Tag: prayer

Book Review: Warfare Prayer

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date September 28, 2012

Warfare Prayer: How to Seek God’s Power and Protection in the Battle to Build His Kingdom

By C. Peter Wagner (reviewed by Peter DeHaan)

The subtitle of Warfare Prayer is How to Seek God’s Power and Protection in the Battle to Build His Kingdom. The book is the first in Wagner’s trilogy series entitled, The Prayer Warrior.

Wagner’s purpose of the book is to address “strategic-level spiritual warfare and the warfare prayer necessary to engage it,” (p 12).

To set the foundation for his teaching, Wagner identifies three levels of spiritual warfare. The first is “ground-level,” which is essentially “deliverance ministries.”

The second, “occult-level,” takes things beyond “ordinary demons,” stepping things up a notch.

The final level, the most ominous, is “strategic-level,” confronting territorial demons.

This is the focus of the book, (p 16-19). It is these territorial demons that control entire areas, keeping them under bondage and thwarting evangelistic efforts.

To effectively go into the world for Jesus, often the territorial demons must first be identified, confronted, and overcome. “The real battle for effective evangelism,” Wagner notes, “is a spiritual battle,” (p 37).

Although Wagner’s formal training and education did not prepare him for this, time in the mission field did confront him with the reality that the enemy was at work, effectively opposing outreach efforts in many areas.

To elucidate readers, Wagner fills Warfare Prayer with personal experiences regarding the existence and power of territorial spirits, then backing these encounters with scriptural support.

After identifying the reality of territorial demons and providing sound biblical support, the last three chapters of the book offer practical instruction on how to optimally move forward.

First, Wagner teaches how to name and map territorial principalities and powers.

Then Wagner advances six rules to effectively engage in warfare prayer. He concludes by detailing the pitfalls to avoid. Failure to avoid these common traps can have serious and even deadly consequences to the spiritually weak, naive, or careless.

The practice of warfare prayer is not for everyone, but everyone should be aware of it. Warfare Prayer was written in 1992 and has admirably withstood the test of time, proving to be as valuable now as it was then.

[Warfare Prayer: How to Seek God’s Power and Protection in the Battle to Build His Kingdom, by C. Peter Wagner. Published by Regal Books, 1992, ISBN: 0-8307-1534-7. 204 pages.]

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Tags evangelism, prayer

Christian Living

Do We Need to Slow Down?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date September 16, 2012

I recently went on a prayer retreat. To remove myself from the distractions of the day and my environment, I went to a hermitage. For 48 hours there would be no work, no phones, no Internet, no TV, and minimal talking.

It was a bustle of activity to prepare for this extended time away, bringing my work and my life to a point where I could put them on pause.

Not surprisingly, my mind was still racing as I pulled my car onto the grounds of the retreat center.

A sign said “Begin slowing down.” Aah!

For 48 hours I did just that. I slowed down, I rested, I prayed and mostly listened. It was good, really good, so good that I even delayed my departure.

And when I did, another sign advised, “Return slowly.”

That instruction is easy to read, but hard to do. I liked slow, but it’s evasive, seemingly impossible to maintain in normal life. However, we don’t need to go on a retreat to slow down.

We can make allowances for slowness in our regular life.

I think that’s why God gave us our Sabbath rest; it’s a time we can slow down.

But do we?

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Tags prayer, Sabbath rest

Reviews of Books & Movies

Book Review: Secrets of the Secret Place

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date August 24, 2012

Secrets of the Secret Place: Keys to Igniting Your Personal Time with God

By Bob Sorge (reviewed by Peter DeHaan)

The intent of Secrets of the Secret Place is directly stated in the subtitle: to ignite your personal time with God. Towards that end, author Bob Sorge takes readers on a journey of starting and pursing their own personal time with God.

His instruction is amply supported by scripture, but his treatise is not a theoretical and untouchable one; it is born out of his own journey and personal experience.

Sadly, few Christians ever embark on this journey and fewer still persist in it.

Sorge wants to change that and Secrets of the Secret Place is his foundational effort towards that end.

Secrets of the Secret Place is a four-part, 52-chapter book. (If 52 chapters are off-putting, know that each one is short, averaging a scant four pages.)

In part one of Secrets, Sorge opens with basic teachings on how to establish a secret place with God.

