Author: Christine Wyrtzen

From creation forward, God told His us how life would work. He desired to bless and have a relationship with us and set out the following ground rules. ‘Obey, and you will be blessed.  Disobey, and you will be led into captivity.’ There are myriads of examples throughout Scripture that prove this to be true.  

When the nation of Israel worshipped God and followed His precepts, He blessed them, protected them from their enemies, and made them prosperous.  But when they disobeyed, when they chose to worship idols and do every kind of abominable thing, His hand of protection and blessing was withdrawn.  They were carried away as slaves and became acquainted with famine and all other effects of the Fall.  Today, God’s Word still stands and the same rules apply.

Imagine with me that each of us lives within the perimeter of a white-picket fence line.  We are blessed and protected when we follow God and live holy lives.  The white picket fence looks brand new.  It’s pristine.  All the timbers are upright, painted, and sturdy. But when we choose to sin, when there are longstanding patterns of disobedience, that pristine white fence deteriorates into disrepair, like a fence that borders an abandoned property.  Timbers are on the ground, or bent and broken.  The gate is smashed in.  Enemies walk in. 

Personalized Prayer Mapping is about doing boundary-line assessment so that there can be fence repair.  King David said The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. Psalm 16:5-6   How true this was before his sin with Bathsheba, but how his life was ravaged after disobedience.  

If a child of God loves Jesus and knows a life of confession of repentance, his boundary line is secure.  But many of God’s children have more timbers on the ground than are standing.  The enemy is a wolf on the prowl, an intruder, and a strategic planner, and he easily gets through the fence.  

Joyce Carol Oates said, “We human beings are the species that clamors to be lied to.”  How true.  We are lulled into a sense of false well-being by an enemy who wants us to believe that everything is fine.  But he fears the child of God who knows that repentance and forgiveness through the blood of Jesus closes any access and secures the boundary line.   Footholds and strongholds are history.  It’s time for the Bride of Christ to purify for the coming of the Bridegroom.  May we not be found sleeping with the enemy.

Strongholds are fortresses, nearly impenetrable structures. Internal strongholds are built over a long period of time. They exist because the enemy has been at work, and with our cooperation, unrighteous beliefs have become firmly embedded in our mindsets, culminating in unrighteous deeds. Where there are strongholds, you can be sure that sin festers, uncontested. What does Paul say about demonic strongholds?

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 2 Corinthians 10:4

The overarching message here is that strongholds can be demolished. The weapons that will take them down are not physical; we can’t see or touch them. Instead, they are spiritual and are divinely empowered. They are given to us by God’s gracious intentions so that we can live victoriously.

If I trust God’s love and believe His Word is true and life-giving, I will abhor sin and hurry to do personal housecleaning where strongholds are concerned.  I will know that without intentional introspection, I will continually be prey to Satan, a known spiritual felon.

Where does the enemy have a ‘strong hold’ on you? It need not be. There is another kind of stronghold you’ll want to run to, a beautiful divine alternative.

The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Psalms 9:9

God promises to be our stronghold. We can run from demonic strongholds to the one God offers. It is not a structure at all; it is Him. He is the fortress! All who run into Him are safe. It’s His promise.

Why would our enemy wish to deceive us if we are God’s children? He’s already lost the battle as it relates to our soul and spiritual destiny. It doesn’t make sense. But, I can think of two reasons. 1.) He can wound God’s heart when he hurts His children. And, 2.) By telling us enough lies about who God is, he can do a ton of damage to our relationship with our Father. 

Paul warned us.  But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:3

Where have you backed up from God? Where are you unsure of His love for you, shy of the intimacy He offers? Where do you distrust Him and drop your gaze? Somewhere in the answers you provide, lies can be found. The deceiver has done some damage to your ability to trust God wholeheartedly. You are no longer a small child who jumps from the heights and knows he will be caught.

You might wonder how you can uncover and identify the lies you believe. Hunt the most painful parts of your story. In what areas can you still be triggered? There are emotional warning signs that often accompany lies. Hopelessness. Despair. Fear. Crippling depression. Freezing in place. Wordlessness. Emotions are usually tied to beliefs ~ and beliefs to truth or lies. These lies comprise most of your internal daily battles. Paul warned us that the battlefield is in the mind. 

