When I first began to read about spiritual warfare years ago, the common thing discussed by all the middle of the road, mainstream teachers whose books I could find at the all-american bookstores (like Barnes & Noble) agreed and used the same terms: When you begin to walk by faith in a new area of life or in a particular situation, you will face retaliation. Even Chip Ingram, who is a pretty "safe" non-extreme teacher wrote an entire book called Spiritual Warfare 101, what every Christian should know. We were so desperate to learn what we could to interpret what was happening to us, that we bought it too, along with about 5 others.
Satan's biggest retaliation is simple: he will hand-deliver to you the OPPOSITE of what you are praying for. As in slap you with the opposite. He loves to do it quickly--blowing up in your face.
(1) to make you believe that your prayer was not effective... countering Mark 11:24.
(2) to fluster you in terms of "How could this keep happening? I JUST PRAYED about this YESTERDAY! It'll never stop! I must be stuck and have to deal with it."
(3) to hope that you will interpret it as a sign from God that your prayer was off the mark.
(4) to discourage you with a new problem so that you forget altogether what you are expecting from the Lord.
But I am telling you, it is RIDICULOUSLY PREDICTABLE.
But can this "retaliation" really hinder the prayer you already prayed? I mean, what's done is done, right?
Well...here's what we know from scripture and from just the way prayer works.
You can begin to doubt, making you "the double-minded man who should not think he will receive anything he asks."
You can change your mind and walk away... Aw, never mind, that was a stupid prayer anyway. That is literally canceling your prayer, removing faith and placing unbelief where it once was.
Examples:
You will quickly have tons of these stories if you don't already. You may be able to look back and go, "Ah! So THAT's what happened!"
A friend who prayed decided to stop waiting and start believing God had a way for her to move to New York earnestly prayed in faith for the Lord to make the way clear. THE NEXT DAY, she was given a 30 day evacuation notice on her apartment just because the landlord decided to move into her place. 2 weeks later, she got her answered prayer of a 2 week stay in New York to job hunt and find a place!!
After dwindling in her once-powerful position (which she knew was a gift from the Lord by grace, a friend finally decided to believe God's promise that He WAS STILL helping her rather than thinking of herself as having fallen short of His favor and blessing. THE NEXT MORNING, her alarm mysteriously did not go off, making her late for work. She went on that month to make record sales and see miracle day upon miracle day, testifying that it was not God that had been withholding blessing from her (which His Word promises, that He will bless the work of our hands); rather it was her lack of faith allowing the one who "kills, steals, and desttroys" to tear down her position of prominence. Her prayer of faith, saying no to her adversary and yes to God proved effective, but she did endure a retaliation which slapped her with, "You can't even get to work on time; you're so screwed."
A friend who began to pray for a relationship that she felt was God's will got an email that weekend stating he would be appearing in church ... with a new girl. She felt it was evidence of a transaction that had occured in the heavenly realm! That story is still in process.
After getting my yearly winter fever blister, it dawned on me that I could tell that thing to go away in Jesus' name! I did, and it would NOT go away. That was strange, because I had become accustomed to victories in healing. As the 3rd day came and that fever blister kept getting worse, I was struggling to believe that I truly had authority over that little sickness! And such a small little sickness! It was working on me...... So I was determined to meditate on the truth. In just a short time of thinking about it in terms of the Word, I realized that my answer is way bigger than just this one fever blister. And I don't have to see this one go away to know that I am STILL DELIVERED from ANY in the future. I began to declare aloud. "So what, little fever blister! I don't care, because you will NEVER have DOMINION in my body AGAIN! WOO HOO!" Within thirty minutes ANOTHER fever blister began to brew and appeared. In my long history with fever blisters, this NEVER happens. I knew it was a retaliation. I rebuked that fever blister, and it went away within a few hours. The first one still ran its FULL COURSE and never went away. But I knew that I was healed. God's Word told me that. I have never had a fever blister since.
Evidence from the Word of God
The Parable of the Sower:
(Starting Verse 3) Jesus starts the parable
(Starting Verse 13) Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?
The seed is the Word
- (Verse 3) “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed,
- (Verse 14, Jesus explains) The farmer sows the Word
The Word comes into our ears and eyes. It is like a seed because it bears fruit in us. We know that "Faith comes by hearing the Word," so the Word itself comes attached with the very faith it takes to walk it out! We walk by faith upon the Word after we have discovered the direction of the Word. Satan, of course, would rather we stay the same, stay where we are. So...
Satan will steal the Word in some
- (Verse 4) some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up [before it took root]
- (Verse 15, Jesus explains) Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.
For a weak-minded person, he will bring an opposite Word or the resistance of another argument against it, to literally replace the Word. He is at work deceiving and blinding the minds of people, the scripture says. but if this is not enough..if he cannot just TAKE it AWAY from you, he is glad to stir up troubles and persecutions. They are because of the Word.
Troubles Come Because of the Word
- (Verse 5) Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.
- (Verse 16-17, Jesus explains) Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the Word, they quickly fall away.
People don't realize that Satan stirs up trouble around them to slow them down, stop them, discourage them.. When Paul faced many tribulations, storms, shipwrecks, etc... who did that? God? Jesus CALMED storms; he didn't stir them up. Paul said, "I am not unaware of the devil's schemes" to prevent his journeys. He even tells one church that Satan had prevented him from going three times! WOW! We are no different. Satan does this because he knows that it will make us GIVE UP. We must persevere. Too many people believe that "it must not be God's will, because every time I try to do this, all kinds of hell breaks loose!" HELLO!!! We MUST KNOW God's Word. We must know his commands to us from his Word and His Voice so that we will not doubt Him when all hell breaks loose in front of us. We have an adversary!!!
Other Distractions Threaten Our Ability to Stay Rooted In the Word
- (Verse 7) Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain.
- (Verse 18-19, Jesus explains) Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.
How can we persevere through the tribulations by keeping our mind stayed on the Word when our minds are occupied with the daily news, the daily movies, the daily gossip, "civilian affairs." We slowly are carried away by the distractions of this world, not even knowing what's happening.
The Word Will Bear Fruit if You Hold Onto It
- (Verse 8) Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”
- (Verse 20, Jesus explains) Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”
