When Intercessors Are Afraid of the Devil
When we walked into the prayer meeting, I sensed it was going to be an all-out war. Of course, the moment we got saved, we enlisted as soldiers in the army of the Lord. We are, indeed, in a war. The enemy of our souls is lurking and looking for an open door to attack. And sometimes his demons don’t wait for an open door. They just attack.
The enemy is already a defeated foe. Jesus disarmed principalities and powers, making a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by His work on the cross (see Col. 2:15). As born-again citizens of heaven, we remain here to enforce Christ’s rule in a foreign land. So, we effectively live in a war zone.
Jesus gave us authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means harm us (see Luke 10:19). But that doesn’t mean we don’t have to wage spiritual warfare. It just means when we wrestle against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (see Eph. 6:12) … When we seek to enforce Christ’s rule on this earth, He always leads us into triumph (see 2 Cor. 2:14).
The key word is “leads.” Nevertheless, I’ve met some intercessors who are downright scared of the devil. Instead of following Christ into triumph, they follow fear. How can a prophetic intercessor effectively wage warfare when they are flowing from a place of fear instead of victory in Christ? Selah.
Scared of Demonic Retaliation
When we walked into the prayer meeting and I sensed it was going to be an all-out war, I looked for fearless soldiers to run to the battle line with me—those fully armored up with the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit (see Eph. 6:14-16). We war from a place of victory in Christ. Still, no victorious soldier goes into battle without getting armored up. There is wisdom in wafare.
Long story short, we engaged the enemy over our territory. Prophetically, we identified strongholds in our region and took authority over them in the name of Jesus. We stood on God’s Word. We worshipped the King. But some of the intercessors weren’t ready for what happened next: demonic retaliation.
When you are wrestling against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places—which I wouldn’t recommend you do unless you are in a corporate setting and unless the Holy Spirit leads you to—it literally is a wrestling match. And in a wrestling match the opponent doesn’t go down without a fight. And in a wrestling match with demons the enemy doesn’t fight fair.
The Masked Assassins
When I was a kid, my friend’s dad watched wrestling matches on TV. The stars of the day were Dusty Rhodes with his “bionic elbow” and the Masked Assassins with their yellow and black disguises. Rhodes was the All-American hero and the Masked Assassins were the evil ones. I remember the tag team fights where the Masked Assassins would fight dirty against Rhodes, hitting him with chairs or bringing an extra man in to the tag team match to get an upper hand.
That’s how the enemy works. He doesn’t fight fair—and he doesn’t fight alone. Have you ever noticed how, at times, you take authority over one spirit in the name of Jesus and it seems like nothing happened? That’s because there’s a vast army of demons under Satan’s command and he often dispatches them in an onslaught. If you take authority over one demon, another may be sent to retaliate against you in rapid-fire succession.
That’s just what happened after our prayer meeting. Some of the intercessors were dizzy all night long. It was uncanny. What are the chances that the intercessors would all manifest with dizziness so severe that you couldn’t even stand up without risk of falling down? It was retaliation from the enemy. When it happened to me, I pled the blood of Jesus and thanked God for protecting me. The dizziness eventually left.
Fearful Intercessors Are Ineffective Intercessors
The enemy got to one of the intercessors, though. Ironically, she had propped herself up as the most experienced of us all. She often boasted about her experiences sending the devil running and was bold in prayer. But this experience struck fear in her heart. She began to criticize the prayer meetings—even though it was extremely rare that we entered into that level of warfare. She began to question the leadership. And she never came back to the group. In a way, the enemy gained a victory. He took her out with a little bout of dizziness.
Fearful intercessors are ineffective intercessors. If you are too scared of the enemy to follow the Lord into battle, you are walking in a measure of defeat rather than the Christ-won victory. They say dogs can smell fear on you. Well, so can the enemy. So enter into battle from a position of victory, understanding your authority in Christ. And when the battle is over, plead the blood of Jesus over yourself, bind spirits of retaliation and walk in freedom rather than fear.
Yes, sometimes the devil hits you back. But God is in control. Don’t give up because the devil retaliates. Get more revelation that “the Lord is a warrior” (see Ex. 15:3) and “the battle is the Lord’s” (see 2 Chron. 20:15-17). Get more revelation about your authority in Christ (see Luke 10:19). And get equipped practically with training on how to use the weapons of your warfare. Amen.
Jennifer LeClaire is news editor at Charisma. She is also the author of several books, including Did the Spirit of God Say That? You can email Jennifer at [email protected] or visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.
