The third type of prayer is like smoke that is filled with fire. As it rises up, it is so hot that when it reaches the rock, the rock begins to melt like wax. It pierces the rock and goes through.
Many times, as people begin to pray, their prayers look like the first type, but as they continue praying, their prayers change and become like the second prayer. And as they continue praying, suddenly it ignites into fire. And their prayers become so powerful, they pierce through the rock.
Many times evil agents would notice that prayers were changing and coming very close to the state of fire, then these agents would communicate to other spirits on earth and they tell them, “Distract that person from prayer. Stop them praying. Pull them out.”
Many times Christians yield to these distractions. They are pressing through, they are repenting, they are allowing the Word to check their spirit up, Faith has been building up. Their prayers are becoming more focused. Then the devil sees their prayers are gaining strength and the distractions begin. Telephones ring. Sometimes we, in the middle of very, very intense prayer, the telephone rings and you think you can go to answer the phone and then come back and continue praying. When you come back, you go back to the beginning. And that’s what the devil wants.
Other kinds of distractions come your way, even if it means touching your body and bringing some pain somewhere. Even if it means making you hungry and you want to go to the kitchen and fix something to eat. As long as they can get you out of that place, they have defeated you. And he will say to the pastors, “Teach people. Set aside some time. Not for just some casual kind of praying. They can do that the rest of the day. Once in a day, they should have a time when they are focusing wholeheartedly on God, nothing distracting them.
And if people persist in this kind of prayer and allow themselves to be inspired in the spirit and keep going and keep going, something happens in the spirit. The fire touches that rock, and it melts. And this man said, when the melting begins, it is so hot, no demon spirit can stand it. No human spirit can stand it. They all flee. They all run away.
There comes an opening in the spiritual realm. And as soon as this comes, all this trouble in prayer stops. The person who is praying on the ground just feels like prayer is suddenly so smooth, so enjoyable, so powerful and intense. And I’ve discovered at that moment, we normally lose conscience of time and other things. Not that we become disorderly. God takes care of our time. But it is like you lay down everything, and you hook up with God. And this man said that when the prayers go through, from that moment there can be no resistance at all, and the person praying will continue as long as he wants. There is no resistance that can stop him.
And then he said, after he finishes praying, the hole remains open, and he said that people, when they rise out of their place of prayer, and they walk out, this open hole moves along with them. They are no longer operating under the blanket. They are operating under open heavens. And he said in that state, the devil cannot do what he wants against them. And the presence of the Lord is like a pillar from heaven resting on their lives. They are protected, and there is so much power inside that pillar that as they move around, that presence touches other people. It discerns what the enemy has done in other people. And as they talk to people and those people are standing with them, they come inside this pillar. And as long as they stay inside that pillar, all the bondages of the enemy weaken.
So when these people who have this spiritual break-through share Jesus Christ with the sinners, their resistance is low. It is so easy to bring them through. When they pray for the sick or pray about things, the presence which is there makes all the difference. And this man said the devil hates such people. And it said if there are places where prayer is regularly being prayed through like that, the presence comes upon that place and does not leave. So even the people who don’t know God, when they come into this place suddenly all the bondages are weakened.
And if someone cared to just minister to them patiently and with love, they can easily be pulled through, not by power nor by might but by the Spirit of God, who is present. And he said, if no one bothers about these people, they come into his presence, they feel convicted, they begin to debate whether to yield or not, but if they are not pulled through, when they walk away from this place, bondages get stronger. And the devil tries his best not to allow them to come back into such an environment.
You can imagine we were all seated looking at this man. He was telling us the things he used to do and what he used to see. Then he told us what they would do to people who have broken through in prayer. He said they marked such people; they studied such people. They dug up everything they could find about such people. So they knew their weaknesses, and when someone overcomes them in prayer and breaks through, they communicate with other spirits and say, “Target him with this and with this and with this. These are his weaknesses.” So when this person walks out of the prayer closet, the spirit of prayer is upon him, the presence is upon him, his spirits are high, the joy of the Lord is his strength. As he moves the enemy tries to bring those things that can distract him from focusing on the Lord.
