(By: Norm Rasmussen)

Christians, here's reality: Demonic powers have every intention of making certain that each day of your life is more miserable than the day before, especially if you are eager to win souls to Jesus Christ and/or help disciple them.  

Ephesians 6:10-18 assures Christians that Satan and his demons have been given freedom to harass believers, and that believers must utilize all the weapons God has provided to counter the attacks launched against them.   The battle between good and evil is not going away until Jesus returns to earth, saints, and in fact, will only intensify until that time comes, because Satan knows as each day passes, his time grows shorter and shorter.  

Every waking moment, the Captain of the Lord of hosts tells each of us soldiers in His army this somber warning:

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.  ' 1 Peter 5:8-9

Wise Christians have learned that the first thing they do when they wake up from a night's sleep is to fortify God's protection around them. They refuse to go about their day's responsibilities until they have sought God's protection for them. Yesterday's protection most likely will not suffice today.  Constant, daily fortification pays HUGE dividends. 

Wise Christians utilize the Lord's Prayer (See: Luke 11) as part of their warfare prayer guide in reinforcing God's protection around them.

Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come.

You will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us day by day our daily bread.

And forgive us our sins,

For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one.  

Disciples of Jesus Christ start their day in prayer by honoring God -- by showering Him with their love. They acknowledge His sovereignty, His divine attributes, His priorities here on earth (advancing the Kingdom of God in the lives of people), His worthiness, His supreme power over all.  In short, they enter His courts with thanksgiving and praise before making any personal requests. (See: Psalms 100:4). This can include listening to praise and worship music while you share your love for Him, and/or it might simply be singing songs of scripture, and even a new song that the Holy Spirit gives you. (See: Ephesians 5:18-19). Having emotional and spiritual intimacy with God is every bit as important (actually MORE important!) as having emotional and physical intimacy with one's spouse to maintain a healthy relationship.  

After they have finished honoring God, then they confess any sins they may have committed from the day before. They make certain their sin-slate is wiped clean afresh and anew. They take time to ask the Master if there is anything they may have done to offend the Master, and take the necessary time to allow the Holy Spirit to answer them, if there is.

If we have offended anyone, we need to make certain we ask God's forgiveness for doing so. God tells us that offending others is TOP PRIORITY in receiving God's maximized protection for each and every day.  

If someone has offended us, we must make certain that we forgive them as well. Refusing to forgive anyone who has offended us opens legal doors for demonic powers to harass us like little else does.  

In thoroughly examining ourselves in any possible areas of unforgiveness, we will do well to give ourselves 'The Bitterness Test.' The Bitterness Test will expose our hidden feelings of anger toward those who have hurt or offended us that we may need to take to the cross again and again to be covered with a fresh application of Christ's shed blood. Forgiving someone one time may be completely sufficient. However, if renewed feelings of anger rise up in us toward that person, or groups of people, we will do well to confess it to God and receive forgiveness for it as often as is necessary.  

Even if they didn't knowingly commit any sins the day before, they STILL ask God to forgive them of not walking in perfect obedience to Him, as a demonstration of their humility. Demonstrating their humility to God daily is of top priority to them.

Next, they ask the Father to give them direction for that day. What is HIS specific will for them that day? It may be a routine day, but to assume it will be may cause them to miss hearing something from Him that He wants to impart to them. Having some quiet time in His presence, however brief it might be, blesses the Master greatly. He delights in us when we'll take the time to LISTEN to what He may desire to say to us, rather than our just hurriedly doing all the talking.

Jesus boldly stated that He did only that which the Father directed Him to do. One gets the impression it sometimes required many hours during the night in quiet places for that to happen. Obedience to the Father's direction each day of our lives places us in the best possible position to bear maximized fruit for His glory and our protection from evil.   

Now we may ask Him to do for us what we desire of Him. First and foremost is to ask Him to place sufficient protection around us, keeping us from all evil that day. If we are a parent, we then ask Him to do the same for our spouse and then our children. The Holy Spirit may lead us to pray for God's protection of others in our family line, and/or protection from evil for others God has asked us to pray for, (such as our employer and all that work for our employer). Remember, there is nothing that obligates God to protect us from evil unless we ask Him to do so. Asking Him to do so on a daily basis is neither foolish nor an offense to God. It simply is wisdom.

