Prayer of Defense Before Sleeping
"Father,
I come before you in prayer. I enter into your gates with thanksgiving and
enter into your courts with praise1. I praise you because you are
worthy, holy, righteous, and just. I plead the blood of Jesus over myself, my dwelling place, my
spouse, my children, my car, my bank account and everything under my
stewardship2. I pray that your heavenly hosts, your angels, would
guard this dwelling place round about, both above and below3. I will
say of the Lord that you are my refuge and my fortress, my God, in you will I
trust4. I thank you that you set a hedge of protection round about
me and that no plague will come near my dwelling5. I thank you in
advance that every curse, hex, spell, incantation, voodoo, sorcery, form of
witchcraft, dark art or other form of weaponized demonic activity sent against
me would be reversed upon the heads of the senders seven-fold that they would
know that Jesus is Lord6. Moreover, I pray that every human spirit,
fallen angelic spirit, or otherwise malevolent spirit attempting to come
against me or my household would be apprehended by your heavenly hosts such
that they cannot so much as set foot upon this property7. I pray
that they would be escorted out to wherever the Lord Jesus sends them, pierced
through with many arrows and discomfited by your lightning in the process, that
they would know that Jesus is Lord8. Furthermore, I cancel and render
powerless all attempts at mind-to-mind communication, dream manipulation, and
all other forms of psychic and telepathic intrusion in the name of Jesus9.
I thank you that all of my dreams are inspired by your Holy Spirit10.
I declare that my sleep will be sweet, uninterrupted, and that upon waking I
will be well rested11. I also put on the armor of light12.
I take up the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt
of truth, I declare that my feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of
peace, and I take up the shield of faith to quench all the fiery darts of the
wicked one, and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God13. I
pray all of this in the mighty name of Jesus, Amen14.
Notes on the Prayer
1 "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with
praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name." (Psalm 100:4).
Never stop giving thanks and praising God. I open every prayer with praise and
thanksgiving. This will always lead to more powerful and effective prayers.
2 "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of
their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." (Revelation
12:10) The enemy hates the blood of Jesus because he is overcome by it. The
power of His blood is an inarguable weapon in the believer's arsenal. The life
is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11) and so every time the blood of Jesus is
applied it is an application of the very life of Jesus Christ. It is an
application of the power to cleanse sin (Colossians 1:14) and bring healing (1
Peter 2:24). It is one of three that bear witness to the resurrection and
victory of Jesus Christ "in the earth" along with the water and the
Spirit (1 John 5:8). When the angel of death, otherwise called the destroyer,
was sent out in the book of Exodus, he passed over every household displaying
the blood of a lamb on its door post (Exodus 12:23). This was a type and shadow
of what the blood of Jesus would one day accomplish. Even death must respect
the blood. Why wouldn't we plead it over everything? Frankly, to do otherwise
as believers is a waste of God's resources.
3 "And
Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open
his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened
the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire
round about Elisha." (2 Kings 6:17). God set His heavenly army in battle
array round about the prophet Elisha. Centuries later, Jesus went on to say
that John the Baptist was the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, and that the
least in the Kingdom was greater than him (Luke 7:28). What kind of angelic
host do you think God will set about his spiritual children? He will send
armies to war on our behalf! Moreover, angels are ministering spirits sent
forth to minister to the heirs of salvation (Hebrews 1:14). Part of this
ministry is protection. Psalm 91:11-12 declares that His angels will keep us in
our ways and bear us up in their hands lest we should dash our foot upon a
stone. This is why I set an angelic guard around my location (whether it is my
house, a hotel room, or wherever I happen to be sleeping). Notice that I set
them round about, both above and below. I have learned that above and
below deals with dimensional access points, and that if I say the prayer in
this way, I am employing protection against attacks entering from other
dimensions.
4 " I will say of the Lord, He is my
refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust." (Psalm 91:2).
The fortress of God, who wouldn't want to sleep there?
5 "There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh
thy dwelling." (Psalm 91:10). This is self explanatory.
