18. Fighting With Your Eyes Shut
Chapter 18 Fighting With Your Eyes Shut
Peter said to (Jesus), "If they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away!" Jesus said to him, "I tell you the truth, on this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times." Peter said to him, "Even if I must die with you, I will never deny you." And all the disciples said the same thing.” (Matthew 26:33-35) (NET) What Led Up To Peter’s Failure
We know that Peter loved Jesus and had good intentions when he said these words. He really did want to follow Jesus wholly, but we also know that he did fail to keep his word that night. Three times he declared that he didn’t know Jesus. So let’s look into what led up to Peter’s denial and what happened that night when Jesus led Peter and the other disciples into the garden called Gethsemane:
Luke 22:40-44 says: “…he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” He went away from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Yet not my will but yours be done."… Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And in his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” (NET)
Mark 14:37-42 : “Then He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Again He went away and prayed, and spoke the same words. And when He returned, He found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him. Then He came the third time and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough! The hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.” (NKJV)
Jesus had told his disciples repeatedly to watch and pray so they would not fall into temptation. But they still fell asleep. And then when the trials came, they all ran away. Only Jesus stayed alert and prayed diligently and was strengthened through prayer for what was coming. Jesus shows us a good example of how to prepare for spiritual battle. He fought with his eyes closed—in prayer!
Jesus Prepared For Spiritual Battle By Praying, But The Disciples Weren’t Ready
Jesus knew well how to fight against evil and Satan. He knew that very difficult times were coming, so he prayed fervently to prepare himself for battle. This kind of fight isn’t fought with spears or swords. When Jesus finished praying, the soldiers came to arrest Jesus. Peter tried to fight them with his sword, but Jesus rebuked him (Luke 22:50-51). Fighting a spiritual battle is a different kind of battle. This battle takes place in the hearts and minds of men. Jesus was ready for the tests and trials that were to come because he had prayed and received strength from God. But the disciples weren’t ready because they hadn’t prayed like Jesus told them to.
Stay Alert And Always Keep On Praying
Jesus had told his disciples to watch and pray. Paul said the same type of thing in Ephesians 6:18 where he talked about spiritual armor and spiritual battle. He says: “…pray in the Spirit on all occasions…be alert and always keep on praying…” These words about prayer remind us of the way soldiers kept watch for enemies. They knew their enemies are coming so they had to stay alert and watch! Even at night they kept their armor on with their sword by their side, and some soldiers were always on watch. They knew their enemies’ ways and they prepared their hearts and minds so when the fight began, they were ready. And the same goes for us—when we stay spiritually alert and pray continually for every situation that comes along, God helps and strengthens our spirits, hearts, and minds. And even if we suffer physically too, he can also strengthen our bodies like he helped Jesus while he struggled in prayer.
Satan is not visible like a human soldier that can be seen. He is a very deceptive spirit that disguises himself and works in secret. He uses many things in the world to tempt us and test our faith. So we need to prepare and strengthen ourselves spiritually through prayer. Prayer exercises our spirit so that we become much more alert and aware of the spiritual battle going on around us. Prayer is like spiritual training, similar to soldiers who do training exercises to toughen themselves against the enemy’s secret attacks…
“…in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.” (2 Corinthians 2:11) Prepared And Alert For A Real Battle With A Real Enemy
Think about this verse. Have we ever been fooled by Satan’s tricks? Do we really understand his secret ways and schemes? Are we spiritually ready to resist all his temptations? God has many ways to help prepare and alert us to these enemies and be prepared for the trials and temptations that will come. But the most important thing that prepares us is God’s Word. If we read God’s word and know it well, then when we do pray, God can remind us again of his Word, and we will be alert and prepared for the temptations and trials that come. This will strengthen us in our fight in the spiritual realm. If we want to be able to recognize Satan’s attacks and be ready, then we need to pray and watch.
