Pray First : Have you seen Satan run?

I felt very strongly a few weeks ago to talk about how important it is to stop and pray. Prayer, prayer life, general prayer, times of prayer, family prayer, all of those things are great. But the breathing prayer, as you walk into the door, walk into a room, as you go into an interview, the ability to constantly align the spirit with the flesh and bring to power, bring to presence, bring to bear on your normal life what God is doing in you and around you. I thought we need to do this on three parts of prayer. So this goes together and is highly dependent on the first part, so here is the https://www.jeremydawson.org/post/pray-first so that you kind of get the whole story. Today’s title is: Have You Seen Satan Run? The primary verse I want to pick up is, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Of course, that's what we want to look at, but we cannot take that kicking and screaming out of context. 

So let’s talk about personal power when we pray first. All guns loaded when you pray first. When you start to pray, when you understand what that prayer is, what is the content of that prayer, to whom you are praying, and what you trigger, what you activate when you pray, you step out of the vending machine-type prayer life, where you press a button, stick in a note, and your beverage is there. We want to look at the aspect of personal power. The third aspect of pray first, it's understanding that aerial attack before sending in the ground troops. It is pushing back the darkness by placing overhead high beam lights. Have you ever been to safaris and all these places where they are driving in the dark, you know, uncharted territory, you've got this four-wheel drive, and you don't just have the headlights, but you've got a whole beam with different lights so that you could see afar off. So you push back the darkness by sending light beams from overhead, aerial attack before sending in the ground troops. When we walk by faith and not by sight, we deal with aerial forces, forces in the air, before we deal with forces on the ground. I sure hope you're getting this. We don't send in our foot soldiers before we take out the enemy through aerial attack. First, we send in the fighter planes. First, we take out the enemy and their major artillery. We find out what's going on, how much they are, and then shoot and dismember them. And then we send in the ground troops to clean up the mess. Soon, we learn that once we destroy the enemy in the air, the job on the ground is merely a cleanup project. There isn't much of a fight left on the ground. You're going to make a touchdown in just a minute to your life, to your office, to your career, to your walk. 

Too many of us are living defeated lives because we're losing battles on the ground that we should be fighting in the air. We just can't understand why it's not working out. We just can't figure out why that person is behaving the way they're behaving, or doors aren't opening, or things aren't happening. I just feel like there's a conspiracy against me, like the world got together early this morning before I woke up and said, let's take him down. You feel like every effort you put in, no matter how hard you work, no matter how much preparation you put in, some invisible thing is working against you. It isn't always, but a lot of the time, if you're living the Christian, Spirit-filled life, it is. There's an illustration about the eagle and the snake. The eagle doesn't come to the ground and on the ground fight the snake on the snake's territory. It grabs the snake, it takes it high up into the air, and that's where it battles its way out of the snake's territory. Warfare and aerial attack, foot soldiers and minimum loss of life. So we have the phrase, the verse, resist the devil and he will flee from you.

But context first. Let's not forget the cradle in which this verse finds itself. It's in James 4:3-10 for context.

James 4:3-10: You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? (Alignment of flesh and spirit is intact when you put God first) Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (The two do not mix, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world, positions himself as an enemy of God.)Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? (So it is with our spirit that his Spirit comes to dwell. That's where the alignment is. That's where the fellowship is. So much effort and focus on the body, rituals, ceremonies, looks, feelings, piety. Whereas it is a spiritual aspect, a spiritual matter. I dug in a little bit into the Old Testament, but there is not such verse, but James is generally saying this is what the scripture is saying.)But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (So he pushes back those who are proud and he draws in those who are humble. He pushes back those who are lofty, those who are self-elevated, and he draws in those who are weak, those who are needy, those who consider themselves and understand themselves for where they actually stand before God. God opposes the proud.)Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Wow! Okay, so if you're going to position yourself as a friend of God and not a friend of the world, then first submit yourself. Second, resist. Third, draw near, and fourth, cleanse hands. Make sure that the work of your hands is clean. Purify your hearts. Make sure that your motives are pure, single-minded. Your mourning over your depravity is not a sad sort of self-pity mourning but a mourning of everything in your life that breaks the heart of God that shows up as a result of sin in your life. Mourn over that. Weep over that. Grieve over the death and the signs of death in your life. Humble yourself. Bring yourself down to sackcloth and ashes before a holy God, and then the rise begins. Oh brother, when you elevate yourself, God brings you down. But when God lifts you up, no one can bring you down.

Resist the devil. The word devil or satan, it means the adversary. Oftentimes it refers to Lucifer, the key fallen seraphim, the fallen angel who led the revolt and is often referred to as the wicked one, the devil, satan. But it can also be used as anyone opposing God's will and God's mission. Anyone who stands in the way of you doing the will of God is essentially being satan, or being the devil. So the word devil, the word satan means adversary. His name is not satan. His name is not devil. His name is Lucifer, but there are others as well. And that's why the Lord Jesus was able to tell Peter, “Get behind me Satan!”

