The Unseen Battle Over Prayers

In review of Ephesians 6:12 it says, “We are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age.”

Bottom Line:

We are not battling flesh and blood, rather against the spiritual forces and the rulers of evil in the heavenly realms.

What this means to me:

It’s not easy to see what I’m in battle with. I’m up against the spiritual forces and the rules of evil in the unseen and heavenly realms.

I have learned that there is a very real spiritual realm. It has both good and evil within it. There is a battle going on within that I don’t see or feel. Given that I am a child of God, Satan hates e and will do what he can to get me off course, mess with and distract me.

Today’s verse in Ephesians 6:12 reminds me, “We are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age” (TEV).

As I send up a prayer, there’s often a battle over how it’s going to be answered. While I’m in the waiting room, Satan starts to throw darts at me; the dart of doubt, discouragement, disappointment, delay, and of depression. I am warned in God’s Word that Satan is going to try to take me down.

I’m reminded this morning about a glimpse of this spiritual warfare in the book of Daniel. "Daniel had a vision of an angel, who said, “Daniel, don’t be afraid. God has heard your prayers ever since the first day you decided to humble yourself in order to gain understanding. I have come in answer to your prayer. The [evil] angel prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief angels, came to help me, because I had been left there alone in Persia” (Daniel 10:12-13).

In this passage, it tells of how Daniel had a prayer that wasn’t answered for a while, and he was starting to get discouraged. The angel showed up and said, “I’m here to give you the answer. We heard it from day one, but we’ve been in a battle over this, and it was such an intense battle that Michael the archangel had to come down and help me with this battle so I could come and tell you that the answer is on its way.”

This same thing could be happening when I’m waiting on God for an answer. While I may not know what kind of intense battle is going on over my prayer, I can remember: A delay is not a denial. When an answer to prayer is delayed, it doesn’t mean it’s not going to be answered. It just means God is fighting for you.  So I should not be discouraged, I should just keep on praying!