1 Peter 5:8 says:“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” This verse is a sober warning. Satan is not a just some mythical cartoon character to laugh at. This spiritual battle is a very real battle, and Satan is a very real and powerful enemy and he is trying to destroy us. Like a lion stalking his prey, he is dangerous. We don’t need to be terrified of him, but we need to take him seriously. We need to know God’s word and be serious about our prayer time so that we remain alert and not fall prey to Satan’s attacks.
Daniel’s Spiritual Battle In Prayer In chapter 5 of this book we read the story about the angel that visited Daniel while he was praying (Daniel 10). We’re not going to read the whole story again, but think about Daniel’s prayer. He was praying for Israel but God didn’t send an answer quickly. So Daniel kept praying constantly for three weeks and only ate simple food so he could focus his time on prayer. After three weeks, the angel Gabriel finally arrived to give Daniel the message. Gabriel told Daniel that God had heard his prayer the first day he prayed, but Gabriel wasn’t able to come for 21 days because he was fighting with an evil angel called the Prince of Persia. Then God sent the angel Michael to take Gabriel’s place in fighting with the demon, so Gabriel could come and give the message.
Why Did God Wait Three Weeks To Answer Daniel’s Prayer?
Three weeks of constant prayer is a long time to wait for an answer. If Gabriel was so busy fighting the evil spirit, why couldn’t God have sent Michael instead to deliver the message to Daniel? God has many other angels he could have sent to answer Daniel’s prayer, but he didn’t. God waited for exactly 21 days (3 weeks) and then he allowed Gabriel himself to go to Daniel (Daniel 10:13). This can help us understand what God was trying to show Daniel. While Daniel was praying so fervently, after a while he might have wondered if God even heard his prayer. But when Gabriel told Daniel that God had heard his prayers since the first day, Daniel knew that God had not been ignoring him. He had heard all of Daniel’s prayers and he was already working on behalf of Daniel and Israel. And by listing the exact number of days, it looks like God was showing him that his persistent prayers were actually part of this spiritual battle. His prayers made a difference as the angels fought against Satan’s demon for those 21 days. Even so, our prayers can be very effective against Satan’s forces because we’re talking with God who has all power and strength. God wanted to remind Daniel and also us that through prayer we too are part of this spiritual battle with Satan and his evil army of demons:
“...our struggleis...against the rulers, ...authorities, ...powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12) God Loves For Us To Ask
We know from Daniel’s story and others that humans are not as powerful as angels or demons, and we certainly can’t fight demons in the same way the angel Gabriel did. But we do have a connection with an even greater power. We have prayer—and prayer connects us with God Almighty, and we can ask him to work on our behalf. In fact, God loves to hear us pray! Look at some of Jesus’ own words about prayer:
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8) (NET)
Jesus really does want us to pray. He invites us to pray and ask for help in everything because we are engaging in this spiritual warfare along with God, just like Daniel did. In fact, we are his representatives on this earth and so we should ask, “in his name.”
We Ask In Jesus’ Name—As His Representatives In John 14:13 Jesus also said: “... I will do whatever youask inmy name,so that the Father may beglorified in the Son.You may ask me for anything inmy name, and I will do it.” (also John 16:24).
What does it mean to ask in Jesus’ name? Some people think that using Jesus’ name is like a special magical formula to perform all sorts of miracles and amazing things. Some even try to curse people in Jesus’ name or call down judgment from heaven on others who reject God. The apostles James and John thought they should do that, but Jesus rebuked them (Luke 9:54-56). As we discussed in chapter 11, praying ‘in his name’ is not a special incantation or magic formula. It means we are acting as his representative—as if Jesus were right here with us in person. And so we are acting, speaking, or praying in a way that would honor Jesus and that he would approve of.
Praying With Authority
If we are being led by the Spirit of God to pray in a certain way, then we can know that we are praying in his name which has his authority. The authority DOES NOT come from ourselves, but only from Christ, because we are “IN HIM.”
Colossians 2:9-10 says: “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, andin Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;” (NASB) So if we are praying the way the Spirit of Christ would pray, then our requests have the authority of Christ behind them. When we pray in his name we are already doing battle with Satan and his demons, because the authority we are using is greater than Satan and his demons, and so, just like Daniel, our prayers have power.
