Satan has legions of demons that do his bidding and are in rebellion against God. They look for ways to attack and hinder God’s people, and at times, we must wrestle against them. This can be a very personal conflict, but they must submit to the authority of Christ’s Word, which we can use together with God’s armour. (Mark 16:17-18, Luke 10:17).

Levels of Prayer

There are different levels in prayer, such as requesting, interceding, and petitioning, all of which carry the meaning of us coming in humility and faith to God and asking him to supply our needs. (1 Timothy 2:1). Another level of prayer is intercession, which is to plead for another or even for a nation and can involve great sacrifice. Moses, Esther and Daniel did this. (Exodus 32:32, Psalm 106:23, Esther 4:16). It was Jesus who ultimately interceded for us and paid the supreme price with his life.

Declaring and Decreeing

The pronouncing of decrees is now a popular practice and is done with the intention of announcing God’s purposes over people and nations. This has become common in some circles and can involve “declaring, decreeing, binding, rebuking, pulling down of strongholds and disarming spiritual powers. This has replaced the customary method of prayer.

The direction is reversed; instead of people coming to God in humility and need, they come as kings with decrees. Declaring one’s faith is one thing but decreeing things into existence is not Biblical. It comes from the false practice of naming and claiming. Declaring and affirming God’s Word in our own lives is very powerful but we must be cautious about using scripture to make all sorts of decrees.

We cannot just quote things and decree them out of context to what they apply. For example, to use God’s Word to decree blessing over people or whole nations that are not serving him but walking in rebellion against him is to misuse God’s Word. God will not bless unbelievers unless they repent, and his promise to those in rebellion is judgment, not blessing. We must be careful in the way we handle God’s Word. (Isaiah 66:1-6).

Resisting the Devil

The mark of false prophets is that they continually misappropriate and misapply it. I hear people rebuking the devil in prayer and do not encourage this practice. We are told to resist the devil, not to rebuke him. (1 Peter 5:9, James 4:7). To resist means to withstand him. Individual demonic activity, oppression and possession by demonic spirits can be dealt with by commanding the spirits to depart. However, even though the Lord gave the disciples authority over demons, there is no injunction for us to rebuke Satan: quite the contrary, even the archangel did not bring accusations against him. (Jude 1:8-9, 2 Peter 2:9-11).

Jesus dealt with every attack from Satan by using the “Word of God” and we can too, by standing on the scriptures. Satan cannot argue with that. It is not wise to pray to the Lord in one breath and speak to the devil in the next. We pray to the Lord and resist the devil through scripture. In this way, we keep ourselves protected.

Deliverance and Spiritual Battles

The preaching of the Gospel is what brings deliverance to people and nations, not decreeing or rebuking. People must hear and repent. If there is demonic resistance or manifestations of various kinds, we have authority to correct it and by defeating demons here on Earth Satan’s kingdom falls in the heavens. (Luke 11:18).

When it comes to praying for a particular community or nation, we are to operate in the manner Daniel and other great men and women prayed. Their intercession was based on confession and repentance. (Daniel 9:3-21). When Daniel prayed during a twenty-one-day fast, a powerful angel broke through the spiritual strongholds and, as a result of his prayers, got the upper hand. (Daniel 10:2-19).

This angel was involved in an angelic battle but Daniel did not rebuke any angels but prayed confession and repentance. There is a battle in the heavenly realms among angels and there is a battle on earth among men and demons and we must not mix the two.

The Principle of Intercession

The principle of intercession is not rebuking, decreeing or declaring but repentance and confession. As a result, God’s angels are empowered to gain victory in their realm. Our prayers of confession enable them to be victorious in battle. We must do what angels cannot do and that is to offer prayers of repentance. This breaks Satan’s power.

There is a scripture, 2 Chronicles 7:13-14, that highlights the principle of confession, and repentance. There is one thing the devil cannot resist and that is truth expressed in confession, repentance and obedience to God, that defeats him.

God’s Angels and Protection

There are multitudes of angels that protect God’s people. (Psalm 34:7, 91:11-12, 2 Kings 6:17). We do not pray to them, but we walk in God’s protection and when we need them, they minister to us. (Hebrews 1:14).

Join me as we continue on our journey through “A Life of Faith.”

Blog series Six – Two Kingdoms at War:

Episode 6: The Law of Sin & Death & The Law of The Spirit & Life

Episode 7: The Riches of His Grace

Episode 8: Works of the Flesh & Fruits of the Spirit

Blog series Seven – Pitfalls to a Life of Faith