Prayer of Defense Before Sleeping

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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Uprooting Bitterness

               My entire body was engaged in the moment. The sun was starting to set and I could feel the sweat dripping from my brow. In no way would I allow my enemy to have victory over me.  I stood there for a moment, snarling at my beaten opponent. I was not going to hold back. No, not this time. Not after all of the battling, endless fighting, and useless attempts at alternative methods. I dropped the shovel and picked up my axe. With fire in my eyes I determined to finish the job, right here, right now. With my enemy at my feet, I lifted the axe and brought it down with all my might. I could feel it passing through, leaving me with a surprising sense of relief. It was over.

                It is incredible what people are capable of when under the sway of bitterness. I will be the first to admit that I have done certain things I am not so proud of when under its influence. As a matter of fact, some of the things I have done may be considered downright despicable. It's not just me though. Be honest with yourself. What have you done under the sway of bitterness that you know wasn't right? Have you set out to destroy the lives of others? Have you sabotaged opportunities? Have you verbally assaulted those around you? Maybe you've even physically abused your spouse or children? This is what the Bible reveals about the root of bitterness: "Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled" (Hebrews 12:15)

                God recently brought me a fresh perspective regarding the root of bitterness. As a matter of fact, He used the experience that I opened this article with to do it. What sounds like a scene out of a horror movie really has a very practical explanation. I'm not attempting to excuse my actions, but I will do my best explain. I bought a new house last autumn. Now that the winter has passed it's time for the infamous "honey-do" lists. For the record, I am not a fan of these terrible things and frankly, my wife became somewhat ambitious and drove me to the point of no return.

                So there I was, perplexed, trying to figure out how in the world to remove three giant bushes from the front of my house! I tried to argue my way out of it and make a case for the futility of the effort, but all was to no avail.  Furthermore, the only tool I had was a five dollar shovel that we bought on sale. Thank God for my neighbor who was willing to loan me an axe and pneumatic saw before I got started! With these tools it brought the undertaking into the realm of possibility, but it turned into a long and arduous process.

                The first step was to deal with the bushes themselves. I had to cut the branches out of the way piece-by-piece until I had cut enough away to gain access to the stump. This took some time, but the pneumatic saw really sped things up. That is, however, until I got near the base of the bushes and realized that their stumps were too thick for the pneumatic saw! My only option was the back-breaking work of chopping away at them with the axe. Mind you, these stumps were thick. I'm talking diameters of six to ten inches! It was like chopping down a not-so-small tree...three times in a row.

                I finally managed to chop down all of the bushes and haul them to my tree lawn. The problem was that the bush stumps still remained, and my wife had other plans for that space! So there I was, back outside the next day, still sore, trying to figure out how I was going to remove three bush stumps with a five dollar shovel and an axe. Not the ideal situation, but where there is a will there is a way. In this case, my wife provided all the will that I needed to get moving!

                As soon as I got a couple inches underground I struck part of the root system that was used by the stump.  These exist to absorb nutrients from the dirt and provide life force to the entire plant. As you can imagine, it didn't break without a fight. I had to dig around it, expose it, and then strike it with the axe. It wouldn't have been so bad if there were only two of three of these, but there were dozens. As I continued digging what seemed to be a bottomless hole in front of my house I had to keep repeating the process of digging around the large roots to expose them. To make a long story short, when I got to that third bush and put the axe through the final root, it was a great sense of relief!

                The moral of the story is that getting free of bitterness often comes about through a similar process. First we have to remove what's above the ground and cut it off with our sword which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17). This will expose the stump. The reason the Bible refers to the root of bitterness is because the true source of this issue is often hidden beneath the surface. It maintains tremendous strength and resiliency due to an extensive root system, drawing its life force from all of the dirt in our lives. Dealing with bitterness can be like going through spiritual surgery, as often the Lord will take us from one root to another, severing them with His word, in order to get the whole stump out of there. The good news is that however painful or back-breaking the process is, the relief that comes at the end always makes it worth it. Let go and let God!

Get Behind Me Satan!

