The forcefulness of the authority regarding the ministry of spiritual warfare and deliverance, depends on the degree of Revelation that the minister has attained, and that he/she has understood, above all. In view of the fact that spiritual warfare and deliverance is to enter into battle against the forces of darkness that are in one place, and in one person, it is very important that the minister ‘understands’ what he/she has acquired about deliverance, based on the Scriptures at all times, otherwise his/her authority will be shaken at some point.
Spiritual warfare and deliverance are not formulas, nor costumes, nor rites, nor anything similar, the demons do not obey any of that,
In fact, acting based on such practices strengthen the ‘right’ of the demon to continue operating in the place.[1] Spiritual warfare and deliverance are exercised based on faith, because no one can see what he is fighting against, and this, if one does not have enough faith to operate, constitutes the greatest hindrance when it comes to exercise it, and can stop the liberation. In many cases, the confrontation is against more than one spiritual being at the same time, which demands that the minister knows how to take care of his or her physical condition, and learns to dose his or her strength to avoid falling into physical and mental exhaustion.
Spiritual warfare and deliverance are not formulas, nor costumes, nor rites, nor anything similar, the demons do not obey any of that, Spiritual warfare and deliverance are exercised based on faith,
The Revelation on which one works is decisive to subdue the authority and the right of the demon, and to expel him from the place. Note that we say ‘Revelation’, and not ‘knowledge’, for it is not the same thing; someone may have much knowledge but lack authority, as recorded in Matthew 7:29, we read: “for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”; the scribes were Levites and had much knowledge of the Scriptures, but they had no authority.
The authority arises as a consequence of the Revelation, it is instantaneous,
Note in the following texts, how the demons recognize the Revelation and authority that a person has, it is seen in the recognition that they make about the person; in Mark 1:24, we read: “saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.”. In Acts 19:15 we also have another example: “And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?”. Authority arises from the deposit of Revelation that the person has acquired from God, and not only from the knowledge he or she has, no matter how good it may be.
From the account in Luke 4:36 we can understand that Revelation consists of the Word understood, and not just the Word recited: “And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! forwithauthority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.”. Note that we say, Word understood, and not, Word interpreted; ‘understanding’ the Word is not ‘interpreting’ it, it is not about interpreting the Word, it is understanding it, understanding brings Salvation, as we read in the very Words of Jesus, in the text of Matthew,
12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. 13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
Mathew 13:12-14
See now the parallel text of Mark,
10 And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable. 11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: 12 that seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.
Mark 4:10-12
Let us carefully attend to the following doctrinal basis of faith, and strive to understand it. The lack of understanding of the Word causes the instantaneous generation of a satanic operation and intervention of confusion, in the person and in his environment, as we can corroborate in the following text of Matthew 13:19: “When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side”. Now, based on the same text, let us put it the other way around and see the value of ‘understanding’ God’s Revelation; if the lack of understanding of the Word causes satanic intervention to be generated, the ‘understanding’ of the Word results in the ‘casting out’ of the demon. Thus it is clear that it is the understanding of Revelation that gives a person authority.
The lack of understanding of the Word causes the instantaneous generation of a satanic operation and intervention of confusion, in the person and in his environment,
A couple of years ago, the Lord made me go through an experience that at the time I did not understand (it was not to be understood at that time), but I acted in faith, believing that God was doing it with a purpose. I was visiting the church I had pastored several years ago, in Guatemala City, and my visit coincided with the 30th anniversary of the church, so they gave me the time to preach that Sunday morning; during the time of worship, the Lord urged me to take off my shoes, based on the text of Exodus 3:5: “..put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground”, Which I did without much hesitation; when they were about to give me the time for the preaching of the Word, I wanted to put on my shoes again to be ready to go to the pulpit, immediately the Lord told me not to put on my shoes, to go barefoot to the pulpit, and to preach that way, I confess that it was a little uncomfortable at the beginning.