Building upon that, part two introduces practical, hands-on tips. Next, in part three, are contained encouragements to make this practice a lifelong pursuit.

The concluding section considers truths that will aid in this personal time becoming one of deeper intimacy with God.

With Secrets of the Secret Place containing 52 chapters—actually 52 “secrets”—one possible use is as a year-long, weekly study for a small group or class. Alternately, it can be pursued individually at the reader’s preferred pace.

Although Secrets is a standalone resource, for those using it as a group study, additional tools are available, including a leader’s guide, a companion study guide, and a DVD (containing twelve, 30-minute sessions, taught by Bob Sorge).

In reading Secrets of the Secret Place, there may be the temptation to read the entire book before embarking on your own journey. While that may seem wise or even practical, it is also a delaying tactic that is counterproductive.

Read chapter one and start the journey, then go one to chapter two.

This book is not a formula for finding your secret place with God, but rather a guide that will move you in that direction; each person will fill in the details as to what works best for them.

As such, Secrets is not a book that is read once and shelved, but a resource that is repeated returned to on this journey of “igniting your personal time with God.”

[Secrets of the Secret Place: Keys to Igniting Your Personal Time with God, by Bob Sorge. Published by Oasis House, 2001, ISBN: 978-0-9704791-0-5, 221 pages.]

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Tags author, prayer

Christian Living

Does the Timing of Prayer Matter?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date July 22, 2012

I believe God lives outside of the space-time he created. Therefore, he isn’t limited by time—as we are—so our prayers need not be bounded by time, either.

This allows me to pray for things after the fact; the timing of when I pray is not as critical as the fact that I did pray, at some time.

For example, if someone asks for prayer at ten o’clock, I can pray at ten (the best option).

Or I can pray in advance, anticipating what they will undergo (this is great if I’ll be busy at ten).

A third option is to pray afterwards but to pray as if the outcome is still undetermined (this is hard and I don’t do it often).

Once I told a friend, I would pray for her—and then forgot. A reminder of my forgetfulness was an email from her, which essentially said, “thanks for praying; things didn’t work out.”

Dismayed over my broken promise, I did my best to set aside my knowledge of the outcome and pray as if it hadn’t occurred. My faith, that my feeble prayer would be answered, was weak at best, but I did pray nonetheless.

About four hours later I received a second email, which negated the first. It basically said, “God is amazing; he has provided for me and answered our prayers.”

I can’t explain the two contradicting emails and don’t know the details. What I do know is that God answers our prayers—regardless of when we pray.

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Tags prayer, space-time

Christian Living

What Does it Mean to be a Prayer Warrior?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date July 15, 2012

How often have you heard the phrase “prayer warrior”? Have you ever attributed it to someone who prays a lot or prays with effectiveness?

Interestingly, those two words are not used together in the Bible.*

I wonder if the warrior metaphor is more a construct of modernity and a colonization mentality and not at all what God has in mind.

What if God doesn’t want us to be a prayer warrior? Perhaps he desires that we not “war” at prayer, but rather that we “love” at prayer—love him.

However, recall that Ephesians 6:12 says, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, authorities, powers of this dark world, and spiritual forces of evil. This does indeed evoke an image of war.

Clearly a balance is called for. If we think of prayer as war, our focus is on the enemy, not God. I don’t think that’s what God wants (but the enemy may like the extra attention).

For me a prayer that devotes more words to warring against the enemy than to loving God is a prayer that is out of balance and focused on the wrong thing.

May our prayer focus rightly reside on God.

*The phrase “prayer warrior” is not found in the NIV, NLT, AMP, or NASB. Interestingly, occurs once in The Message, but in a negative context: “The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant,” Matthew 6:7.

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Tags prayer

Christian Living

Pray Once and Pray Without Ceasing

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date June 17, 2012

When we ask God for something, is it a “once and done” effort or should we pray repeatedly until our request is granted?

I think the answer is yes!

If we truly believe God hears our prayers, then we only need to ask once. (And what’s the point of praying if we don’t think he hears our every word?) To ask a second time may suggest a lack of faith.

Is incessantly pleading with God akin to children repeatedly begging their parents for candy? Just as a kid’s non-stop plea is irritating to parents, constantly begging God, must also bug him.

