And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force..Matthew 11:12
Should I pray that enemies must die? What is the context of these forms of Spiritual Warfare? Should this be the focus of our prayers? What is the right balance?
These are the issues I have addressed in this article and to just call out the elephant in the room, this is direct response to video comedy like this, Molue kawasaki, I am tired of killing enemies ooo, where the lack of understanding of the context may have been demonstrated.
Before we jump in, let’s just say a prayer. Please just close your eyes where you are now and take this singular prayer point with fire in your spirit:
“O LORD, open my spiritual understanding today in the name of Jesus. Amen.”
Where I am coming from on this: I have always been an intercessor. The responsibility of this office has helped me over the years to develop a strategic outlook to the issues of the Church and for me to have a broader perspective in looking at those issues. For this reason, God has helped me to break beyond the walls of my church or parish and to build bridges and global strategic alliances across other churches in different cultures and locations.
After all said, is this not about one kingdom, the kingdom of God and is this not all about God who is the head of the church? So why the competition, why the division, why the animosity? Paul in 1 Cor. 3:6-8 says “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.”
Current Situation: There have been so much controversy about a current trend in the churches who still pray and how those prayers focus too much on asking that some imaginary enemies that must die and the following article has been adapted to provide the appropriate context. First of all, I would say that because you have not experienced the battles of life does not mean that there are no real enemies, you better believe that. This is what Jesus said in Mat 10:36 “And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” You better not be ignorant of the devices of the enemy(2 Cor 2:11) and know that there are real enemies that use people close to you to try to hinder God’s agenda for your life.” Jesus here was quoting Micah 7:5-8
Not minding all this controversy and calling out the elephant in the room, I choose to stand with the Mountain of Fire and Miracles (MFM) for the following reasons and in what I have observed and learned from them even though I am not a member:
- I give credit to them, that they have allowed God to continue to use them as a reference point of a church that still prays. When I say pray, not the 5 minutes goosey loosey form of prayer, real prayer, fervent prayer. Let truth be told, most of our churches have stopped praying. It is now all about show, comedy, entertainment and indecent dressing exposing the cleavage as if we are in a night club. Unfortunately, that is not the church that Jesus is coming for. He said, “my fathers house shall be called a house of prayer” Mat 21:24.
- Most of our churches have abandoned the very essence of honouring God in our mode of worship as the covering of the hair by the women is no longer observed and as Paul put it, it is an act of dishonour and rebellion of choosing not to be under authority even when the angels are watching. I Cor. 11: 1-13 I admire the level of discipline in the MFM churches that I have visited especially in foreign countries and amongst the female teenagers, no wearing of trousers to the place of prayer and for all women, no uncovering of hair
- I, personally, have and continue to benefit from the good works of this “do-it-yourself” ministry and the resources they continue to provide for one to be and stay an effective intercessor, that is not depending on the pastor to pray for you when the enemy comes in like a flood. It is only the one that has experienced what it means to be in the valley of trials and experience God’s deliverance that will appreciate what it means to tap into the power of spiritual warfare by being equipped with the right tools to fight the good fight of faith and disgrace the enemy (not human foes, but principalities, powers, rulers of darkness and spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph 6:12).
Understanding MFM Prayer Model: This being said let us look at what the MFM Prayer model is from the following extract adapted from the MFM Virginia website.
Newcomers to this deliverance and prayer warfare ministry always ask questions like ” why do you repeat your prayers? Why are you always saying die! Why are you always shouting? Why are you cursing? The bible says bless them that curse you? Pray for them that despitefully use you! Why use prayer points in prayers?
We will turn to the bible to answer these questions.
- Luke 6: 28 “Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.”
- Every profession has a language or lingo. So does spiritual warfare. In Genesis 3, the moment Eve ate of the fruit she died. She was separated immediately from God. Die as used in the MFM prayer model signifies separation. Power of failure at the edge of breakthrough die out of my life!!! means power of failure at the edge of breakthrough be separated from me. Spirits don’t die. They can be however commanded to be separated from us. Evil covenants and evil dedications affecting my life, die!: means evil covenants and evil dedications stop affecting my life, be separate from my life.
- Everybody gathered at the same place at the same time for the same purpose and saying the same prayer the same way unleashes a tremendous power of agreement. The power of “Let US” of Genesis1 during creation is an example of power of agreement. The continuous repetition of an apostolic decree until a release by the Spirit in the MFM prayer model is a Gethsemanic approach to warfare prayers, a practice in the use of the power of agreement in prayer. Matthew 18:19 “Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.” In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus came back to the disciples and found them sleeping. Matthew 26:44 “And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.” That was not a vain repetition. It is also not a vain repetition to continuously declare ” I shall not die but live to declare the word of God”
- The MFM prayer style is the prayer model for end time warfare. Prayer points are nothing but apostolic decrees issued by believers who invariably are priests and Kings (Rev 1:6). And therefore Job 22: 28 “Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee.” The dominion lost in the garden of Eden, has been restored in SALVATION. The regain of dominion is a regain of authority. Ecclesiastes 8: 4 “Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?” Awareness and consciousness of our regained dominion as priest and kings, is made manifest in the MFM prayer model of prayer by apostolic decrees.