6 This is a list
of common forms of weaponized demonic attacks. It is by no means complete, but
usually gets the job done. I used to pray that any curse sent would be stopped,
but now I pray that they would be reversed. Why? One, when a curse is reversed
upon the head of a sender it serves as strong discouragement to continue. Two,
when a curse is reversed with the purpose of revealing the power of Jesus, I
believe that Jesus will honor this prayer and make sure that every reversal
creates this testimony. On what scriptural grounds can a curse be reversed? The
Bible is clear that we are partakers of the blessing of Abraham (Galatians
3:14). Part of Abraham's blessing included the promise that those that cursed
him would be cursed and those that blessed him would be blessed (Genesis 12:3).
Why do I say seven-fold? This is loosely based on the promise that states my
enemies will rise up against me in one direction and flee in seven (Deuteronomy
28:7). The Bible also says that when the thief is caught he shall restore
seven-fold, even to the whole of his substance (Proverbs 6:31). This speaks of
a seven-fold consequence for wrongs committed.
7 Demons are not
the only spirits lurking around. The Devil also has human agents that do much
of their work "out-of-body." This is sometimes called "astral
projection." When a human is out-of-body they are in spirit form, yet
dealing with this type of spirit is not the same as dealing with a demonic
spirit because they are not under the same jurisdiction as demons. They have
free will and do not necessarily respond to the name of Jesus in the same way
that demons do because of their human nature. Just like I can't necessarily
command people around in the name of Jesus when they're in their bodies, a
degree of this remains true when they are in the spirit. This is why I assign
angels to apprehend them and escort them out if they attempt to come against
me. This is not a theory, the effectiveness of this prayer has been proven by
experience. I also assign angels to apprehend fallen angels and other
malevolent spirits attempting to come against me. A battle with a fallen angel
will be many times more intense than a demonic attack. If I can assign angels
to take care of the battle before it comes to me, why wouldn't I?
8 "Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out
lightnings, and discomfited them." (Psalm 18:14). Yes, God does
have arrows and lightening and yes, we can use them. The fiery darts of the
enemy (Ephesians 6:16) that many believer's have been taught about are only a
counterfeit to the arrows of God. These arrows will deal great damage to the
armies of darkness. If a person comes out-of-body to attack me and winds up
getting apprehended by heavenly angels and failing in their assignment it will
frustrate them. If in addition they receive the chastisement of heaven's arrows
and the lightening of God with the purpose that their discomfort will be
evidence of the supreme power of Jesus, they will not be likely to return.
9 Psychic
phenomena, telepathy and other forms of mind-to-mind communication do not
necessarily fall under the same category as curses and weaponized demonic
attacks. They also do not require that the perpetrator be out-of-body and
attempting to spiritually attack their target. For this reason I list these
issues separately, simply "cutting the enemy's phone lines" if you
will. This is a part of the prayer that I have incorporated due to experience.
Before adding this section, I had several experiences involving the enemy
trying to speak to my mind in my sleep. I was left trying to figure out how he
got in until I realized that I should pray in this manner. "Wherefore gird
up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is
to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1Peter 1:13).
10 God spoke on
many occasions in the Bible through dreams. For instance, He spoke to Jacob in
a dream in Genesis 46:2 and He spoke to Daniel in a dream in Daniel 7:7 and
7:13. Pray that God would do the same for you, and that your dreams would be
limited to His influence.
11 "When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie
down, and thy sleep shall be sweet." (Proverbs 3:24). Sweet sleep
is a promise from God to His children! Don't ever think otherwise. The devil is
a liar and he will try to cheat you out of what is rightfully yours if he can.
Don't let him. Demand your inheritance in Christ!
12 "The
night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light." (Romans 13:12)
13 "Wherefore take unto you the whole
armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having
done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth,
and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the
preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith,
wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And
take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of
God" (Ephesians 6:13-17). Note: In my prayer I list these in a different
order simply because I go from head to foot as I am taking up the armor. If
using the order the apostle lists them in Scripture feels better for you,
simply use his listing order.
14 "And
whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be
glorified in the Son." (John 14:13). Ask everything in the name of Jesus.
His name reflects His character. It contains the power of His supreme
authority.
Happy
Sleeping!!
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