               

                When I realized what I was reading, I almost couldn't believe it. What I saw seemed as if it was profoundly disrespectful. As a matter of fact, it seemed to be borderline heartless, cold, and downright distasteful. This normally wouldn't have shaken me so much, had what I was witnessing been performed by anyone else. This act, however, was executed by Jesus. I stopped and asked the question: Isn't He supposed to be our example? How could He do this?

                The act I am referring to is the famous rebuke of Peter. The story begins as Jesus asks His disciples a simple question. Who do men say that I am? The disciples throw out various comments they have heard. Peter however, he is different. He has a revelation. He boldly declares that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus is so taken, He comments that this could not have been revealed to him by any man or process of cognition. This revelation was given to Peter by God the Father. Jesus then exhorted His disciples to tell no one.

                So far so good, right? However, Peter had a tendency to put his foot in his mouth. Jesus went on to explain some very difficult concepts to His disciples. He explained to them that He would have to go up to Jerusalem. Once there, He would suffer many things of the elders and priests. He would be falsely accused, He would be mocked, He would be mistreated, and He would be shamed. Ultimately, He would have to die and then be raised on the third day. This proved to be too much for Peter. Like many great friends out there, he went out of his way to do something he perceived to be in the best interest of his friend. He rebuked and attempted to convince Jesus that there must be an alternative course of action.

                Now we arrive at the part of the story that I simply could not believe. While I had read and heard this account on multiple occasions, the book of Mark offers a phrasing that brings out a shocking element of the story. Peter gets up and takes hold of Jesus, rebuking Him (Matthew 16:22). As Peter attempts to talk Jesus out of what he perceives to be a bad decision, Jesus doesn't just rebuke him. Jesus actually begins by facing him and then turns his back to Peter. Before Jesus speaks he fully turns his back on one of His most passionate followers. Talk about making a powerful point! In this position, facing the other disciples with Peter now standing behind Him, He rebukes Peter with the famous words, "Get thee behind me Satan!"

                "But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men." (Mark 8:33)

                This takes the situation to another level. It would be one thing if Jesus quietly rebuked Peter to conceal his error and bring private correction. Frankly, even if He wasn't quiet about it, had He at least said it to Peter's face, as I had always presumed, it wouldn't have been so extreme. The idea that Jesus first turned His back to the disciple, and then rebuked Him to everyone else, now that just seemed cold. That is, until I realized what the Lord was illustrating.

                In this case Peter represents any number of people, things, or responsibilities that have a degree of importance in our lives. There is no doubt that Peter was important to Jesus. However, sometimes these things, and even the most well meaning people in our lives become tools in the hand of the enemy. The fact that Jesus rebuked Satan and not Peter clearly indicates that Peter's actions were inspired by the devil, even though He didn't perceive it that way. The words that came out of Peter's mouth were a temptation to Jesus. The Bible is clear that Jesus was tempted in all points and we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).

                What Jesus illustrated with his actions becomes a powerful lesson in how to overcome temptation. We first turn our back to it, then we begin to rebuke it. Let me explain. Let's say someone is trying to quit smoking. Does it make more sense to throw away all of the cigarettes in the house first and then pray for God's grace to overcome the temptation? Or does it make more sense to keep a pack of cigarettes in every room of the house, meaning the person is rebuking the habit every time they reach for the next cigarette?

                Sometimes temptation can be so strong in our lives that we have to first turn our backs to it so that our prayers and rebukes are not hindered. Jesus loved Peter so much that he turned His face from him before rebuking the devil! This was no easier for Jesus than it was for Peter. What we need to understand is that attacks often come through those that are closest to us. The devil is extremely intelligent, and seeds deception wherever possible. He will use the most well meaning people at times to seed advice and counsel into our lives that is entirely at odds with the leading of God. He will use what sounds like good advice to point us in the opposite direction of God's purpose for our lives. It is a difficult lesson.

                There are times when following the Lord will require us to turn our backs on the advice and counsel of those closest to us. We may even need to rebuke it. Jesus illustrated this with Peter. The most important thing to Jesus was fulfilling the purpose given to Him by His Father in heaven. God wants you to fulfill your purpose as well. Thus we need to learn to turn our backs on temptation when necessary.