We must never assume God will keep us from temptation to sin that day. That is why He tells us to ask Him to give daily power to say no to any temptations to sin that the devil or our flesh may throw at us. 

Wise warriors know the power and protection God grants to His people when they apply a fresh daily covering of the blood of Jesus over themselves, and over their loved ones, as well as their possessions. Asking God to protect your possessions should never be optional, and pleading the blood of Jesus over your possessions provides DOUBLE the protection God provides.

(If you question just how much power there is when we utilize the weapon of Christ's shed blood, talk to any Christian who has been used of God to cast demons out of a person.  Commanding demons to come out of a person is sometimes easy, and other times not so easy. Sometimes, the ONLY thing that will free a person from demonic oppression is to continuously plead the blood of Jesus over that oppressed individual. Demons know what the shed blood of Jesus represents, and being reminded of it drives them absolutely crazy.)

Wise warriors of Jesus Christ also take the time to ask the Father to help them walk in the Spirit that day, so they won't fulfill the lusts of the flesh that day, before they end their prayer.  

Wise warriors in God's army also work diligently at keeping their mind and spirit in tune with the Holy Spirit every second of that day. Many times the Holy Spirit will communicate to our spirit that they need to do something SPECIFIC to counter an evil attack about to be launched against them. If we're not in tune to the Holy Spirit trying to warn us, we may be a victim of Satan's onslaught.  

Personally, anytime I sense the Holy Spirit speaking to my spirit that Satan is about to spring something on me, I ask God to fortify His angels about me as might be necessary (or someone else who may be about to come under attack), and I plead the blood of Jesus, out loud, upon myself, or around the person about to come under attack. I also seek to hear what the Holy Spirit may want me to know, and/or do, to assist Jesus in not allowing Satan's attack to have its intended effect, so the devil's attack will not bear evil fruit.

If God has given you the gift of tongues, don't overlook your gift of 'building yourself up on your most holy faith.' (See: Jude 20; 1 Cor. 14:4). This can be done during your prayer time first thing in the morning, and it can also be done throughout the day and even during the night when the occasion calls for it. 

Feeding your mind and spirit with God's Word is another means of receiving fresh 'manna' from God to help you be a strong warrior in God's army. Prayer is the primary way we receive daily fresh heavenly 'manna' from God, but spending times in God's Word must never be minimized either.  

Yesterday's 'manna' both from prayer and God's Word - grows stale quickly and nutrition and strength from it may not sustain us today.

Always remain sensitive to the Holy Spirit regarding fasting, especially when you come under severe attack of demonic powers. Sometimes He prompts us to engage ourselves in a fast to maximize our efforts in waging effective spiritual warfare. Fasting is a spiritual weapon God has given us that we need to know how to use when the occasion calls for it. 

God tells us that we are to learn how to resist Satan's attacks against us each and every day, and against our loved ones and friends. We cannot possibly resist Satan's attacks against us unless we learn what weapons God has given us to use to resist evil spirit beings.  The sooner we know what those weapons are and how to wisely use them, the better each day goes for us.  

There will be days when we 'think' our weapons didn't work for us. Be CAREFUL what you believe when that happens. Satan is constantly trying to get us to disbelieve God's weapons are inadequate to protect us from evil! If he can get us to believe they are ineffective, he knows his odds increase that we may not use them tomorrow, and the days following.

Being in the army of our Lord Jesus Christ does not guarantee that we will escape death either. We all will get to heaven one way or the other, and there are times when God will allow Satan to be the means of ushering us into heaven. Never let the death of a saint be a reason to stop waging war ' daily - against the demonic powers of darkness. Rather, let the death of a saint be an instrument to make you even more fierce of a warrior than ever before through the Captain of the Lord of hosts, who is Jesus Christ! To Him be glory and honor and power, forever and ever.

PLEASE HELP US HELP YOU SHARE THE BEST NEWS GOD HAS FOR EVERY PERSON BECAUSE...

JESUS DID IT! and...

YOU ARE SO GREATLY NEEDED!

Remember:  All that we do in this life comes back to our God-given purpose which is to serve and glorify God. The money and assets we accumulate, the fame and power we've attained or seek to attain - all of the things of this nature will one day pass away, but those lives of others we impact for Jesus Christ will last for eternity, and we will be rewarded for the part we helped play by impacting those lives ... for eternity. (Matthew 6:19-20 is our assurance)