Any thought that makes us back up from God and trust Him less is a thought we should discard. Its origins are unmistakable. Satan wants to divide and conquer. Malicious lies to disparage God’s character are his best way to disrupt our trust in God’s fathering. If our mind, our battlefield, is littered with lies, we will live in perpetual confusion.   A relationship fraught with misgivings and doubts is an unstable one. We weren’t made to live with our feet in quicksand.  

You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from him who calls you. Galatians 5:7-8

Someone you care about profoundly doesn’t know Jesus.  No matter how often you tell stories about your faith and how Jesus has changed your life, the other person is unmoved.  Jesus simply isn’t attractive. In a worst-case scenario, your testimony is met with cursing words.  What’s the problem?  You’ve come up against the Deceiver. He lives to deceive the unbelieving so that they never leave his kingdom.  It’s not that he cares about them.  He doesn’t.  He just doesn’t want God to have them.  

The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.  2 Corinthians 4:4

Satan has put blinders over their eyes and filters over their ears.  The Gospel you are sharing is not the Gospel they are hearing.  It goes through a demonic filter.  The Jesus you are describing is not the Jesus they are perceiving.  He is disfigured, even repelling.  What’s the cure?  Spiritual warfare!  Know this ~ Captives can be freed.  Deception can be cured.  

Missionaries in spiritually dark places know to engage in heavy spiritual warfare before presenting the Gospel.  But we in the Western world don’t believe it’s really necessary. It’s time to wake up!  Using our God-given authority to use the Sword against the Deceiver can make all the difference between the darkness that covers an unbeliever’s eyes and the Light that will break through.  For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6

Prayer: Lord, you love _________ and don’t want them to perish.  In the authority You gave me, I apply the victory of Calvary and the shedding of Your blood to the schemes of the Deceiver. Let there be light over the darkened mind of __________ today.  Give them spiritual sight so they may see Your glory and believe.  In the name of Jesus, I pray, Amen

Satan is a tempter. Always has been. He appeared in the Garden and worked on Eve quite artfully. She swayed under his spell, sinned against God, and humanity was cursed.  Satan continued to wreak havoc right up to the day Jesus was baptized.  When the Lord retreated to the wilderness for a 40-day fast, Satan had Him in his sights, waiting until the Son of God was vulnerable, hungry, and weak. He told Jesus that if He would worship him, there would be immediate payoffs.  

The enemy doesn’t come at us on a good day, either. He waits until we are compromised, not having slept for a night or two, when we’re down with the flu, or when we’re crushed with crippling disappointment.  We ache for relief and would do about anything to stop the pain.  Satan counts on that.  His temptations offer us a way out early instead of waiting on God. 

The Holy Spirit can teach us how to fight as Jesus did.  Satan comes at us, quoting scripture and presenting spiritual arguments in such a persuasive way that it’s hard to discern if what we’re hearing is a God-breathed idea.  But Jesus promised that we would know His voice, that He’d give us the precise Word to speak to overcome Satan’s hard-to-resist temptation. 

One more thing.  At the end of Jesus’ temptations in the desert, the account in Luke says this.  “When the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him [Jesus] until another opportune time.”  What would constitute the next opportune time?  When Jesus was weary after intense times of ministry, after Judas betrayed him, or when his family accused him of demonic possession.  Temptation almost always starts with a need, on a day we’re facing calamity.  Kind David said ~

He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from foes too mighty for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the LORD was my support. He brought me out into the open; He rescued me because He delighted in me.  Psalm 18:17-19

Satan has many disguises; a lion’s costume is only one of them.  He is also an intruder.  A sneaky one.  He prowls around the border of our personal boundary lines, looking for a break in the fence.  He seeks a way to sneak in quietly so he can oppress.  If he has legal grounds to do so, he’ll move in and call it home. It’s spiritual Squatters’ rights.  He’s as crafty as a serpent who can move among the blades of grass without even disturbing them.  He’s in before you even know it. 