Mathew 16: 21-23: From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things… And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

So he wasn't calling Peter Lucifer. He was calling Peter a hindrance to the will of God. A hindrance to bringing in the kingdom. A hindrance to doing the agendas that God has called us to do. So, friends, let me tell you what happens when we pray first.

When you pray first, you hang on to your peace. Before making a decision, before getting into an argument, before you walk into a meeting, an interview, or any situation where you think you need greater wisdom than you currently have. You hang on to your peace when you resist the devil. Satan's primary purpose is relative to Spirit-filled believers, Satan is not opposing everybody all the time. Satan is not going after every Christian, most Christians, all the time. Not all Christians are Satan's enemy. Most Christians take care of their own temptation. He doesn't even have to tempt them. He doesn't have to, distract them. He doesn't have to make weaken their faith. They do a good job on their own! Remember, what does devil mean? Adversity. So when you're going in God's way, when you're going in God's will, when you're doing the right thing, when you're doing what God wants you to do, what would be done to show that God rules in your life, when you do that, that is when Satan comes against you. Satan doesn't wake up in the morning and say, how can I make him have a bad day? How can I be strife to this guy? That's just the people. That's just your life. That's just your moods. Satan is not active at all. Satan goes to work when God is doing a work. When God is doing something in your life, and when you can sense that you are moving in the right direction, that's when you realize so much hindrance and attack. His primary purpose is to hinder believers from living in the spirit alignment, and encourage them to live in the flesh. So if he can create a little bit of discord in the flesh, because he can't appeal to your spirit, because the spirit is made in the image of God. Your spirit is likened unto God. Your spirit is in fellowship with God. Your spirit is cohabiting with the Holy Spirit. So he can't even get there. He can't touch that. What he can touch, what he can influence, what he can appeal to is the flesh.

So Instagram, TV, friend, gossip, jealousy, struggles, everywhere you look, he's appealing and using the flesh, his world, his colors, his media to appeal to the flesh and if you and I are not actively, aggressively and intentionally aligning our flesh to bring it under the control and the supervision and the Lordship of the Spirit of God, then we're sitting ducks. We're leaving ourselves open and when he comes to steal your peace, he succeeds. You just saw what it takes to align ourselves to God's will. There is a present awareness of forces aligning with God's purposes and hindering God's purpose. There is a force, not against you, but against God's purposes. So when you choose to live in God's purposes, obviously you just entered another battle, and resisting, although it takes strength and time, results in watching Satan flee, and I titled this sermon: ‘Have you seen Satan run?’ Have you experienced resisting him to the point where he lets go and runs? That's the victorious Christian life we want.

What is he scared of? Why is he running? Why would Satan run? I mean, imagine a thief, okay. You're in Connaught Place. You're walking about. You're enjoying the day. It's a nice sunny afternoon, winter afternoon. You're shopping. Either you got a laptop bag for whatever reason or a lady's handbag, and imagine someone sneaks up on you and he grabs your laptop bag or he grabs your purse, and he tries to snatch it and run. Now if you're not holding on to it aggressively, like it's valuable, like you know there could be a thief wanting it. If you're not holding on to it, he takes it, he runs, you're done. It's gone, bye-bye. But if you're holding on because there's precious stuff in there, there's money, there's valuables in there and you're holding it against yourself or you're aware that there's going to be thieves, there's going to be pickpockets, and you're in a place where this is valuable, this is wanted, you are going to get robbed. If you're holding on, then you resist, you hold, you pull back. Now he comes, he grabs, but you are holding. He's pulling, you're pulling, he's pulling, you're pulling. Strength and time. So you are strong and you're taking your time, and your strength lasts out enough time for him to be exposed. People start to look, people start to come to your rescue. Now he cannot stick around, he'll be exposed, he can't handle it. He takes off, leaves and runs. That is what it means to resist the devil. 

He comes in to steal your peace. How much is it valuable to you? Are you holding on to it? Is that a fight at all or do you gladly give away your peace? Anyone who comes, auto wala, servant, someone knocks on the door, someone texts you, anything, anyone can just take your peace. It's not valuable to you. Your passion for the Lord, your passion for the kingdom, your passion for the church, your passion for the things and the people in the church. He wants to steal your passion. He wants to steal your power.He wants you to be powerless in prayer. He wants your prayers to be so pathetic they don't even go past the ceiling. They just fall right back. 

Satan wants your prayers to be pathetic, unaligned with God or His agenda or His purposes or His power. He wants your peace. He wants your passion. He wants your power. For the thief comes to steal, to kill and to destroy. He is there. He wants to take what God has given you. If you don't value what God has given you and you don't put up a fight, He will take it. Then don't turn to everybody and say, where is God when it hurts? Where is God when I'm weak? Where is God? Your God is on the throne. You are nowhere near it. That's the problem. Imagine that thief in the market, he can only wrestle with you for a few seconds. Your strength only needs to hold out that much, and people will scream. People will see and scream, and then he'll run away. How easy is it for Satan to take your passion, to take your peace, to take your power? How easy is it for him to take it? How much strength do you have to hold on and resist the devil? So resisting is pushing back. Resisting is holding on. Resisting is putting up a little bit of fight. So when you pray first, you hang on to your peace.

