Defending Our Territory: Understanding Our Weapons of Warfareਨਮੂਨਾ

Praying and Declaring God’s Word to Confound the Enemy

“O LORD, oppose those who oppose me. Fight those who fight against me. Put on your armor, and take up your shield. Prepare for battle, and come to my aid. Lift up your spear and javelin against those who pursue me. Let me hear you say, “I will give you victory!” (Psalm 35:1-3, NLT)

As we journey on in learning to defend our territory, we need to become much more aware of the spiritual realm. We are spirit. Before coming to Christ, while we were still determined to destroy our lives and damage the lives of those around us, we were too wrapped up in ourselves and our miserable circumstances to even give it a second thought. We played right into the devil’s hand. Let’s turn the tables on him, okay? We have a big brother who can take care of every bully.

When I wallowed in bitterness and anger, I virtually lived in a fog. I didn’t realize it at the time, but when I finally began to heal, it was like coming out of a cloud and seeing things clearly for the first time. I told our group at church this week I had lived my life like a “fly on the wall.” It seemed as if I watched life from a distance, but was never part of it. Sounds like psychobabble, doesn’t it? It isn’t. This perfectly describes my life before Jesus.

I admit it took time to grow in confidence, trust, and faith. Trusting was never my strong suit. There are many promises in the bible, and I wanted to believe them, but broken promises were what I was used to.

It took baby steps to develop a relationship with the greatest love I’ve ever known. I honestly had no filter to know how that felt. However, when the love of God came washing over me, it brought a surrender of my former self to the new creation His word tells us we will become.

“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NLT)

It is hard to be upset with someone when there is an outpouring of grace, mercy, and love heaped upon you. Everything looks different, feels different, and you want to be different. It is a process; when you’re looking up and communing with the Lord, all is well. But when you get back to your everyday routine: work, obligations, friends, and family, it is a battle to resist those old emotional triggers.

Starting your day with study and prayer is a tremendous weapon against the enemy. You gain strength, courage, and confidence when you devote time to the Lord. Use the time to praise Him, worship Him, and read the bible aloud to confound the dark spiritual forces surrounding us. In time, you learn to move from worship and prayer to declarations with power and authority. Reading aloud puts God’s truth and the gospel out into the atmosphere, and satan does not like it at all. Too bad, right?

My Prayer for You

Lord, open the eyes and ears of understanding for this beautiful soul. Help them begin to build self-control, wisdom, knowledge, and faith so they may step into their position of authority and power you have bestowed upon them. Give them grace and mercy as they journey into the spiritual world we are truly a part of. Let them see this earthly world is temporary, and we are here to fulfill a purpose—Your purpose. We thank you for giving us the courage to stand and declare Your words to confound the enemy and defend our territory. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen!

Declaration / Affirmation (read aloud)

I declare the territory You have given me off limits to the enemy. There is a shield and hedge of protection around every inch and around my family, home, and community. My Lord is King, and He has stationed angels all around us with the authority to stop the enemy’s advancement in my direction. I suit up with the armor of God and will defend my faith, my inheritance, and my brothers and sisters in the faith with every breath I take, and I will be victorious on every front.