What gives him the right to oppress?  Our unconfessed sin. Unresolved issues.  Grudges and resentments we haven’t yet laid at the foot of the cross.  Family biases we have perpetuated out of improper loyalty to our parents.  Responses to victimization and abuse that we haven’t yet processed to receive Abba’s healing.  Judgements rooted in unforgiveness.  All of these compromise our fence line to provide an opening.  The ‘intruder’ prowls, seeks such an entrance, and has the legal right to slither in.  

What can we do about this invasion?  Plenty.  Ask God to reveal our blind spots. Ask the Holy Spirit to search our hearts, daily.  Disclosure brings confession, confession brings forgiveness, and forgiveness brings deliverance.  Our enemy will no longer have the legal right to stay in our space.  Squatters’ rights will be revoked.  

There is another way to live for anyone who can’t catch a break or who can’t seem to get their breath because of relentless opposition. It is possible to breathe deeply and hear nothing but quiet, to listen and only sense the reassuring whispers of the Spirit.  Holiness offers us a peaceful sanctuary to call home.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  I John 1:9

Satan is a strategist. His plans are well thought out and delegated to his dark forces with great precision.  For instance, let’s look back at his strategy for Judah Iscariot.  The evening meal was being served and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus.  John 13:2  When it came time for Judas to betray Jesus, it was anything but spontaneous.  The devil ‘had already prompted it.’  He knew Judas’ story.  He witnessed his greed.  He saw the number of times Judas dipped into the group’s money bag to pad his own pockets.  If Jesus were to be betrayed for several dozen pieces of silver, there was one perfect candidate. The devil prompted Judas with the temptation long before the last supper.

Satan is a spy and studies your every move too. While you may not know him well, he knows you.  He takes advantage of your weaknesses and customizes temptations with the greatest chance of getting you to sin.  His strategic plan for you will not resemble what he conceives for anyone else. He is skilled at knowing how to match individual strategies with individual people.  He invents impressive plans to get us to cave to sin and abandon holiness.

We must see ourselves as the Holy Spirit gives us insight.  We must know our Achilles’ heel. Have you ever asked yourself, “In what area will I have the greatest chance of defeat if the perfect temptation came along?” 

If I am an alcoholic, I should avoid situations where people drink without limits.  If I thrive on gossip, I should steer clear of groups that find fault with those who can’t defend themselves.  If I am self-critical, I should limit the company of those who delight in tearing me down. I am not invincible. Since the enemy is a strategic planner, I need to be one as well ~ seeing the danger ahead of time and planning my steps accordingly.

We are not ignorant of the devil’s wiles.” 2 Corinthians 2:11  (The Greek word for wiles is strategy.) 

Fear is the enemy’s greatest tactic. In the garden, there was nothing to fear, but after sin was committed and the curse was pronounced, everything changed. Adam and Eve must have been anxious as they left the garden for the unknown. Eve must have been terrified when the pangs of childbirth hit her. Both Adam and Eve must have trembled when they witnessed the rivalry and animosity between their children. And ever since, the number of fear-inducing events has been incalculable. 

There’s a booklet, quite dated, called Born For Battle. Here is a quote: To get the Christian to react the wrong way, the devil devises a storm. He stimulates in us a panic to act according to the predicament we are in without taking time to think of God’s promises. The devil is a panic artist and plays heavily on our fearful reactions in an emergency!

I grew up in a two-story home. When it was dark, I dreaded going upstairs alone because I sensed there was a bear-like creature lurking up there. I don’t remember seeing anything, but I sensed it and was terrified. Since the only bathroom was upstairs, I would often have to go up by myself. I would turn the light on in the stairwell first, then race up the stairs to find the next set of light switches. The real challenge came when I had to turn the lights off behind me to leave. I would run all the way down the stairs and into the lighted part of the house, yelling, “A bear! A bear!” My parents thought I had a vivid imagination. Today, I know better and have asked Jesus to remove the terror in the memory.

There are myriads of things that make our hearts race. No wonder there are so many ‘Don’t be afraid’ commands in scripture. We are creatures of fear. And we will be casualties of fear if we aren’t proactive in applying the cures. The antidotes are these: 1.) Intimacy with Jesus so His presence is palpable. 2.) The promises of God that have been tucked away by memory. And, 3.) An armament of warfare scriptures to vocalize out loud when the enemy is breathing down your neck. 

