you buy. If you start having strange dreams, irrational anger, and things like that—something rode in on something or someone. It’s no big deal, but we find that we have to spiritually clean everything we buy and bring into the office any more.
Of course, nonbelievers in our spaces can drag things in also. You cannot assume that all church members are true believers. Many of them are dragging spiritual baggage and bondage around with them. I used to pray for my classroom every morning before I started teaching. I found I had authority over my lab, but nowhere else at that school. But the lab I used full-time, where I taught all my classes, was given to me by the Lord as my spiritual responsibility. Praying made a great difference to my students—though they had no idea that this was even going on. There were some students who were into wicca and the like who were obviously frustrated by the cleansed and protected spiritual environment of that lab.
The same was true in my wife’s church. She had powerful authority to keep the church facilities spiritually clean. She had authority to expose and eliminate gossip. As the church administrator, I had authority to keep the equipment running and the rented space free from mechanical problems. We never had a breakdown where someone wasn’t there to deal with it on the spot as soon as it happened, for example. We had a toilet break and make a horrible mess, but it happened before church, during Sunday School, and we had it cleaned up and dealt with before church started. God will really help you in these areas.
It just takes a simple prayer
You can pray something like this:
“Lord, bless this office and thwart the plans of the enemy in our work. Amen”
—or—
“Any demons attached to these things we just bought (or any bad spirits brought in here by non-believers), we bind you and cast you out of this place. Father, in Jesus’ name, clean up these things (or this office) and bless it for our use. Protect our loved ones and pets at home. Keep us safe and make our workplace a sanctuary for your Holy Spirit to use for your glory.”
Spiritual office cleaning?
As office manager, or simply the master of your personal space or desk, you are responsible to keep that space spiritually clean. This is an ongoing duty and a responsibility of yours.
For example, over the past week at home I started noticing that Pat and I were being disturbed with bad dreams. I started noticing that even when I was dozing in my chair my mind would immediately wander off into strange thoughts. This has not been happening for many months. Lately, my mind has been wandering off into thoughts of the Lord, praise, and worship.
The stupid thing was that I put up with this for more than a week. Finally, yesterday I came to my senses and cleaned house. Last night we both slept well for the first time in a long time and neither of us had bad or disturbing dreams. It was a joy this morning to see my wife wake up relaxed and refreshed.
You should regularly command all bad spirits to leave your workplace (that which the Lord has given you responsibility for) and ask the Holy Spirit to fill your space with His presence, wisdom, and love. He’s pleased to do that in response to a simple request. Again, prayer volume has no special beneficial affect.
This is just the normal spiritual cleaning that you should be doing on a regular basis as the head of your work environment. Many times you will need to be specific and cleanse every room in your office or workspace—room by room, area by area. House blessings are real. Office blessings work the same way.
If you haven’t blessed your office, do so today. Of course it gets more complicated if you are working with others who may not be believers. You probably have church members who leave behind bad feelings and dissension that lasts for days or longer. You can only cover what you have authority over. You cannot clean the people up (only the Lord can do that). But you can bind their spiritual influence while they are there and clean out the office after they leave.
Ask the Lord what your responsibilities are
Office managers, youth leaders, Sunday School teachers, church secretaries, you are spiritually responsible for where you work. For example, if you are working for a pastor who does not believe in spiritual warfare, your authority will be limited to your areas of the responsibility. You will be able to protect yourself regardless, but cleaning the whole church or even your cubbyhole may be beyond your authority (if other people use it also).
The Lord is not going to override the will of those overseeing the property. He’s a gentleman and only goes where He is invited. It is interesting to see what works and what does not work.
For example, we lost much of our authority to pray for our daughter when she grew up—especially when she got married. We got a lot of it back after her divorce, when she asked us to pray for her and the children. Now that she has remarried, our authority is limited again. But this is why some prayers never seem to be answered. You do not have the authority.
For example, when praying for the United States, your authority is on a completely different level than the person who has the responsibility, the president. Pray that President Obama learns this. Governors, mayors, CEOs, pastors, elders, youth leaders and people with responsibility need to be praying. If you are the head of your department, teacher in a specific classroom, leader of a Bible study, and so on, you need to be praying to keep your ministry and the area where you minister clean and holy. No matter what your job, we all have areas of responsibility and the authority to back it up. You need to be constantly aware of your responsibilities. God will give you the authority to protect those areas of responsibility.
If you do not have the authority, pray for those who do have the authority in these situations which effect your life.
If you have any questions, just write and ask.
www.bergsland.org
There is power in prayer. We do live in the world where we can’t see everything that is going in our lives and the lives of others. The spiritual realm has battles going on that we are not aware of.
Many of us couldn’t handle seeing this even if we have that gift. We need to use what we against the enemy and all enemies. Remember the prayer of Jabaz? “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.”
Prayer binds Satan and can pierce darkness along with using our faith. Jesus Christ took the enemy and destroyed him at Calvary—meaning we have the power through prayer to fight and prayer for protection.
Jesus proclaimed:
“I will give you the keys of the kingdom. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy–nothing will harm you.”
God will keep you from harm. He is our rock and fortress from our enemies.
Pray scriptures over your life and for others. You will find them after each prayer.
“My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; you save me from violence. I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies (2 Samuel 22:3-4).”
Here are prayers you can use against your enemies and key scriptures to also help you:
“I come against all darkness, hate, uneasiness with the power of God’s word. I stand on the authority of Jesus Christ his victory of you at Calvary. You will not defeat me for I am in Christ and I am protected. I claim favor over the darkness used by people or in the spirit world.”
Scripture: A reminder for you in the Psalms to help you: “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust. For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.”
“I bind all negative powers and influences today. You have no authority over me or the household. I speak confusion into Satan’s assignments.”
Scripture: Isaiah 54:17: No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD and their vindication from me, declares the LORD.”
“Forgive me and clean me Jesus Christ. I command all demons must cease in the Name of Jesus! I pray a covering over the church, the community, the world, and my family.”
Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:18: “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever.”
“I come against all those spirits trying to confuse me and hurt my mind or body. I am a child of the highest God. I have the garment of praise today. Nothing can hurt me. My boss, people, creditors, the spirit of intimidation or the spirit of fear can’t harm me. I am more than a victor in Jesus. I rebuke these distractions and walk in the love of Christ.”
Scripture: Psalm 121:7-8: “The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.”
The prayer of David is another prayer you can use for protection against enemies. “To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust, let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies triumph over me.”
“Father, I pray for protection at night and during the day. Lead me to righteousness, and strengthen me.”
Scripture: In 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 we read that we don’t have to be crushed despite being persecuted. Persecution is not just from people, but from the devil. “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.”
www.beliefnet.com