A year after that event I understood the reason for the Lord’s demand to preach barefoot. One afternoon of ministry came to me the case of a believer who in her years in the world had practiced Satanism, she came to receive deliverance, because although a woman of faith, she had attacks that she had not been able to overcome; as soon as I began to pray and rebuke, the demon manifested itself, but resisted to leave; the case was extremely strong, to such a degree that there came a time when I felt weakened and did not know what else to do. Under that strong struggle, the Lord spoke to me, and told me, “show him who is in the wrong place”, wrong place? to what did the Lord refer? how to do it? And there the Spirit of Truth took me back to that Sunday that I preached barefoot, and reminded me, “…. put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground“; there the Lord gave me understanding of the Revelation of that act of preaching barefoot, the devil is in the wrong place because the place where we are is “Holy”, he does not belong here, therefore he has to leave; I immediately proceeded to take off my shoes, and with the authority that the Revelation gave me, I said, I rebuke you, demon, leave this place because you do not belong to this place, it is holy ground, and the person was like pushed against the wall and then fell to the floor, and the demon had come out of it.
Authority comes as a result of understanding the Revelation of the Word, it is not only to know the Word, it is to understand the ‘spirit’ of the Word, before it there is no demon that can resist.
I see many people with much knowledge but with little Revelation, in many cases, because the men and women that God has called are bound by religious ties, united to denominational commitments, faithful to a dogma rather than to the Word. The men and women who want to do the Will of God must first validate their commitment to God rather than to men. Peace.
Scripture quotations are taken from the Authorized King James Version, 1909 (AKJV).
[1] Acts 19:13-16: 13 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. 14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? 16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
Spiritual warfare and deliverance are not very popular topics within the ecclesiastical community, and not because the topics are considered unbiblical, since we have all read in the Gospels that Jesus cast out demons from those suffering from chronic illnesses and diseases; the unattractiveness of spiritual warfare and deliverance is due, in good measure, because most believers flee from anything that represents dealing with demons, or the manifestation of demons.
However, if we carefully review the Scriptures we will see that deliverance was one of the main functions that Jesus delegated to His disciples; in Matthew 10:8, we read: “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.”; delegation of functions that is still valid today for all those who are called to the Kingdom of God, especially those who exercise a ministerial function.
Reviewing the Scriptures about the value of spiritual warfare and deliverance, we discover that spiritual warfare and deliverance is the ministry that establishes the Will of God on earth,[1] it is the only way determined by God to establish the Kingdom of God on earth,[2] and the most forceful way to establish and proclaim the preaching of the cross.[3]
The apostle Paul defines spiritual warfare and deliverance, as the working of his mighty power, operated by the Spirit, but exercised by faith, which means that the only thing the believer has to know is what the Lord’s Will is, and establish it with the authority of faith, knowing that Satan and the demons see in the believer a man and a woman not subject to the law of sin and death;[4] therein lies their authority.
The preparation for spiritual warfare and liberation is not enough to say that Satan is defeated, it is not enough to say that Jesus defeated him on the cross of Calvary; it is necessary that whoever wants to operate in it, lives in faith, knows the work of God, and knows the work of Jesus on the cross; it is the understanding of what all this means as part of the Grace of God, which gives the authority to the believer, as it was established by Jesus, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.[5]
it is necessary that whoever wants to operate in it, lives in faith, knows the work of God, and knows the work of Jesus on the cross;
Jesus taught His disciples in daily practice on the basis of the multitude of deliverance cases they worked on together, so many cases, that in a direct reference by Mark, he claims that at times Jesus and the disciples did not even have time to eat.[6] The gospel writers did not make many direct references to Jesus’ instructions on spiritual warfare and deliverance; the few direct references we have, however, teach us that demons do not leave of their own free will,[7] that demons tend to return to the place from which they were cast out,[8] that demons are cast out by the intervention of the minister of the Holy Spirit,[9] that demons have a ‘right’ to be in a person,[10] that acts of unrighteousness give demons a ‘right’ to oppress people,[11] that lack of understanding and disobedience to the instructions of the Word of God causes a movement of demons in a person’s environment,[12] and that there are genera (families) of demons that do not yield easily to rebuke, that these only come out by fasting and prayer.[13]
Regarding the fact that there are kinds of demons that can only be cast out by prayer and fasting, with this instruction Jesus established the need for the deliverance minister to periodically undergo times of fasting and prayer. In daily experience I have found that the instruction has been interpreted the other way around, that it is the one affected who must submit to fasting, which contradicts the instruction.
