For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 2 Cor 10:3 NKJV

It could be said that we war in the flesh because we don’t war in the spirit. A US Marine Colonel, a combat veteran from the Iraq war, once thanked me for going on the mission field. He said, “Thank you for going, so that we don’t have to!” He understood the principle that where true Christianity prevails, that land, that nation won’t see physical war, and won’t need the Marines. Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach, a curse to any people. How close are we to tipping those scales in the wrong direction in the USA?

Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God. Luke 6:12 NKJV

My first miraculous experience with answered prayer came some months after getting filled with Holy Spirit in 1971. A young man had joined our church in Oakland CA shortly after I did. He was a sailor in the US Navy, a somewhat unstable young person. I heard he had gone AWOL from the Navy and was being courtmartialed, with the prospect of many years in prison on the East Coast. I heard this the day before I went to two weeks of church camp in the summer of 1972. I decided to pray for him. The camp had two prayer nights where I stayed up all night and prayed for him as well as others. The day after camp I went to church. There, standing in the doorway, was the young man, freed and thousands of miles from where he had been incarcerated just two weeks before…

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds… 2 Cor 10:4 NKJV

A stronghold is a mindset, a pattern of thinking, impregnated with hopelessness that accepts as unchangeable something that they know is contrary to the will of God. A stronghold can prevail over an individual, a family, a community or nation. I once tried to minister to a man with cancer. He was a rich man. I saw by the spirit that his family which surrounded him had already considered him dead and were dividing up his money. Even though I confronted it, I couldn’t break through to help him. Thank God for eternal life! In this article I want to lay out prayer techniques and strategies that can bring in the will of God into any situation, but we must start first with our minds and hearts.

…for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. Matt 17:20 NKJV

Can you throw out the word, and the corresponding attitude and mindset, called ‘impossible’? To move mountains requires revelation. But we can’t get revelation because our minds and hearts have considered something to be impossible. Do you get that? Even if the Lord tries to tell you ‘It’s possible!’ your mind and heart will reject it, saying ‘It’s impossible!’ That is a stronghold that must be pulled down. How? Using the weapon of imagination; imagining the promise of God in manifestation.

THE WEAPON: IMAGINATION – Imagination is a faculty of the soul that prepares the mind to believe. Imagination plows the soul and the memory to plant seeds of hope. When revelation comes knocking on the soul of one prepared by imagination, a miracle is about to occur.

THE TACTIC: FIVE MINUTES – Start with five minutes a day at the end of your prayer time imaging yourself living with the answer to your prayer. Close your eyes and see yourself living your dream. What does it feel like? Add feeling in by imagination. What does it smell like? They say the sense of smell is most keenly associated with memory. We remember smells. Imagine a great smell for your dream. What does it sound like? Finally, what does it look like? Start with five and grow it out to fifteen minutes a day. You’re preparing your heart for miracles.

Your dreams will naturally flow with the ministry you have in your heart. Dream big, dear one.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. Gal 5:6 NKJV

Eric Liddell died in a Japanese concentration camp in WW2 of a brain tumor. He was only 43. But his love for God and uncompromising stand for truth was memorialized in the 1980’s movie CHARIOTS OF FIRE. He foregoed a gold medal – which today would be worth millions of dollars – in the 1924 Olympic Games by refusing to run on Sunday which he perceived to be the Lord’s Sabbath. You and I may argue that point but we cannot argue with his love for the truth of God as he perceived it, how it invested his thinking and decisionmaking. Love is the steel framework of the Christian soul. It supports everything else and nothing stands without it. It is the greatest weapon of the prayer warrior.

WEAPON – AGAPE – the love of God, the uncompromising concern for the benefit of another.

TACTIC – DECIDE – Consciously decide to employ it into everything you do in prayer. Sacrifice your time in love, not obligation. Love must be CONSCIOUSLY APPLIED, not assumed. Prayer is not a religious obligation. If it is, QUIT IT until you can do it out of love, not obligation.

It was November 8, 2016, election day in the USA. I was in Ghana. We had barely survived eight years of a socialist president, and I didn’t think our country could survive four more. She was worse than him. I set myself to pray. I asked the Lord to give me seven good hours in prayer, from 730pm to 230am. At 230am Ghana time the TV reports were bleak. I told people later I went to bed with ‘the twilights last gleaming’ and woke up with ‘that star spangled banner’ yet waving. The miracle had occurred…

Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” Isa 6:8 NKJV

A movie line – you can find truth anywhere – once said, There is nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer (Col. Doolittle, PEARL HARBOR, 2001). A willing heart is a precious thing in the sight of the Lord. He sought for a man to make up the wall, and stand in the gap before Him so that He won’t destroy the land (EZ.22:30). We make mistakes when we think that others are doing it. I assume no one else is praying!

The thing you must realize is that the will of God is not automatic; it must be prayed out. So many lives with great potential have never realized that potential because of one thing – the necessary prayer for the release of that potential was never accomplished. The Lord will wait until someone rises up, someone prays through, someone pays the price in prayer and sacrifice to allow the will of God to be fully manifested. I tell people in crisis to take at least three days to ‘pray without ceasing’ for their crisis until the Lord speaks clearly to them. Then they will have the faith to overcome their situation (Ro.10:17).

THE WEAPON – A WILLING HEART – be willing to do anything.

THE TACTIC – TWO THINGS – The Lord wants two things from your prayer – ‘open ended time’ and your undivided attention. I used to take Toby the prayer dog on prayer walks until I realized the Lord didn’t want him around, because I gave him too much attention. Get rid of your smart phone. Draw yourself away from tablets, screens, and other distractions. Give God your full attention reverently and listen. What the Lord says now is the key to everything…

A wise man scales the city of the mighty and brings down the trusted stronghold. Prov 21:22 NKJV

Now is the time to pull out the big guns…

Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance on the nations, and punishments on the peoples; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute on them the written judgment — This honor have all His saints. Ps 149:6-9 NKJV

The gift of faith is operated by a command or a decree. At this point you have the right, and the authority to command or decree all that the Lord has shown you. You will grow to the point where you just know His will because you know Him so well, so you are not waiting for a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ about every little thing. The power and authority of blessing or cursing is in you; you have this honor. Use it seriously in faith and love and you will walk powerfully.

THE WEAPON – BLESSING AND CURSING – the power of the words of your mouth as a representative of the King can change Heaven and earth.

THE TACTIC – DISCERN AND ADDRESS – Discern what the will of God is and speak it out over the people, situations and circumstances. Gideons men broke the lamps, blew the shofars and proclaimed, the sword of the Lord and of Gideon, and the enemy army destroyed themselves. What is God saying regarding the different threats you and I face? What has He given you responsibility for?

There is so much more we could talk about, especially with praying in your mother tongue and praying in the Spirit. The Lord will give you weapons and train you in specific tactics, then it is your responsibility to pray down the answers from Heaven and into manifestation. Some answers you may not see this side of Heaven – the 100+ million Chinese believers are living out the prayers of Hudson Taylor, and others – and some will be manifest right in front of your eyes. Stay faithful and fervent in your prayer warfare assignments…the Church and the whole world are counting on you. Love you!

Remember dear ones, we must be about our Father’s business…