However, there are times, when prayers should be repeated. For example, in the parable of the widow petitioning the unjust judge, Jesus commends her persistence. Another time Jesus taught us to ask each day for our “daily bread.”

And while having enough food to eat may not be a concern for most of us, we do need God’s provisions for each new day—and it’s appropriate to make that request every morning.

There are times when we should only petition God once and other instances where we need to ask repeatedly. And part of our spiritual journey is discerning the difference.

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Tags prayer

Christian Living

What Do You Expect When You Pray?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 27, 2012

When some people pray, they pray expecting God will answer their prayers and good things will happen.

When other people pray, they pray expecting there’s only an outside chance God will come through; bad things are bound to happen.

When you pray do you expect God to say “yes” or expect him to say “no?”

If we pray expecting God to grant our requests, there will be times when we are disappointed.

However, if we pray with little expectation of God granting our requests, there will only be a few times when we are surprised. We must pray in faith and without doubting.

I tend to be in the first group—expecting the best from God—and not in the latter group—expecting little from him. I see God as kind, loving, and benevolent, wanting to give me good things—all I need to do is ask.

When I pray, I almost always expect God to say “yes.”

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Tags doubt, faith, prayer

Bible Insights

Which Version of the Lord’s Prayers Do You Say?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 15, 2012

Which Version of the Lord’s Prayers Do You Say?

Did you know there are multiple versions of the Lord’s Prayer—the prayer Jesus used to teach his followers how to pray? Matthew records the most common version, which goes something like this:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

While there are some variations to this depending on the version of the Bible referenced, it is essentially the wording many people use.

However, there is a footnote indicating that some manuscripts add the following phrase at the end:

“For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

This completes the version used by most of the rest of us. However, Luke also records the prayer with a more concise wording:

“Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.”

I’ve never heard anyone use this version. But it is in the Bible and is worth considering.

However, it doesn’t really matter which of these three versions of this classic prayer we follow, for I don’t think Jesus intended us to recite it verbatim, but to use it as a model or a template to form our own prayers.

[Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4]

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Tags glory, Jesus, Lord’s Prayer, prayer

Christian Living

What Does an “Unspoken Request” Really Mean?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 6, 2012

At a church I recently visited, members shared prayer requests as part of the service. One lady raised her hand and simply said she had an “unspoken request.”

Though I’ve not heard that phrase in a long time, it was a common utterance at a church I once attended. It was almost always said by women, and it always puzzled me. What exactly was behind such a statement?

In considering how it was said, with the body language and tone of voice behind it—ranging from emotional turmoil to smug self-satisfaction—I formulated several possible interpretations:

I am too embarrassed to say this aloud.
My need is too shameful to mention.
I really have nothing to share, but want to call attention to myself.
I want to be mysterious and garner unwarranted sympathy.
My request is not appropriate to share in a large group or in mixed company.
I cannot put the pain in my heart into words.

I think at one time or another, each of these were a correct understanding of the motivation for the person who uttered this ambiguous phrase.

As for the lady who said it most recently, there was definitely a deep emotional pain behind it. I doubt if she could have said much more. In this case I was glad to pray for her—even compelled to do so.

More importantly, when we can’t form the words to express the turmoil within, God is able to understand our groan of a prayer anyway.

With him, there is no such thing as an unspoken request.

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Tags doubt, prayer

Christian Living

How Can We Hear From God?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date April 22, 2012

A good friend was all excited. He had something he couldn’t wait to share.

“God revealed something to me,” he announced. “I’ve not yet found it in the Bible, but I know it’s there somewhere.”

I completely missed what God had revealed to him because I was so taken aback contemplating his statement.

I have no doubt he heard from God—and I trust he heard correctly—but his assertion that he would find it in the Bible perplexed me.

Growing up I was taught that God speaks to us through the Bible and we speak to him in prayer. That’s correct, but it’s only part of a greater truth.

God can also speak words to us through his spirit, not in written words, but in oral words, or perhaps whispered words, words he implants into our mind.

Another wise friend told me if what we think we heard from God doesn’t line up with the Bible, then what we thought we heard wasn’t really from him. In addition to scripture, we can also run our revelations by trusted friends and those in authority over us.

If everything lines up, then we can be quite sure we heard from God.

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Tags doubt, hear God, prayer