When you pray first, you push back the darkness. Now a thief in the market, I can handle him. He's usually shorter, undernourished, and I can handle the thief. But what I cannot handle is aerial battle. First of all, I can't even see it.I don't know what's going on. I cannot deal with it. I am flesh and blood.I have a headache. Mostly I have inflammation. Spiritual battle, not me. So what do I do as a believer? I've got children. I've got bills. I've got work. I've got demands. I've got people tugging at me from every angle. I feel stretched. I feel thin. I feel spread out. What do I do? Pastor, you're talking about spiritual battles and Satan and demons. Here's the good news. When you pray first, when you breathe prayer, you push back the darkness and you let God do the fighting.

Exodus 14:14: The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.

Oh, best news ever. But being still is very difficult. 

Deuteronomy 1:30: The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you as he did for you in Egypt. Speaking to the Israelites. 

Chronicles 20:15: Do not be afraid or discouraged… For the battle is not yours, but God’s. The battle with the auto guy, your colleague, or with the printer in the office, that's your battle. But the battles that are beyond you, that are making you feel like you're losing on every ground and there's a conspiracy against you, those battles are for your peace, for your passion, for your power. Trying to make you restless, no peace. Trying to make you passionless, trying to make you powerless in prayer. Those battles, God will fight for you. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. For the battle is not yours, but God's. We are the bride of Christ. Jesus doesn't send his bride out to fight. We don't have to do any spiritual warfare. Christians are not meant to be active in spiritual warfare. You can't even climb two steps. Let's leave the spirit world to the angelic world. But you are called to pray. That's your weapon of mass destruction. You are called to pray. Satan, satanists, witches and warlocks will all testify to the fact when believers get together and pray, there is a dome of protection over them. Do not be afraid. Don't be discouraged. The battle is not yours, but God's. 

Nehemiah 4:20: Our God will fight for us. 

Jeremiah 1: 19: They will fight against you, but will not overcome you,  for I am with you.

My friends, you start living as a citizen of the kingdom and you call on kingdom powers. You use your kingdom citizen rights to deal with the opposing forces. You start living as a citizen of the kingdom. Yes, you are in India and you have a government, but you are also a citizen of heaven, the kingdom of light, and you have been given granted that citizenship the day you put your trust in the son who came to save you and give you those criteria, give you those credentials to be a citizen. You start calling and living on the power and the rights you have in that citizenship. 

When you pray first, you execute kingdom dominance. We are not called to bring in the kingdom, but we're called to bring in the rule of God so that what is done in heaven will be done on earth. Isn't that the Lord's prayer?

Mathew 6:31: Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you seek them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow.

Matthew 6:7: And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

So, God is operating from heaven. Your kingdom come, that's what you've got to be praying. That's your prayer. When you pray first, that's what you're doing. You're executing kingdom dominance. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven… This is where the aerial battle gets real. When you call on angelic forces to take down the enemy. When you ask God for his will to be done in your life and then surrender to that will. BOOM! That’s when the kingdom of God becomes applicable in your life, and no other kingdom can stand against it. Have you seen that kind of a life yet? Have you begun to taste that kind of power yet. The power that God has put in a small 5 foot believer just because they have the key to heaven to pray. 

When you build your life on God’s agenda and leave your agenda to him, then …all these things will be added to you… but what about and what if…. Leave it to Him. Seek first the agendas that are Kingdom related, and all these things will be just added to you. Have you experienced that life, when you prayed for what God wants, and you found that God answered the prayer that he wants and he also automatically gave you the things you wanted and you’re just in awe of Him. Have you gotten to that point? Have you seen Satan run? Have you seen God bless or are you still just praying for a good day?  When you build your life on God’s agenda and leave your agenda to him, you experience answered prayer at an incredible level and you find and all these things will be added to you…

When you pray first, you prioritise kingdom agenda. You’re not just living a prayer life, you’re not just praying, but you’re seeing answers to prayer. Imagine a prayer life where we are constantly seeing answers to our prayers. 

Psalm 91:9-10: Because you have made the Lord... your dwelling... no evil befall you. We are going to stay in the presence of God, linger in it.

Psalm 34:7: The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. A high security provided to you, so that you can go on with your everyday work. Prioritise the kingdom agenda. 

Acts 13:36: For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers.

Finish your business with God as he speaks straight to your heart. And he will tell you how he wants you to do things differently and how he wants you to draw near to him and how he wants you to respond. So drop your head in reverence and awe of a God who has done more for you than anyone else has. Who speaks for you, who stands for you, who fights for you. And here in his presence commit your life, your loves, your passions, your disasters, your sicknesses, your weaknesses, your struggles, surrender them to God and say, Lord, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.