Steadfastness Needed For Victory

[WhiteFeather]

Spiritual victories can take time. Let's not be discouraged when answers are not immediate. Sometimes we do gain instant victory, but other times it can be days, months, or even years. I prayed 20 years before I saw my father saved. So don't give up in what you're believing God for. For years in praying for my father, I was unaware of how to war in the spirit. Basically I just cried out, "O God, save him. O God, save him." When I came into a Spirit-filled walk, I realized evil spirits were blinding my father from the truth. One day as five of us were in prayer, the Lord spoke to fast and pray for my father. We spent the day doing that. Three months later, God sent me to visit my father who was then ill. It was time to witness to him. When it comes to witnessing to relatives, most persons experience some difficulties. But as we have faith in God, in His timing He will fill our mouths. Don't hesitate; it's no different from witnessing under God's unction to a stranger. God had prepared my father; the powers of darkness over him had been broken. I sensed holy boldness as I spoke to him about the condition of his soul. I said, "Daddy, you're very ill right now with gout. If the doctor gave you a pill, saying it would remove all sickness and pain, you'd take it, wouldn't you?" He said, "Well, of course." I said, "There is a pill you need to take: it's the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you'll receive Jesus in your heart and ask Him to forgive you of your sins, He'll wash away all this burden of sin you've carried for years." Daddy started crying; I started crying, and he accepted the Lord. We both sensed the Spirit of God. My 20 years of praying had mounted up, but the most effective prayer had been when the five of us had used these spiritual tools: 1) fasting 2) agreement (five of us) 3) travail (our day of prayer included this) 4) God's Word (that day we confessed appropriate Scriptures over my father) 5) resistance to the devil (we spoke God's Word against the enemy). As we applied these tools, the barriers were broken down. Our spiritual warfare opened my father's heart and mind to the truth. We need to wage war in the spirit to free our loved ones. Good soldiers will enter into spiritual warfare to tear down the powers of darkness that blind the unsaved. The Bible says Satan has blinded the minds of unbelievers preventing them from receiving the gospel. "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them" (I Cor. 4:4). We can witness to a loved one all day long, but until the spirits blinding him are defeated, he won't truly hear. It took spiritual warfare before my father could finally hear and receive. The morning after my father's salvation, the enemy attacked me with the thought, "Your father didn't really get saved. He was just humoring you, saying that prayer so you would leave him alone." I prayed,"Lord, confirm his salvation experience." I got a Bible for him and took it to his home. I said, "Daddy, you need to read this daily, pray daily, and attend a good church." He responded, "Betty, I already prayed this morning." Since he had received Jesus, the Lord had already prompted him to pray. I didn't have to tell him that, the Holy Spirit did. Thus God confirmed for me his salvation experience. Other changes also came, such as he no longer cursed. Good soldiers don't give up. Let's not give up on our relatives, no matter how much spiritual warfare it takes. My father could have seemed like a hopeless case as he had a major drinking problem, but through God's love he was saved. I pointed out earlier that God is no respecter of persons; neither is Satan. I Peter 5:8 says, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." The devil doesn't care whom he devours, just as long as he can get somebody. He's seeking whom he may devour, which means there are those he cannot. If we're good soldiers wearing our spiritual armor, sober and vigilant, then we cannot be devoured. Unprepared Christians, though, can be devoured by the devil. He's ruined the lives of many believers.