To live courageously and victoriously must be intentional. Abba Father has provided Himself as our refuge – with His presence and very words. The fake lion’s roar will no longer succeed with a surprise attack if we are armed and ready.

Believers don’t like to consider the devil and what he is like.  After all, he invents ways to bring devastation. But while his appetite is to kill and destroy, his greatest damage is inflicted on another battlefield, that of the mind.  The effect is tragic!  He skews our spiritual eyesight so that we can not see the glory of Jesus.  He destroys any possibility for us to be captivated by Him.  He knows that if we’re drawn to the Savior, love and devotion will be the results.  For this reason alone, we should know who he is and how he works against us.  To our peril, we ignore the topic.  

Why?  Let’s consider a couple of reasons. 

1. We’re afraid we will be imbalanced.

There’s an argument that goes like this. ‘To give the devil any thought at all is to be imbalanced, giving him glory that only belongs to God.’ When those in military warfare give thought to the enemy they are fighting, does it exalt them?  No.  It is part of the strategy to …..achieve victory.  The Apostle Paul said, “We will not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.”  2 Corinthians 2:11  If he wasn’t, we can’t afford to be.  

2.    We live insulated from overt manifestations of evil.

Middle-class Americans who have lived relatively peaceful lives find it hard to believe that taking the kingdom of darkness seriously is really important.  Perhaps you’ve heard a comment like, “I’ve never encountered a demon or felt attacked by one. So why learn deliverance?  That just seems too radical.”  Sound familiar?

We can’t afford to be ignorant about spiritual warfare. It touches every area of our lives—our families, relationships, church, neighborhoods, communities, and places of employment. There is no part of our existence Satan does not assert his influence.

3. We’ve adopted a Western worldview.

We believe that every effect has a physical cause; if you can’t see, touch, taste, smell, or hear it, it probably doesn’t exist.  We attest that every phenomenon can be accounted for scientifically.  If there is a spiritual realm, it has no impact on the physical whatsoever.

Here’s the biblical worldview.  Angels do God’s bidding; demons do Satan’s bidding.  They oppose God’s kingdom.  Miracles, physical healing, gifts of the Holy Spirit, and exercising spiritual authority are essential to impact the physical and spiritual kingdoms. 

Scripture explains much about the enemy and his kingdom of darkness.  We are inclined to study every topic but that one, but it is to our peril.  Becoming a casualty is the result, and it need not be.   Education is one means of protection. 

Listen to the LORD who created you, to the One who formed you says, “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine.   Isaiah 43:1

Brennan Manning said, “We often feel like the homely peasant girl for whom the king has come to take a bride.” Our sense of self-condemnation often causes us to back away from God’s call to live as His beloved. We feel unworthy. Our pride says that we can’t believe His words. Our understanding of love has been compromised by our experiences with others as we have all felt degraded, excluded, ridiculed, passed over, and a host of other things related to rejection. Memories fester in our souls, and infection grows with time. 

No one gets to define my worth except my Creator. Not a parent, not a caregiver, not a teacher, not a pastor, not a child or spouse. Only God’s opinion matters because His Word trumps all others. He says I’m cherished, and that must be lived out by daily acts of faith.

Many were made to feel unworthy by their parents.  They were never anyone’s priority.  Work came first.  Or other children were preferred.  Perhaps the ministry even trumped their importance. Spouses can also tragically communicate that their mate isn’t worth much, and children often tell their parents, “You’re a bad father or bad mother.”  We tend to absorb their opinions of ourselves.  We rationalize that these are the ones who know us best, so they must have credibility.  No, not if their opinion contradicts God’s opinion.

How do I live cherished in a world where few are cherished?  I believe my Father’s proclamations of love, by faith.  I am no longer to be ruled by the hole in my soul. The story becomes a narrative that I can tell others to extol the Fatherhood of God.  My life is no longer a tragedy.  Though it contains tragic elements, the overriding theme is joyous redemption.  I’m a Daughter of Promise, and every single thing is safely under God’s providence.