If we are to detect Satan’s insidious activities and consequently resist him successfully, we need to develop and maintain spiritual fitness, much like an athlete who intends to win the prize in a contest. Like in athletic endeavours, in which proper physical conditioning is key to success, proper spiritual conditioning is key to victory in spiritual warfare. One of the most important things we need in order to develop and maintain spiritual fitness is a prayer life, not in the sense of an empty ritual or routine, kept up merely to satisfy the conscience, but the type the Bible describes as, “…The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]” (James 5:16 AMP). This is the kind of prayer that aligns us with God, and vice versa. Unless we are prayerful, the Lord is neither in what we are building nor in what we are watching over. Remember, we are all building or overseeing something, whether by commission or by omission, as Luke 6:47-49 indicates.
Therefore, the Bible encourages us to “Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;” (Col 4:2). If we slack in prayer, we lose spiritual vigilance, and unless we are vigilant in the spirit we do not stand a chance against the enemy. Loss of spiritual vigilance is usually not an instantaneous experience, but the outcome of a progressive decrease in earnest praying, and has been the bane of Christianity for a long time. Satan has a lot of people in his stranglehold with the intention to destroy them ultimately. The condition of much of humanity under the rule of the god of this world is similar to the chaotic and depressing description of the earth recorded in Genesis chapter 1:2. The Church which is devoted to prayer is the only hope of rescue for such people. This is why Jesus teaches us to pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt 6:10). God wants His kingdom and His will to permeate every sphere of human existence.
We only amuse Satan whenever we attempt to overthrow his rule over mankind by human power. For, even he knows that, “Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain” (Ps 127:1). That was why even Jesus, though sinless, did not attempt to begin His ministry without prayer: “When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and WHILE HE PRAYED, THE HEAVEN WAS OPENED” (Lk 3:21) (emphasis added). If you have been born again, like the the baptism of Jesus symbolizes, then something powerful happens when YOU pray. It is instructive that it was while Jesus prayed that the heaven was opened. It demonstrates God’s willingness to respond to man’s earnest prayer—an indisputable testament to His love and care for humanity. Jesus knew the enormity of the task ahead, and how impossible it was to undertake it without heaven’s resources. So He prayed earnestly at the outset of His ministry.
Two important things happened when the heaven was opened as Jesus prayed. The first was that, “… the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him,…” (Lk 3:22). Jesus was baptized in the Holy Spirit at that moment—an indispensable factor in His success, to which Peter referred when he said, “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38). Jesus could displace Satan’s kingdom among men with God’s rule because He ministered by the Holy Spirit: “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Matt 12:28). What was true of Zerrubabel and was true of Jesus is equally true of you and me today: that it is”… ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts” (Zech 4:6).
The second thing that happened was that “… a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased”” (Lk 3:22). The voice with its message from heaven was the sufficient basis of Jesus’ faith on the validity of his sonship. Therefore, when Satan subtly questioned His Sonship, Jesus referred him to the Scripture: “… man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord” (Deut 8:3). Like Jesus, we need both the Spirit and the voice of God to become effective and efficient ambassadors of His kingdom. The sequence of events for Jesus at the inception of His ministry, as recorded by Luke, is that He was FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT (Lk 3:22; 4:1), then was LED BY THE SPIRIT (Lk 4:1), and was finally EMPOWERED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT (Lk 4:14). All these blessings were His for the asking, as He prayed. We too can know this experience if we “…come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Shalom.