If his weakness is in the area of temper, then the enemy is going to cause people to do things which can make him really angry. And if he is not sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and he allows himself to go into the temper, he takes his eyes off the Lord. He gets angry, he feels so furious, and after a few minutes later, he wants to put that behind him and move along in the joy of the Lord, but he doesn’t feel it anymore. He tries to feel good again; he doesn’t feel any good again. Why? As he yielded to the temptation, they worked hard to close the door upstairs. And once they restore the rock, the presence is cut off. The person does not cease being a child of God. But that extra anointing that goes on his life, that presence that could do things without his manipulating anything, it’s just cut off. They seek out where the weaknesses are.
If it is in the temptation to sexuality, the enemy will prepare people, events, something that will suddenly draw out that passion to go towards that temptation. And if that man yields to this temptation and opens up his mind to receive these thoughts, entertains them, when he is through with everything and wants to move again in the anointing, he just discovers it is no longer there. Maybe you say, “That’s not fair.” Just remember what the Bible says, “Put on the helmet of salvation. Put on the breastplate of righteousness.” We normally do not see the position, the place of these weapons of warfare. But remember what Jesus told us to pray towards the end of the Lord’s prayer, “Take us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
Every time you have a breakthrough in prayer, as you come to the end, remember you are still a weak human being. Remember you have not yet been perfected. Ask the Lord, say “Lord, I’ve enjoyed this time of prayer, but when I walk out into this world, lead me not into temptation. Don’t allow me to walk into the devil’s trap. I know the enemy is setting a trap out there. I don’t know what form it is going to take. And I know I am still weak in certain areas. If I am just put in the right place, I will yield to that. Protect me, Lord. When you see me turning that corner where the trap is, just cause me to turn to the other side. Intervene, O Lord. Don’t allow me to move by just my own strength and ability. Deliver me from the evil one.”
God is able to do that. He is able. That is why sometimes things happen, all you need to say is, “Thank you, Jesus.” That’s why Apostle Paul wrote in the book of Thessalonians and said, “Thank God in everything for that is the will of God in Christ for you.” Some things are not good. They are painful, and we wonder why God would allow it. But if only we knew what He is saving us from, we would thank Him. When we learn to trust the Lord, we just thank Him in everything.
Beloved, I don’t know whether to go deeper because I do not want to start something I cannot finish. Let me just try to take one step forward. And this man said that when prayer breaks through like that, the answer will always come. He said he does not know a case where prayer broke through and the answer did not come. He said the answer always came, but in most cases, it would never get to the person who asked. Why? Battle in the heavenlies. He says as long as they succeed in cutting off the open heavens and the rock is restored, they watch this person, they are waiting because they know the answer is definitely coming.
And then this man spoke something that really shook my faith. It is because of the next part he shared that I went into fasting ten days to say, Lord, is this true? Can you prove it to me? This man said that every Christian has got an angel serving that Christian. Now we know the Bible says angels are ministering spirits to us. He said that when people pray, the answer comes in the hands of the angel. The angel brings the answer like we can read it in the book of Daniel. Then he said something really tough; if the one who prays knows the spiritual armors and is clothed with them, the answer comes by an angel who is also clothed in full armor.
If the one who prays doesn’t care about spiritual armory, their angels come without spiritual armor. Christians who don’t care about what kind of thoughts come into their minds. They don’t fight the battle of their minds. Their angels come without the helmet. Whatever spiritual weapon you ignore on earth, the angel doesn’t have it as he serves you. In other words, our spiritual armor is not protecting our physical bodies; it’s protecting our spiritual exploits.