Fasting is not in itself a resource, neither material nor spiritual; fasting has no power to transform things, nor is it capable of making things incline in its favor;
No one is stronger spiritually just by fasting; in natural terms, the value of fasting depends on the attitude of the person, and all it achieves is to strengthen the resolution that moved him to fast;[14] as for one who lives by faith, fasting has the meaning of showing by his act, that he lays down his own self-sufficiency, to wait for salvation from the Lord.[15]
However, in order to understand the reason for Jesus’ instruction, we have to take help from the definition that God Himself gave in Isaiah 58 about the meaning of fasting; in it we read about three purposes; the first purpose is that the one who fasts ’empties’ himself of everything that represents his own personality, that is, of his self-sufficiency; let us read verses 3 and 4, and then we explain: Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. (vs. 3-4). The verses clearly state that whoever fasts seeking personal benefits for himself, fasting has no significance, for his voice is not heard on high.
The first purpose of fasting is that the one who fasts ’empties’ himself of everything that represents his own personality, that is, of his self-sufficiency;
Fasting has the purpose of ‘weakening’ the flesh, meaning the self-sufficient personality, for he who does not learn to trust in the Lord, and wait for His intervention, cannot live according to faith. The flesh is a living organism, that is precisely what is meant by the term ‘living soul’, which was how the Lord defined man when He formed him,[16] so, as such, the body has the capacity to ‘accept’ external influences, material and spiritual, many of them causing its contamination and hindrance in faith.[17]
Fasting has the purpose of ‘weakening’ the flesh, meaning the self-sufficient personality, for he who does not learn to trust in the Lord, and wait for His intervention, cannot live according to faith.
The second purpose of fasting is to remove any satanic trait that the person may still have in his inner self, let us read verse 6, and then explain: Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? (vs. 6). That there are satanic traits even in a deliverance minister, let there be no doubt, for the apostle Paul’s teaching to the Ephesians makes this clear:that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.[18] In the first epistle of John we also read: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.[19] So, fasting has the purpose of removing any satanic traits that still remain in the person, and this must be a conscious act, in order for fasting to produce benefit.
The second purpose of fasting is to remove any satanic trait that the person may still have in his inner self,
No deliverance minister can ‘deliver’ another if he is not free first, otherwise there is a risk that the contamination in the infected person will be increased to the maximum by the irresponsibility of the deliverance minister; the biblical basis is found in the teaching of Jesus,
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
Matthew 7:3-5
and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
2nd. Corinthians 10:6
Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
Matthew 10:8
The third purpose of fasting is to make us aware that God demands that we seek the Kingdom of God, and His Righteousness.[20] Fasting establishes the demand to do righteousness as a merit to establish deliverance; no one can be delivered without first doing acts of righteousness in others. Let us read verse 7, and explain: Is it not (the fast I chose) to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
The third purpose of fasting is to make us aware that God demands that we seek the Kingdom of God, and His Righteousness.
The teaching that it is necessary to do acts of righteousness as a merit to establish liberation in others is a teaching established since the Old Testament, we read in the book of Deuteronomy:
And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the Lord: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers,
Deuteronomy 6:18
God established His statutes, decrees and commandments to give instruction by them to His people as to His character and divine Will,
17 For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:18 he doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.19 Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 10:17-19
Thus, in conclusion, fasting has the purpose of ’emptying’ ourselves of the self-sufficient personality, and knowing how to wait on God’s provision; it has the purpose of weakening the flesh so that all acquired defilements, material and spiritual, are cast off; it has the purpose of removing all satanic traits that may still exist because of the past way of living; and the purpose of making us conscious to re-evaluate our acts of Righteousness.
Having understood the meaning and value of fasting, we must now understand why Jesus instructed His disciples that this kind of demons do not come out except by prayer and fasting.