It’s important to know what that means and what it doesn’t mean. Some people think that we can use Jesus’ authority and just boss Satan, demons or angels around as if we were God. Remember that Jesus himself was very restrained in how he used authority while on earth, and he submitted himself to the Father’s authority, even though they were equals. And we must never forget that our authority is “borrowed” and it is not our own. So we must not become proud, thinking that we’ve received authority by our own goodness or strength. We must also remember that Jesus never abused authority. He always used his power to help others and glorify the Father. We too must humble ourselves as Christ did, and all our work must honor God, not ourselves.
John 14:13-14 says: “And I will do whatever you ask in my name,so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”
Praying In The Spirit Ephesians 6:18 says: “...pray in the Spirit…”
Praying “in the Spirit” is not some kind of trance or dreamy kind of feeling that we get when we pray. It means that we pray under the guidance and direction of the Spirit of God. We often don’t know how to pray for certain things, but if we pray in the Spirit, we can be sure that we are praying “in his name” because the Spirit of God will be directing us to pray for those things that Jesus would want and that would honor God. And even if we don’t know what to say or ask, we know that the Spirit knows all of our deepest thoughts and needs, and he also knows the mind of God. So it is always good to start our prayers by asking the Spirit to help guide our thoughts and words.
Romans 8:26-27 says: “…the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”
Some people are new believers and are still learning how to pray, and other people have been praying for many years, but sometimes we just don’t know how or what to pray for. Are those kinds of prayers still effective? Yes. The verse we just read says that the Spirit helps us in our weakness and prays for us when we don’t know what to say. We don’t have to worry about making beautiful-sounding prayers or saying special words to make them more effective prayers. God doesn’t care about that. This verse says that God understands our inner thoughts and even the groaning of our hearts when we don’t know what to say. He has given us the Holy Spirit as a Helper who can pray on our behalf, and God will hear us.
James 1:5 also says: “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”
Pray Continually Colossians 4:2 says: “Devote yourselves to prayer…”
1 Thessalonians 5:17 says: “pray continually…”
What does it mean to “devote” ourselves to prayer, or “pray continually”? Does it mean we quit working and stop eating and just pray all the time? That might be necessary for a very short period of time, but normally that would not be possible. The verse in Ephesians 6 that we looked at earlier explains it in a different way.
Ephesians 6:18 says: “...pray in the Spiriton all occasionswith all kinds of prayers and requests.”
We are told to pray in the Spirit “on all occasions.” That means that everything that comes up is an opportunity to pray. We could call it an attitude of prayer—always being aware that we need God for direction and help for everything that comes up in life. So in every situation we ask for God’s guidance rather than doing things in our own strength and wisdom. Praying continually means that we don’t think of prayer as something we only do at church or before mealtimes. Rather, we think of prayer as a constant conversation that we have with God throughout the day—even in the little decisions in life. God never gets tired of hearing our prayers. He loves for us to talk to him. When we get up in the morning or when we walk along the road or when we are busy at work or just sitting in the house—God loves to hear us talk to him about everything and ask for his guidance, whether it’s a big or small thing. And his Spirit that lives in us loves to talk to us also. So we should never get tired of praying! Prayer is a lifelong conversation with a loving God.
