4 Simple Steps to Strengthen Your Daily Prayer
True spiritual victory requires recognizing and actively fighting the “organized, mobilized, demonized forces of hell” through effective prayer. Jesus taught the model prayer (Matthew 6:9-13), sometimes called the Lord’s Prayer or the Disciple’s Prayer, to equip believers for this warfare. The concluding petition, “Deliver us from evil,” can be translated as “Deliver us from the Evil One”.
We are living in treacherous and dangerous days, making it vital to know how to pray. Bringing up children is now considered far more perilous on modern streets than on the old frontier, due to threats like drug pushers and the pervasive humanistic philosophy that freezes hearts and dries spirits. The current environment serves as God’s alarm clock, calling believers to wake up, get up, dress up, and go to war, understanding that the core warfare is prayer.
Many people approach God without expecting Him to answer. However, God promises, “Call upon me and I will answer thee and show thee great and might things that you know not”. To secure the note of victory promised in this prayer, we must follow three steps: Recognize the Sinister Person of Evil, Realize the Seductive Power of Evil, and Rely on Sovereign Protection from Evil.
1. Recognize the Sinister Person of Evil (Satan)
The “Evil One” refers to Satan. It is paramount to understand that the Devil is a genuine entity, not merely a whimsical figure of speech or imagination.
A Deadly, Personal Adversary
Satan is a personal, aggressive, intelligent, cunning, and destructive being. His cleverest strategy is convincing people that he does not exist at all, often masking his nature with comic illustrations (such as the red suit).
The Bible warns that we must “Be sober, be vigilant,” because our adversary, the Devil, “as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). He is not currently in Hell, but “walketh about seeking whom he may devour”.
Satan is known by multiple names that describe his character and function: the Deceiver, the Liar, the Murderer, the Accuser, the Tempter, the Prince, the Destroyer, and the Evil One.
His Position and Power
We wrestle not against flesh and blood (not your spouse, boss, or political enemies), but against principalities, powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world. Satan is a ruler who commands a kingdom of fallen spirits, as myriads of angels fell with him in rebellion. He is called “the prince of the power of the air”.
Satan possesses supernatural power; it is sheer folly to underestimate him. He is the supreme dictator in the evil empire, leading Martin Luther to write, “His craft and power are great and armed with cruel hate on earth is not his equal”.
He is called the “god of this age” (with a small ‘g’) who blinds the minds of non-believers, causing them to walk in darkness. He is actively moving nations, including the United States, toward Armageddon by influencing world leaders through demon spirits.
His Purpose is Deception and Murder
Satan, originally named Lucifer (meaning Light Bearer), fell due to pride and his desire to “be like the Most High”. Since then, he has been in open revolt against Almighty God.
His motive is murder, and his chief method is deception. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own nature, for he is “a liar, and the father of it”. Believers must stand against the “wiles” (Greek: methodia—the methods or schemes), “devices,” and “snares” of the Devil.
2. Realize the Seductive Power of Evil
Satan works through highly seductive, deceptive means. If you have never encountered the Devil, it may be because you are currently moving in the same direction he is, indicating collusion. Turning to God will inevitably result in collision.
The Bible prophesies a great resurgence of demonic activity in the last days. This activity manifests in multiple forms:
- Spiritualism and Occult Practices: This includes New Ageism, fortune-telling, contacting the dead, and astrology (observing of times). These practices are “out of the devil” and are declared an abomination unto the Lord.
- Drug Abuse: The epidemic of drug abuse is directly linked to demonic activity. The biblical word for “sorceries” is pharmicia (the root of “pharmacist”), which means “an enchanter with drugs”. The Devil uses these substances—described as a form of synthetic salvation or “instant heaven that leads to everlasting hell”—to destroy minds.
- False Doctrine and Apostasy: Satan is not opposed to religion; it is his chief tool. The Holy Spirit warns that in the latter times, people will depart from “The Faith,” giving heed to “seducing spirits, and doctrines of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1). Satan uses his ministers, sacrifices, doctrines, and even the pulpit to advance his agenda.
- Media and Entertainment: Satan, described as an “angel of light” and an “angel of music,” exploits the entertainment and media system, which sometimes appears to have reached “the very bottom of the garbage pail,” to capture hearts and minds.
Preventing Sin Through Morning Prayer
A major reason why believers repeatedly fall into the same sins and seek forgiveness thousands of times is that they have only learned part of the prayer: they pray, “God, forgive us,” but fail to pray, “Lord, lead us, lest we fall into temptation. Deliver us from evil”.
The best way to deal with sin is not to clean it up at the end of the day, but to prevent it at the beginning. Since we are taught to pray for our “daily bread” in the morning, we should likewise pray for daily deliverance at the start of the day.
The Devil’s ultimate strategy against believers is, “Keep him from praying,” because if a person does not pray, the enemy can win every time. Every failure in life is inherently a prayer failure. Jesus taught this necessity in Gethsemane: “Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation” (Matthew 26:41).
In America, Satan often operates as an Angel of Light, relying on compromise and complacency, which a visiting Romanian pastor noted was far more difficult to combat than the persecution and fear associated with Satan acting as a Roaring Lion.