The process of deliverance is as follows. Demons do not come out of their own free will, in deliverance every demon will resist to the point of exhaustion to prevent them from being thrown out of the body they have occupied; usually the demons hold on to the manifestations of the ‘flesh’ of the body they have inhabited,[21] it is as if they throw anchors into the flesh of the body to attach themselves to it; but the strength of the faith of the one who ministers deliverance will finally cause them to be cast out.[22]
The kind of demons that come out only by prayer and fasting operate differently from the rest; this kind of demons are subject both to the ‘flesh’ of the body of the infected and to the ‘flesh’ of the body of the one who ministers deliverance; if he who ministers deliverance has not emptied himself of the personality of self-sufficiency, nor has he bent his flesh to the obedience of Christ Jesus, nor has he removed from himself every trace of Satan in him, nor has he works of Righteousness to merit his work of deliverance, he will not be able to cast out any demon for the demon is ‘anchored’ to the flesh of his own body; under these conditions the demon will not come out. The teaching is clear.
Returning to the definition of fasting in Isaiah 58. When a person seeks the Lord in prayer and fasting, under the conditions He established, we will see the following results,
Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God… 5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? 6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen?… 7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry,… 8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily:and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward.9 Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; 10 and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: 11 and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. 12 And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. 13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: 14 then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
Isaiah 58
Let us pray and fast, let us return to the principles of the Word… this was the foundation of the church that Jesus established in Jerusalem over His twelve apostles, the church that the Lord calls ‘the Body of Christ’.
And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Acts 2:42
And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.
Acts 10:4
And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing,
Acts 10:30
And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.
Acts 14:23
Scripture quotations are taken from the Authorized King James Version, 1909 (AKJV).
[1] Mark 3:15: and to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils:
[2] Luke 11:20: But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you. (Mathew 12:28)
[3] Hebrews 2:14-15: 14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
1st. Corinthians 2:1-4: And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God… 4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
[4] Romans 8:2: For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death..
[7] Mark 5:7-8: 7 and cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.8 For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.
[8] Matthew 12:44: Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
[9] Matthew 12:28: But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. (Luke 11:20)
[10] Luke 11:20-22: 20 But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you. 21 When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: 22 but when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.
[11] Matthew 5:25: Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
[12] Matthew 13:19: When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
[13] Matthew 17:21: Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. (Mark 9:29).
[14] 1 Samuel 14:24: And the men of Israel were distressed that day: for Saul had adjured the people, saying, Cursed be the man that eateth any food until evening, that I may be avenged on mine enemies. So none of the people tasted any food.
Acts 23:12: And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.
[15] Esther 4:16: Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.
[16] Genesis 2:7: And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
[17] 2nd. Corinthians 7:1: Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
[20] Matthew 6:33: But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
[21] Galatians 5:19: Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Romans 8:13: For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
[22] Luke 11:22: but when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.
9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
Matthew 6:9-13
The subject of Jewish prayer, or tephillah as it is known in the Hebrew language (תְּפִלָּה, tephillah), more than a religious aspect of Hebrew spirituality is a subject that is part of the idiosyncrasy of being a Jew; the Jew prays and when he does so he establishes by his prayers the content of his entire history; So among the Jew, ‘teaching’ to pray is not only a matter of knowing what to say, but ‘teaching’ to understand the vision of a people who have their God so close to them, as quoted in the instruction of Moses in Deuteronomy:
For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for?
Deuteronomy 4:7
It is somewhat complicated to understand for the Westerner who is used to seeing prayer as nothing more than a ‘resource’ for help in times of distress.
The case of the teaching about the Lord’s Prayer, as it is known to the prayer that Jesus recited before His disciples, is not a school on how to pray, as it has sometimes been claimed to see and project, it is rather the correction to popularized models of forms of prayer that predominated among the people, which instead of establishing the knowledge of the doctrine of a close God who answers the prayer of His people, evoked rather pagan idolatrous models that established confusion and idolatry; We must remember for this purpose the correction that the prophet Elijah introduced in his time where apostasy predominated because of the Jezebelic cult of Baal:
26 And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. 27 And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked. 28 And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. 29 And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.