Prayer Is An Act Of Continual Dependence
Prayer is an act of dependence on God. So when answers to prayers do not come quickly, we have to persevere in prayer—because God wants us to continue to depend on him. Many things require that we “pray continually.” For example, our spiritual battle with Satan and his kingdom does not end quickly. It will last a lifetime. But we need to persevere and pray for daily strength in the battle even though we know the ultimate victory belongs to God. Here’s a story that gives us a visual example of that kind of prayer. The Story Of Moses And The Battle With The Amalekites
Exodus 17:8-13 says: “While the people of Israel were still at Rephidim, the warriors of Amalek attacked them. Moses commanded Joshua, "Choose some men to go out and fight the army of Amalek for us. Tomorrow, I will stand at the top of the hill, holding the staff of God in my hand." So Joshua did what Moses had commanded and fought the army of Amalek. …As long as Moses held up the staff in his hand, the Israelites had the advantage. But whenever he dropped his hand, the Amalekites gained the advantage. Moses’ arms soon became so tired he could no longer hold them up. So Aaron and Hur found a stone for him to sit on. Then they stood on each side of Moses, holding up his hands. So his hands held steady until sunset. As a result, Joshua overwhelmed the army of Amalek in battle.” (NLT) Did Moses’ staff have special magical power that made Israel win the battle? No. It was just a walking stick made of wood. But it was a symbol of God’s power and authority which he gave to Moses as his representative in order to lead the Israelites (Exodus 4:1-5). So when Moses lifted up his staff towards God in heaven, he was showing the people that he was trusting in God as he was praying for the soldiers, so that God would help them win. But after a while, Moses got tired and couldn’t hold up the staff anymore, so the Israelites started to lose. Then two men came and helped Moses hold up his hands and the staff, and then Israel won the battle. This showed Israel that God was the one who helped them win through Moses’ continual prayers for them.
Supporting One Another In Prayer This story about Moses is also a good illustration about supporting one another in prayer. It’s always good to pray for others in their time of need, like Moses did for the soldiers. But sometimes we find ourselves weak or struggling with our own problems, so we struggle to even pray—just like Moses got tired of holding up the staff. At times like these, Satan can find an open door to defeat us, so we need other people to help us in prayer, just like those two men that helped Moses. God loves it when we meet together as a group and pray for one another. This can really strengthen us all and help God’s work to progress.
Prayer Is More About Listening Than Talking
“Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says...”(Revelation 2:7; Revelation 2:11; Revelation 2:17; Revelation 2:29; Revelation 3:6; Revelation 3:13; Revelation 3:22; Also Matthew 11:15; Matthew 13:9; Matthew 13:43; Mark 4:9; Mark 4:23; Luke 8:8; Luke 14:35) As you can see by the long list of verses here, the Bible really emphasizes LISTENING to what the Spirit of God is saying to us. So prayer is not just talking to God and giving him our long lists of requests. We know that God does want us to talk to him about our requests—but it is even more important that we learn to listen to what God is saying to us. Prayer is supposed to be a two-way conversation, and in fact, since God has all the wisdom and authority, we should probably spend more time listening than talking! We could learn so much more by listening to his Spirit within us as we meditate on what he is trying to teach us. His Spirit is called the Helper and Comforter—and which one of us doesn’t need help and comfort?! But we are often so busy talking or trying to figure out our own problems, that we are NOT LISTENING to the “still small voice” within us. But sometimes, even though we are asking and listening, we are not getting answers, because there are things that can hinder our prayers to God.
Things That Can Hinder Our Prayers Sin Hinders Our Prayers Is. 59:1-2 says: “… your sins have hidden his face from you,so that he will not hear.” This verse is talking about sin breaking fellowship with God so that he does not want to listen. And so if we sin by purposely rebelling against God’s word, then it can hinder our prayers from being heard. Here are some other verses that talk about hindrances to prayer:
Covetousness And Wrong Motives
James 4:2-3 says: “…You desire but do not have… Youcovetbut you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight.You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives,that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
We know that God wants us to pray for our needs. But when our needs are met and we begin to covet what other people have, our motives have changed to greed and selfishness (1 Timothy 6:8-10). So even if we do pray, then we are no longer praying with the right motives. Greed, selfishness and covetousness hinder our prayers.
Poor Relationships Can Hinder Our Prayers
1 Peter 3:7 says: “Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.”
God teaches us that husbands need to love their wives and be gentle with them. And wives also need to treat their husbands with respect (Ephesians 5:33). If we don’t love and respect our spouses, those poor relationships can hinder our prayers.
Pride Can Hinder Our Prayers
Satan’s first sin was pride. And as believers we often follow Satan and we try to glorify ourselves. At times we all like to be noticed by others or seen as important, whether we are in a leadership position or not. But God is opposed to pride, so this can also hinder our prayers.
