Defending Your House & Nation
Power is the force, ability, strength, or energy needed to accomplish a task. The Greek word is dunamis, from which we get words like dynamite, dynamic, or dynamo. Authority is the legal right or jurisdiction to use the power (Greek: exousia). We sometimes use the two words interchangeably; we shouldn’t, however, A policeman’s badge represents his delegated authority, her gun represents her power.
Satan gained authority at the Fall of Adam and Eve, not power. Adam forfeited his authority over earth, unwillingly transferring it to satan. Jesus came as the second and last Adam to regain the first Adam’s lost authority. He succeeded, of course, and now delegates the authority to us once again, in His name. Holy Spirit backs up/enforces this authority with His power. The more we understand our authority through Christ and His victory, the more Holy Spirit’s power is released and satan’s negated or bound. My good friend and writing mentor, Quin Sherrer, shares with us a powerful example illustrating this important teaching.
“God provides us with weapons against every enemy attack. But, when fear tries to overpower our faith, head knowledge has to move to heart knowledge with the assurance from God’s Word. Jesus Himself said: ‘I have given you authority [exousia]…to overcome all the power [dunamis] of the enemy.’ (Luke 10:19 NIV)
Some years ago my friend Carol learned this lesson in a dramatic way.
“One night while she and her husband Dick were watching the late-night news, a masked intruder burst into their home, waving a handgun and brandishing a knife. ‘Give me all your money, I am sick and I want it now,’ he shouted.
“It didn’t take Carol long to discern he was strung out on drugs. Fear gripped her heart.
“Just that morning Carol had meditated on Psalm 91:9-10 ‘If you make the Most High your dwelling—even the Lord, who is my refuge—then no evil will befall you… no disaster will come near your tent,’ (NIV). Admitting her cowardice to the Lord, she had written in her prayer journal, ‘Lord, I am such a chicken. I don’t want to live in fear.’
“The intruder took Dick’s heirloom ring and marched them upstairs where Dick said his wallet was put away. When the robber opened it and found only eight dollars, he began cursing furiously. Suddenly Carol remembered where some gold coins were hidden. Pointing to the bureau she said, ‘You can have the gold coins in one of those drawers.’
“Still holding the gun on them, the thief dropped to his knees and pawed through the drawers. Carol knew the jittery man could shoot them at any moment. She was praying silently, ‘Help! Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, help us.’
“As soon as he found the coins, Carol felt a surge of strength, boldness, and courage rising up within her. Looking the robber in the eye, she raised her voice and declared, “In the name of Jesus, this is our house.”
“The results were immediate. ‘I didn’t want to hurt you,’ he whimpered apologetically. Still on his knees, he fell over to his side as if a giant hand had shoved him. Stumbling to his feet, he ran down the stairs and out into the night.
“Carol didn’t know who was more surprised, she or the fleeing man. She had been emboldened to declare her property off-limits to a criminal. By speaking the name of Jesus with authority, her own courage increased and her initial fear dissipated. The Lord, her refuge, had protected her and her husband.
“When Carol meditated on God’s word every morning, she often personalized it, repeating some Scriptures aloud to get them more securely embedded in her heart and mind. That helped her to be better prepared for the enemy’s sudden attack. She learned the importance of being battle-ready and armed with the Word of God, even though she admitted she often had to fight fear.
“We resist the devil and his demonic plans through using the name of Jesus, declaring the power of His blood, and proclaiming the Word of God. We are empowered to do this because Jesus has invested us with His authority to see the enemy defeated.
“In America today the thief of liberalism is robbing us of our freedoms. Swiftly they are being swept away. We must stand up to those pushing that agenda.
“When Nehemiah and his band of Jewish refugees set out to rebuild the broken-down walls of Jerusalem, they were met by enemies who tried to frighten them, discourage them, and make them quit. They laughed, despised, and mocked. Sanballat, the governor of Samaria, had complete control of those coming into Jerusalem. As long as the Jews had no wall, no defenses, he could dominate them.