1 Kings 18:26-29
In the account that Matthew presents, the Lord’s Prayer is included as an extension of the teaching proclaimed on the mountain of Capernahum.[1] However, the account presented by Luke clearly establishes that Jesus responded to a request from the disciple-apostles, and it is clearly specified that they took as a basis the instruction that John the Baptist had given to his own disciples about how to pray with Truth as well,
And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
Luke 11:1
In any case, the Lord’s Prayer is not the school on how to pray, that is, understood as what to say, but in principle, the correction to models of forms of prayer that revolved around paganized conceptions.
The purpose in Jesus to introduce this model of prayer was to ‘undermine’ the popularized models of forms of prayer that were circulating in the environment, we notice in the context of the story; notice it:
The first correction that Jesus presents to them in His model is in order to throw away the model introduced by the ‘hypocrites’[2]: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men; prayer is not in order to present a public drama, prayer is the act of honesty of the person as a fruit of the integrity he has developed before God; Jesus stressed to them: ” thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are“. Prayer is the sign of the integral communion that a person has developed before his Lord.
The second correction that Jesus presents to you is aimed at disarticulating the model of prayer implanted by the Gentiles converted to Judaism:
But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking..
Vs. 7:
Prayer is not effective because of the quantity of words, nor because of the loquacity of its wording; prayer is the result of the conviction that the person has developed of how close God is to him; Jesus emphasized: “Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.” (vs. 8)
Effective prayer meets certain conditions, the first of which, highlighted by Jesus as the most important, must be done in private; Jesus emphasized: “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” (vs. 6)
The second condition, in the same line of the previous one, the sentence must be short and precise: “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.” Luke presents in his narrative the case of a publican who only said in his prayer, “God, be merciful to me a sinner.”[3]
The third condition, an extension of the previous one, prayer must RECOGNIZE that we are addressing the God Creator of all things, and as such, we must respect Him as a father is respected: Our Father which art in heaven.
Prayer must ADMIT that God is sovereign, and that He does as He wills: Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. This acknowledgement of God’s sovereignty is the recognition that God is not only a source of conflict resolution; in His sovereignty He acts as He chooses to do, this doctrinal vision is idiosyncratic of being a Jew according to the teaching presented in the Law of Moses, we find it in the writings of Job,
But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.
Job 2:10
This doctrinal vision is also presented within Paul’s apostolic proclamation:
20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? 22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
Romans 9:20-22
In prayer we must BE RESPONSIBLE for our personal actions: “Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: “
It is not just a matter of asking, since He already knows our needs, it is about presenting ourselves in an act of humiliation by removing the arrogance we have acquired as a result of our acts; in another section of his teaching, Jesus emphasized:
22 but I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. 23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24 leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
Matthew 5:22-24
In conclusion, the model of prayer that Jesus introduced in His teachings to His disciples is not a guide, it is not a commandment, it is simply a correction to conceptions of pagan religiosity that the man and woman of faith accept as valid, mostly because of the results highlighted by some Gospel merchants. The man and woman of faith is not powerful because of the time spent on their knees in prayer, nor because of the loudness of their words; a prayerful activity without the proper attitude of submission to the Lordship of Christ is a falsehood to the Truth that man is justified by faith. The man and woman of faith must pray, of course, but not by emphasizing a ‘power’ in prayer over the power of integrity to do according to the instruction of the Word of God. Jesus prayed, and the biblical text points out that the more His fame grew, the more He went to desert places to pray,[4] but His power did not consist in the time of prayer that He spent not understanding that it was part of the communion that He was sent to do the Father’s Will.
And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.
John 8:29
Finally, what is prayer? To answer properly, let us first think about the following: If God knows what you need before you ask Him (Matthew 6:8), and furthermore, if the same Spirit asks for us with unutterable groans, as the apostle Paul introduced in his teaching: (Romans 8:26), is there a need for prayer? Why then the teaching about prayer?
Prayer is not a resource for ‘asking’, only, it is the attitude of gratitude before the sovereign God for all the great things He has done with us, and among us; there are no rules for praying, only gratitude, and we prostrate ourselves with gratitude that He had made us His people, and the blessing we have of calling Him, Father.
The biblical quotations are taken from the Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)
[2] Hypocrites’ here is not a derogatory adjective, it is the name with which Jesus classifies the Hellenized group who act in the same way as a theatrical actor. “Hypocrite” was the term used to refer to one who makes a performance in an amphitheater.