1 Peter 5:1; 1 Peter 5:3; 1 Peter 5:5 says: “To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder … Be Shepherds…not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock...In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proudbut shows favor to the humble.”
Sin Hinders Our Prayer And Fellowship But Doesn’t Remove Us From God’s Family As Christians we’ve seen several things that hinder our prayers, but does that mean we are then separated or removed from God’s family? No! Sin can break our fellowship with God and hinder our prayers, but if we are truly God’s children then we are always joined together with Christ. The Bible says over and over that we are “in Christ” or “in him,” which means that we are completely joined or connected to him by new birth—spiritual birth— so we are in his family now. God would never kick out his own Son Jesus, so neither will he remove us out of his family (John 10:27-29; Ephesians 1:13-14). Christ died for our sin and has paid the full price for it and now we who believe in Christ are righteous in God’s eyes. And so now, even though our sin can hinder our prayers and fellowship with God, it will not remove us from God himself.
Illustration Of Broken Fellowship In A Family
Here’s an illustration: Sometimes parents will be upset with their children. For instance, if the children are disobedient to their father, and then they come and ask their father for a treat or something, he won’t be happy about giving it to them. There will probably be a lack of harmony or fellowship between them, and the father may deny them what they like, or even discipline them. But the father won’t kick the disobedient children out of the family—they are still his children. In a similar way, God is our Father and when we, his children, disobey him, then our fellowship is broken. We are still his children and he may discipline us, but our prayers will be hindered until we get things right between us.
Satan knows that our prayers are powerful when we are in fellowship with God (James 5:16), so Satan will do everything he can to try to keep us from being in fellowship with God. It is always important to keep in close fellowship with God all the time.
Confessing To Restore Fellowship
We know that if children lie and don’t admit to their disobedience, it does not help their relationship with their parents. Even so, our fellowship with God is hindered if we don’t confess or admit our sin.
1 John 1:6; 1 John 1:8 says: “If we claim to havefellowship with himand yet walk in the darkness,we lieand do not live out the truth. … If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” The best way for children to restore fellowship with their parents is confession of their disobedience. And so it is with God. We his children need to confess our sin to renew our fellowship with God and then he will be willing to listen to our prayers again. The very next verse finishes that idea:
1 John 1:9 says: “If weconfessour sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins andpurifyus from all unrighteousness.” The word ‘confess’ here in this verse means to say the same thing as someone else—in other words, to admit and agree with what God says. Since God already knows about the sin, confession is basically recognizing and admitting and agreeing with him that something is a sin. When we confess our sin to God, the Bible says we become purified or clean. This means that we are cleansed from the sin that hindered our fellowship and we are again in fellowship with God. But what should we do if we sin against another person?
James 5:16 says: “…confess your sins to each otherand pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” So if we get angry and yell at someone or commit some other sin towards them, we need to go and confess to them and tell them we’re sorry and make restitution if possible. Then God will be pleased and will listen to our prayers again. When we confess our sin and walk in fellowship with God, we can humbly ask in Jesus name, and our prayers become powerful weapons in our spiritual warfare against Satan.
Conclusion
We can summarize what we learned in this chapter by putting together our verses about prayer. They can teach us about the powerful weapon of prayer against our enemy Satan:
“Be alert...Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” (Luke 22:40)
“… the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But… your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” (Is. 59:1-2)
“…You desire but do not have…You covet but you cannot get what you want …you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” (James 4:1-3)
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
“… confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” (James 5:16)
“...All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”… (1 Peter 5:5)
“…the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” (Romans 8:26) “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:13) “Ask and it will be given to you…” (Matthew 7:7) “…pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” (Ephesians 6:18)
These verses are great reminders of the wonderful power of prayer. Just remember—Satan is a powerful being, so he’s not really afraid of us humans. BUT, he is afraid of the God who lives inside us! So if you want to make Satan shake with fear, then get on your knees and start talking to God! Close your eyes and fight!
“Pray continually.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)