10.26 Prayer and Personal Conflict

from

Chapter 10: Victory in Conflict

from War On the Saints
by Jesse Penn-Lewis

Scriptures Referenced in This Section:
          (Follow the Scripture links if you want to study the Scriptures for yourself.)
Eph. 1:20-23 π Eph. 6:13 π Eph. 6:14 π Jas. 4:7

Closely bound up with the wrestling of the spirit is the necessity of prayer. Not so much the prayer of petition to a Father, as the prayer of one joined in Spirit with the Son of God, with the will fused with His, declaring to the enemy the authority of Christ over all their power. ( Eph. 1:20-23; top )

Sometimes the believer has to "wrestle" in order to pray; at other times to pray in order to wrestle. If he cannot "fight" he must pray, and if he cannot pray he must "fight." For example, if the believer is conscious of a weight on his spirit, he must get rid of the weight by refusing all the "causes" of the weight; for it is necessary to keep the spirit unburdened to fight, and to retain power of detection. The delicate spirit-sense becomes dull under "weights," or pressure upon it, hence the enemy's ceaseless tactics to get "burdens" or pressure on the spirit, unrecognized as from the foe, or else recognized and allowed to remain.

The man may feel "bound up" and the cause be in others, i.e.

1) no open spirit or open mind in another to receive from the spirit and mind of the one who feels bound up;

2) no capacity in the other to receive any message of truth;

3) some thought in the mind of the other, checking the flow from the spirit.

If in the morning the believer finds a "weight" or heaviness on his spirit, and it is undealt with, he is sure to lose the position of victory through the day. In dealing with weight on the spirit, the moment it is recognized, the believer must at once act in spirit, and

1) stand ( Eph. 6:14 );

2) withstand ( Eph. 6:13 ); and

3) resist ( Jas. 4:7; top ) the powers of darkness.

Each of these positions means spirit-action, for these words do not describe a "state," or an "attitude" (which is mainly an attitude of the will), or an act by soul or body.

To "stand" is a spirit-action repelling an aggressive move of the enemy; to "withstand" is to make an aggressive move against them; and to "resist" is to actively to fight with the spirit, as a man "resists" with his body another who is physically attacking him.


[10.25] Wrestling and What It Means
π
[10.27] The Wiles of the Devil
10: Victory in Conflict - Table of Contents
Table of Contents π Topical Index

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