- Your blessing of those that curse you was never intended to make them prosper in their wickedness. Otherwise it would be contrary to Psalms 7:9 “Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins.”
- Whatsoever puts an end to wickedness lawfully is a blessing. James 5:20 “Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.”
- Whatsoever converts the sinner from the error of his way is the type of blessing referred to by Luke 6:28.The wicked must be stopped in their tracks of wickedness. Take a look at what Apostle Paul did. Acts 13:6-12 6 And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus: 7 Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. 9 Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, 10 And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? 11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. 12 Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. To turn someone away from faith is to preach rebellion. A sorcerer stands condemned already by scriptures. You are not going to bless who God has cursed. Apostle Paul handled the sorcerer showing how a sorcerer, an enemy of God, should be handled.
- Why are you always shouting when you pray?
- Praying aloud is definitely not because God is hard of hearing.
- It is not because God is far and remote. In fact, God has tabernacled in us by way of the indwelling Holy Spirit. It has however been discovered that man has problems of focus at the place of prayer. The human mind at end-time is highly distracted. Man finds it increasingly difficult to keep focus in the place of prayer. Praying loud is a means to keep focus at the place of prayer.
- Ps 34:6 “6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.”
- Someone said ” A dedicated squad of satanic beings are deployed to distract praying people.” A monk on the Holy Mountain declared “We are constantly occupied by all kinds of thoughts that appear in our heads, and it seems we no sooner start to pray than we catch ourselves thinking about something else.”
- Another servant of God has this to say, “Experience will teach everyone who practices prayer that the saying aloud of a few prayers of Jesus and all prayers in general is a great help in preventing the mind from being robbed by distraction. In the vent of a violent attack of the enemy, when a weakening of the will and darkening of the mind is felt, vocal prayer is indispensable. Attentive vocal prayer is at the same both mental and cordial.”
- Praying aloud is to help the prayer warrior to keep focus in the place of prayer.
- Luke 22:44 – And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground
- Acts 4:31 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.
- James 5:16b: The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
This is the scriptural basis of the MFM prayer model for end-time warfare and deliverance. Free and delivered at last!
Here is my position
- Unknown to many, many Christians will actually miss the rapture because of the sin of prayerlessness and that is exactly the position the same enemy is putting the church in today, the state of prayerlessness which is the state of powerlessness.
- Remember, the parable of the 5 wise virgins and the 5 foolish virgins? Mat 25: 1-13 The five foolish ones missed the marriage supper of the bridegroom because they were careless in allowing their oil to run out. The oil representing the fire of the Holy Spirit. God commanded Aaron that the fire should not go out of the altar. Leviticus 6:12-13
- Jesus also warned in Luke 21: 34-35 for us not to be careless and distracted with the “good life” or the “cares of this life” and in the process allow the day of rapture creep in on us unexpectedly. In verse 36 he specifically said ” Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man”
- How then should we proceed? It is about establishing the right balance.
- One extreme will be to say there are no enemies to pray against, that will be ignorance and folly. You see things happening in your life that look not ordinary, you better rise up to pray? (Ps. 34:6)
- Another extreme will be to say everything is the work of the enemy, hmm, that may be true to some extent as long as we remember that the greatest enemy we have is our flesh. So command the flesh as an enemy in the form of ignorance, lust, pride etc. to die first. Paul said in 1 Cor. 9:27 ” But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway”. After all said, may we not be a castaway in Jesus’ me. Some of the things we are struggling against are just from the lack of knowledge and understanding of the principles we must apply. So for the things that require the principles of Jesus, we may be applying the wrong approach by asking God for the miracles of Jesus.
- However, the right balance, in my mind, is to choose to live a life of prayer. Jesus told a parable in Luke 18:1 to emphasise that men ought always to pray and not faint. We should be engaged in all manners of prayer and not just spiritual warfare:
- Eph. 6:18 – Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
- 1 Tim 3:1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
- In all of this, let choose to live a life that glorifies God. A life that glorifies God will worship Him in Spirit and Truth and so also will not be far from Him in the place of prayer or serving Him through fasting and prayers.
Conclusion: Overall, my position is this; there are real enemies and they must die; this is in the true understanding of what death represents which is separation. When someone dies physically, their spirit is separated from their body. When spiritual death occurs, it is about the soul being separated from God eternally.
- Mat 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
- Luke 10:18-19 18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. 19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
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Stay blessed and remain rapturable!
Prayer Points
- Fire of the Holy Spirit, fall afresh upon my life, refresh and re-energize, in Jesus name
- Any power, principality and personality that that has vowed that the agenda of God in 2017 will not be fulfilled for my life, my family, my nation and your church, you are a liar, die in the name of Jesus
- (With your hand pointed to the heavens declare:) you my heavens in 2017, be opened by fire in the name of Jesus
- Womb of 2017, open and release my divine benefits now in the name of Jesus
- All my assigned helpers for 2017, both human and angelic, hear the word of the Lord: arise and locate me now in the name of Jesus.