[4] Luke 5:15-17: 15 But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities. 16 And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed. 17 And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
3 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey. 4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. 5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
Jonah 3:3-5
Most of us are familiar with the story of Jonah when he was commissioned by Jehovah-God to proclaim judgment on the great Nineveh because of the evil that its inhabitants had accumulated in all their actions,
Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.
Jonah 1:1-2
What calls the attention of history, is the number of days between the proclamation and the fulfillment of the fall of the judgment: Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
‘Forty’ has been in all the pages of the biblical history a number that has to do with judgment, precisely; of the best known stories we have as an example, the forty days of the flood,[1] forty years of pilgrimage through the desert because of the doubt imposed by ten of the twelve spies sent to recognize the land of Canaan,[2] and forty lashes of punishment to the one found to have committed a crime in some civil matter;[3] Ezekiel also presents a judgment on Egypt for forty years.[4] In other cases, the number ‘forty’ appears related to a period of probation, such as the case of the forty days that Moses was on Mount Sinai in the presence of the Lord.[5]
<p class="has-drop-cap" value="<amp-fit-text layout="fixed-height" min-font-size="6" max-font-size="72" height="80">There are, on the other hand, other accounts that include the number ‘forty’ and appear to be related to the intervention of a person, such as the stories of the kings who reigned over Israel, or over Judah, and did so for a period of ‘forty’ years;<a href="#_ftn6">[6]</a> also are cited the forty days of Jesus on earth after he rose from the dead.<a href="#_ftn7">[7]</a>There are, on the other hand, other accounts that include the number ‘forty’ and appear to be related to the intervention of a person, such as the stories of the kings who reigned over Israel, or over Judah, and did so for a period of ‘forty’ years;[6] also are cited the forty days of Jesus on earth after he rose from the dead.[7]
In these cases the number ‘forty’ shows that the judgments do not necessarily have to do with the occurrence of calamities in the region, but they are also the warning of situations that are fighting spiritually in the air with respect to the future of the region; in that sense, ‘forty’ years of the reign of David, and even of Solomon, speak of spiritual battles of David and Solomon against satanic forces of apostasy, which already by the end of Solomon’s reign begin to exercise dominion over Israel. Jesus’ forty days on earth after His resurrection speak of the adjustment of situations according to the righteousness of the Kingdom. ‘Forty’ is the number of spiritual warfare against the demonic forces that are placed in the air of a region.
The case of the Philistine Goliath of Gath, who went out for forty days to challenge the army of Israel,[8] shows with the number ‘forty’ the violent and dangerous aspect of the spiritual warfare against the forces of darkness; of David not having defeated Goliath that day which completed the cycle of the ‘forty’ days, Israel would have lost authority over the Philistines.
There is still one more case we need to study, and it is the main purpose of our teaching, that of Jesus’ forty days of fasting,
And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
Matthew 4:2 (Luke 4:2)
Both texts, Matthew’s and Luke’s, describe the spiritual warfare aspect of the ‘forty’ days of fasting;
being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.
Luke 4:2
And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Matthew 4:3
With this first activity, Jesus began the process of re-conquering the inheritance that Adam had lost in Eden, the apostle Paul ‘named’ Jesus as “the last Adam”,
And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1st. Corinthians 15:45
The ‘forty’ days of fasting began the battle to overcome on the cross, after three and a half years, the one who had the empire of death, that is, Satan,
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Hebrews 2:14
Was it all about fasting for forty days? Is that what the struggle was all about? No, it was not reduced to fasting alone, it had to do it during the ‘forty’ days in countdown before the celebration of the day of Atonement,[9] Yom Kippur, celebrated on the tenth day of the seventh month (Tishrei).
The importance of the forty days of fasting consisted in the fact that this day was the day of Atonement, a day of proclaiming freedom and reconciliation to the people; it was also, above all, the day when Jesus would be initiating his saving ministry.
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 to preachthe acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
Luke 4:18-21
The ‘forty’ days of fasting marked the spiritual value of the work of God that was about to begin. The value of the ‘forty’ days of fasting marked the value of obedience to God’s Word as a requirement of reconciliation,
And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.