“We, God’s praying believers, would do well to say to the enemy of liberalism what Nehemiah said to Sanballat: ‘The God of heaven will give us success. We, His servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem [or America] or any claim or historic right [authority] to it.’ (Nehemiah 2:20 NIV). We affirm that the enemy has no historic right to our nation which was founded on God’s principles.
“As the enemy kept harassing Nehemiah’s wall-builders while they worked family by family, armed with tools and weapons, the Israelites grew extremely frightened. Nehemiah said to them, ‘Do not be afraid of them; fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.’ (Nehemiah 4:14 NASB) Did you get that? Fight for your houses!
“The result? ‘And it happened when our enemies heard that it was known to us that God had frustrated their plan, then all of us returned to the wall, each one to his work.’ (Neh. 4:15 NASB). Nehemiah desired to make Jerusalem a safe, happy city. With his encouragement, the people continued their work and finished their wall of protection in just 52 days.
“Our ‘work’ right now is to pray with faith to our miracle-working Heavenly Father. We not only ask for His protection and direction for our individual families and homes, but also for our beloved homeland. When spiritual warfare is needed, we use the weapons God has provided in the Bible to defend it. Because this is our house, our neighborhood, our community, our state, and our nation!
“We pray that righteousness reigns from America’s courthouses to the White House, from school board meetings to the halls of Congress. Writing letters and making phone calls to elected leaders may be the only way some of us can ‘defend’ it right now. But we can talk to our children and neighbors. We can get on prayer calls. We can vote for candidates with godly standards. We can put feet to our prayers. George Washington, once said, ‘It is impossible to govern the world without God and the Bible.’
“Let’s not give in to fear or apathy nor neglect to use our voices and pens to help save our house—the USA.”
“But we prayed to our God, and because of them [enemy] we set up a guard against them day and night…And I stationed men in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, the exposed places, and I stationed people in families with their swords, spears, and bows.” (Nehemiah 4:9,13 NASB)
Pray with me:
Father, we pray for the demolishing of the enemy’s assignments that are aligned against Your purposes for this nation. Let those that are hidden be revealed and officials with malicious agendas be stopped and brought to justice. Lord, we pray for You to give all area and governmental leaders great wisdom concerning crucial decisions they will be making both in their public and private lives. Show them that being in a position of authority to represent the well-being of their constituents is a sacred trust. Thank You that our Founders honored You by establishing our constitutional republic on prayer and the Scriptures. May that foundation be reinforced. Help us not to give in to fear and hopelessness but to stand steadfast on Your precious promises.
We pray for a powerful spiritual awakening that will cause many people in this nation to receive Jesus’ love and salvation. We pray also that this awakening releases a spirit of wisdom and revelation (Ephesians 1:17), increasing the church’s understanding of our authority in Christ. Give us boldness to bind and forbid (Matthew 16:18-19) the works of darkness, enforcing the victory of Calvary. Bring revelation to Your people that when we do so, Holy Spirit’s power and angelic support are released. We declare Christ’s authority and victory even now over our nation. We decree once again, based on Your instructions and prophetic words to us: America shall be saved. We decree that the Valkyrie spirit and assignment to capture America and her destiny has fallen. We walk by faith, not by what we see naturally (2 Corinthians 5:7). Our faith agrees with You! The evil will be overcome in our nation, including in our government. Sin will not prevail! Evil will not triumph! The victory of the Cross and the power of Holy Spirit will prevail!
We ask and declare these things in Christ’s name [authority] – the name above all names. Amen.
Our decree:
I decree that as God’s people are faithful to pray for the United States, righteousness will exalt our nation. (from Proverbs 14:34)
Portions of today’s post were taken from the book Lord, I Need To Pray With Power and Warfare Prayers for Women, written by Quin Sherrer and Ruthanne Garlock.
You can find out more about Quin Sherrer here and Ruthanne Garlock here.