This man said, when the angel is coming, they would focus and look at him and notice the areas which are not covered, and those are the areas they would attack. If he has no helmet, they would shoot at his head. If he has no breastplate, they would shoot at his chest. If he has no shoes, they would make a fire that he is walking in the fire. Now I am just repeating what this man said. Actually, we asked him, “Can angels feel fire?” And you know what he said to us? Remember this is a spiritual realm. These are spirits dealing with spirits. The battle is intensive, and when they overpower an angel of God, the first thing they target is the answer he is carrying, and they get that from him, that is what they give through the cults, the witchcraft, and people say, “I got this because of witchcraft.”
Remember what the Bible says in the book of James? All good things come from God. So where does the devil get the things he gives to his people? Some people who cannot have children, they go to witch doctors and satanists, and they get pregnant! Who gave them that baby? Is satan a creator? NO! He steals from those who don’t pray to the end. Jesus said, “Pray without ceasing.” And then He said, “But when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith?” Will He find you still there waiting? Or will you have given up and the enemy would steal what you have prayed for?
Then this man said that they are not satisfied with just stealing the answer. They are also interested in detaining the angel. And they start fighting him. And he said sometimes they succeed in holding and binding the angel. And he says, when that happens, the Christian is a victim on earth. They can do anything with that Christian because he is totally left without ministry in the Spirit.
I said to him, “Do you mean an angel can be held in captivity by demonic forces?” This man did not even know the scriptures by the time he was saying all this. He did not know very many scriptures. He was just sharing his experiences. And he said, they wouldn’t hold the angel too long because as other Christians prayed elsewhere, reinforcement would come, and the angels would go free. If the Christian responsible did not pray through, he remains a captive. Then the enemy sends his own angel as an angel of light to this person, and that is where the deceptions come in. False visions and false prophecies. False leadership, I mean leading, guidance in the spirit, making wrong decisions of all types. And many times this person is open to all kinds of attack and bondages.
And I asked the Lord. I left that dinner so troubled, so troubled. I said, “Lord, I don’t want even to try and believe this.” It removes all my confidence, my security. When I went to seek the Lord, it was ten days, the Lord did two things. He did not only confirm the things I had heard, he opened my mind to see a lot more that this man could not tell us of what happens in the spiritual realm. And two, he led me to see what we are supposed to do as the things are happening so that we are not overcome but that we can overcome. And we need to know three things and really come to terms with these three things.
One: how to operate with the weapons of our warfare. The Bible calls them the armor of God. It is not our armor; it is God’s armor. When we use it, we allow God to fight on our behalf. Two: understand the relationship of the ministering spirits-the angels-to our spiritual lives. And to be sensitive to what is happening in our hearts as a leading to what needs to be happening in the spirit concerning us. That brings us to the third thing: that is the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not supposed to come as our servant, serving us and bringing things to us. He does not run to and fro to the Father to tell Him what we need. That is the work of angels. But He stands by our side. Doing what? Guiding us, teaching us, leading us, helping us to pray the right way. And when these things are happening in the spiritual realm, He tells us, sometimes He wakes you up in the night and says, “Pray.” You say, “No! My time is not yet come.” And He says, “Pray now!” Why? He sees what is happening in the spirit. Sometimes He says, “Tomorrow-fasting!” You say, “Oh, no, I’ll start on Monday!”
But He understands what is happening in the spiritual realm. We should learn to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. He guides us in the paths of righteousness. Beloved we’ve got to stop here. Maybe tomorrow morning, we can talk about how we can pray through, knowing the battles in the spirit and how we can break through. How we can maintain our breakthrough once we have scored it. And once we learn this, it becomes enjoyable. Then we learn one thing: the battle is not ours; the battle is of the Lord! Hallelujah!
Let’s just stand up. Look someone in the eye, and just think about how many times that person could have missed what God had for him. But join your hands if you can, two or three people, and just tell each other, “There’s no need for more defeat! We can overcome! There is enough power to overcome! Jesus has already done the whole work.” Pray for each other that the Lord will help us to overcome. We should not lose. There is enough grace, enough power for victory.
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