John 8:29
The apostle Paul emphasizes in his apostolic doctrine that the path of human reconciliation consists in obedience to the Word; disobedience brings about perdition,
For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
Romans 5:19
In conclusion, the ‘forty’ days of Jesus’ fasts were not only a protocol preamble to inaugurate a time of ministry, they were the basis of the supernatural operation of the Holy Spirit in the work and teaching of Jesus, which concluded with the establishment of the Truth that freed from the death sentence all who believed in Him.[10] The ‘forty’ days of Jesus’ fasts overthrew the empire of evil and perversion by which man and woman are inclined to evil, overthrew the empire of death by which man and woman were condemned to eternal death, and overthrew the empire of falsehood by which man and woman hide themselves in hypocrisy and lying to live at the expense of darkness; they were truly days of spiritual warfare.
By way of application, we are about to repeat a story similar to the ‘forty’ days of Jesus’ fasting. Next Wednesday, September 23, we will enter into a forty-day countdown to the celebration of the date of the presidential elections of the United States of America on November 3, an event that affects not only the nation per se, but the future of many nations of the world.
These forty days before the date of the elections are crucial, the next four years of the government of the United States of America will be decided within those forty days; there is a spiritual push to try to tip the balance to either side; the advances —or setbacks— of what will happen in Israel during the next four years will be decided within those forty days, it is a crucial date.
What is at stake in this upcoming election is more important than what was on the table for decisions in past elections; it means moving forward on God’s agenda, or going backwards and establishing a government of confusion.
Donald Trump was chosen by God to establish upon Israel the fulfillment of the most powerful prophecy we have seen in modern times, the worldwide declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of the Kingdom,
But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
Micah 4:1
And with the fulfillment of this prophecy, the time of Israel’s restoration began, a teaching originally presented within the doctrine of Jesus as the time of recollection and peace over Israel,
And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
Luke 21:24
This same teaching was established and ratified among the Gentiles, years later, within the teachings of the apostle Paul in his epistle to the Romans,
For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Romans 11:25
So, what is under discussion not only has to do with the United States of America, it is a matter of God’s prophetic agenda about Israel, and the consummation of Jerusalem as the capital of the Kingdom of God to establish from there that Jesus is Lord and Christ, because that is what is written in the prophecy of Isaiah,
And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
Isaiah 2:3
But not everything that is in projects of the Spirit of God has been completed, there is still more to do, and these next four years are decisive for that.
Therefore, these forty days of countdown before the date of the elections should not only serve us to draw conclusions based on the information we receive, but above all, to be alert to the instructions that God wants to give us, because although the agenda is prophetic and God is in control of it, some action of spiritual establishment could He give us to distort the operations of darkness.
Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews.
Esther 4:13
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The biblical quotations are taken from the Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)
[9] Leviticus 16:29: And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you:
Leviticus 23:27: Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.
praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Ephesians 6:18
How do we understand Ephesians 6:18 in relation to the groans by the Spirit that cannot be uttered of Romans 8?
In the previous teaching we reached the Revelation that the groanings that cannot be uttered is the communion with the Father that the Spirit engenders in the spirit of the Born-Again believer; we also found that this activity of the Spirit does not depend upon, nor does it originate from, the believer’s conscious activity of prayer. What remains to be understood, and is the purpose of this teaching, is that unutterable groans are not a substitute for the responsibility of the man/woman of faith to seek divine intervention through prayer.
The participation of the Holy Spirit in the being of a man or woman of faith is to give him or her the sustenance, of faith, precisely, so that the Born Again can stay alive in the face of the satanic manifestations that try to drown him or her. Faith is the life of the born-again, so the participation of the Holy Spirit in the being of a born-again is to keep him/her alive; if you look closely again at chapter eight of the apostle Paul’s epistle to the Romans, you will see that the apostle defined it as such on two occasions at the beginning of that chapter:
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:2
For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Romans 8:6
The purpose of the Spirit is to give life, faith is life, therefore the Born Again is kept alive by faith; hence the need for the Born Again man and woman to grow in faith,
that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
1st. Peter 1:7
But faith is not of man, that is, it is not born of the religious activity of man and woman before the deities, nor is it even the product of the impact it may receive from the manifestation of God himself; faith belongs to God, God gives it through his Word:
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Romans 10:17
In the previous paragraph we have even dared to assure that faith is not the product of the impact that man receives before a theophany, many examples in the pages of the Bible that certify it, the clearest case is that of the people who were taken out of the slavery of Egypt by Moses, so many extraordinary manifestations of the Power of Jehovah-God among them, however the great majority of them died in the desert, and it was because of their unbelief. Faith is born from the Word of God, to the extent that man is exposed to it. The only way to have faith is to expose oneself to the Word and to act according to the teaching and instruction that the Word establishes. Experiences can stimulate a man or woman of faith but they cannot generate faith; faith is not a stimulus or an impulse.
For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
Romans 12:3
From the teaching given by Jesus in the parable of the sower (Matthew 13), we learn that the Kingdom of Heaven is established in human beings through the Word of the Gospel; the parable presents the sower as the Son of Man (Matthew 13:37) who spreads the seed —the Word— over the whole world (Matthew 13: 38) but only germinates in those who accept it as God the Father’s instruction to act according to His Will; who do not want to understand it (Matthew 13:19), who are unwilling to suffer persecution because of the Word (Matthew 13:21), and/or attend to riches more than the Word (Matthew 13:22) make the Word unfruitful in them and drown the faith that God gave to them.
So, Man and woman of faith, faith is the life that the Spirit ‘breathes’ into the spirit of man and woman, faith is the unspeakable groans of the Spirit’s permanence within the being of one who has been born again from the Word. Faith is more than a knowledge or assurance developed from man’s own activity, faith does not germinate from what the man and woman of God do for themselves, this knowledge is the basis of deliverance that cuts through satanic chains and bondages however strong they may be.
It remains, now, Man and woman of faith, that we understand why some men and women of faith grow in faith more than others.
Man and woman of faith, the growth and progress of each one’s faith life depends on the prayer activity that each one develops before God, and that is where Ephesians 6:18 comes in.
Jesus established as a principle of life and authority, in the case of Peter when Jesus was betrayed by Judas, that prayer is the basis for avoiding stagnation in the growth of faith.
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Matthew 26:41 (Mark 13:33; 14:38; Luke 22:40, 46)
Prayer was established by Jesus as a bond of justice and righteousness,
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Matthew 5:44 (Luke 6:28)
Prayer was also established as a prophetic bond to understand about the times,
But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
Matthew 24:20 (Mark 13:18, 33)
In the book of Acts of the Apostles it is described that prayer was part of the active faith life of the believers,
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Acts 2:42
In fact, prayers were the basis of operation of many miracles operated within all faith communities,
And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
Acts 4:31
But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up.
Acts 9:40
And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.
Acts 10:4
Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.
Acts 12:5
And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
Acts 13:3
And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.
Acts 14:23
And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him.
Acts 28:8
In the text of Ephesians 6:18 the apostle instructs the Ephesian community to pray for all the ‘saints’, meaning all those who are part of the Body of Christ Jesus; in another of his epistles, Paul instructs them to pray for the work of the Lord that they were doing even from prison,
17Pray without ceasing.… 25Brethren, pray for us.
1st. Thessalonians 5:17, 25
Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.
Hebrews 13:18
Prayer is not, nor should it be, a selfish resource to ask for particular interests; such prayers do not prosper,
2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
James 4:2-3
Prayer is not even to ask for our particular needs, God knows them,
Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
Matthew 6:8
Man and woman of faith, the best way, and the best time to pray is in the moments we use to expose ourselves to the Word.
Finally, man and woman of faith, be careful not to develop religious pride; it is no more spiritual to kneel for two hours than to pray for 15 or 20 minutes; prayer is not measured by time spent in it, but by the purpose of discovering the next step of faith we have to take in witnessing to the Lord’s work. Peace.
If you have questions or would like us to go deeper into a topic or situation, please do not hesitate to write to us.
The biblical quotations are taken from the Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)
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