10. 脱轨的代祷 . Possessing the Gates of the Enemy
10 Flaky Intercession
flak*y (fla'ke) adj. Exhibiting eccentric, unbalanced or irrational behavior.
The phone rang early one Monday morning. The caller was a young Bible student whom I'll call Pam. She had told me before that she was attending a large church that emphasized prayer.
"Cindy," she said, "I don't want to criticize unfairly, but something isn't right with my prayer group." As Pam told her story I realized that she was involved with "flaky" intercessors.
How did it happen? What makes an intercessor flaky? One Sunday morning at church a woman whom I will call Estelle approached Pam with a "word from God" that she was to join a select home prayer group and intercede for their pastor. Estelle shared excitedly that as the pastor's personal intercessors the group would be asked to travel with him when he was on the road.
Estelle neglected to tell Pam, however, that neither the pastor nor the church leadership knew of this select group. Pam discovered later that
Estelle was expecting God to reveal it to them supernaturally.
Without checking its validity, Pam decided to join the group. At first all went well, but after a few meetings they began praying in a direction
exactly opposite to the vision of the church.
They began to pray fervently that the pastor would "see the light and get aligned with God"—which was synonymous with getting aligned with
them. They also prayed that God would lead him to consult them regarding direction for the church. This made Pam uneasy and prompted
her to call me.
flak*y (fla'ke) adj. Exhibiting eccentric, unbalanced or irrational behavior.
The phone rang early one Monday morning. The caller was a young Bible student whom I'll call Pam. She had told me before that she was attending a large church that emphasized prayer.
"Cindy," she said, "I don't want to criticize unfairly, but something isn't right with my prayer group." As Pam told her story I realized that she was involved with "flaky" intercessors.
How did it happen? What makes an intercessor flaky? One Sunday morning at church a woman whom I will call Estelle approached Pam with a "word from God" that she was to join a select home prayer group and intercede for their pastor. Estelle shared excitedly that as the pastor's personal intercessors the group would be asked to travel with him when he was on the road.
Estelle neglected to tell Pam, however, that neither the pastor nor the church leadership knew of this select group. Pam discovered later that
Estelle was expecting God to reveal it to them supernaturally.
Without checking its validity, Pam decided to join the group. At first all went well, but after a few meetings they began praying in a direction
exactly opposite to the vision of the church.
They began to pray fervently that the pastor would "see the light and get aligned with God"—which was synonymous with getting aligned with
them. They also prayed that God would lead him to consult them regarding direction for the church. This made Pam uneasy and prompted
her to call me.
I recommended that Pam leave Estelle's group and join one of the church-sponsored intercessory meetings, for reasons that I will discuss later in this chapter.
Pam's situation is fairly typical of the problems Mike and I hear frequently as leaders of Generals of Intercession. She was sucked into a group of flaky intercessors—men and women who, for a variety of reasons, drift outside biblical guidelines in their zeal for prayer. They bring reproach on their ministries and confusion and division in the church. Flaky intercession could become a widespread problem in the '90s, for many prophetic voices are proclaiming that God is calling the church to intense prayer as a prelude to revival.
Studies of past revivals indicate that they were birthed and bathed in prayer, but that the move of the Holy Spirit was short-circuited by the inability to sustain effective intercession. In many instances it was flaky intercession that undermined true prayer and destroyed revival.
In a recent planning meeting for the Spiritual Warfare Network (a post-Lausanne II consultation on spiritual warfare), I sensed the Lord impressing me with the idea that in the time of Luther, the rallying cry was "The just shall live by faith." In the coming reformation the watchword will be "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, and the weapons of our warfare are not carnal."
Satan, crafty, evil serpent that he is, undermines revival through one of his most effective weapons—deception. Through clever lies that appeal to the flesh he draws people away from God's purposes for revival prayer. In other words, he works overtime at making flaky intercessors. So how do we avoid flaky intercession?
The answer is actually quite simple: Use clear, biblical guidelines as your plumbline for intercession. This chapter will explore problems that arise with intercessors and prayer groups, problems that cause confusion and give intercessory prayer in general a bad name. This is especially sad because true intercessors are servants of God who sacrifice for others daily. Those who get off-balance do so generally from a lack of teaching or else by learning from others who are off-balance. Most people make corrections immediately when they understand the areas in which they
have become extreme.
There are two safeguards for intercessors. The biggest is spiritual accountability. If intercessors are afraid of having their prayers and what
they believe God has shown them judged, then they are on flaky spiritual ground, as we saw with Estelle's group.
Pam's situation is fairly typical of the problems Mike and I hear frequently as leaders of Generals of Intercession. She was sucked into a group of flaky intercessors—men and women who, for a variety of reasons, drift outside biblical guidelines in their zeal for prayer. They bring reproach on their ministries and confusion and division in the church. Flaky intercession could become a widespread problem in the '90s, for many prophetic voices are proclaiming that God is calling the church to intense prayer as a prelude to revival.
Studies of past revivals indicate that they were birthed and bathed in prayer, but that the move of the Holy Spirit was short-circuited by the inability to sustain effective intercession. In many instances it was flaky intercession that undermined true prayer and destroyed revival.
In a recent planning meeting for the Spiritual Warfare Network (a post-Lausanne II consultation on spiritual warfare), I sensed the Lord impressing me with the idea that in the time of Luther, the rallying cry was "The just shall live by faith." In the coming reformation the watchword will be "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, and the weapons of our warfare are not carnal."
Satan, crafty, evil serpent that he is, undermines revival through one of his most effective weapons—deception. Through clever lies that appeal to the flesh he draws people away from God's purposes for revival prayer. In other words, he works overtime at making flaky intercessors. So how do we avoid flaky intercession?
The answer is actually quite simple: Use clear, biblical guidelines as your plumbline for intercession. This chapter will explore problems that arise with intercessors and prayer groups, problems that cause confusion and give intercessory prayer in general a bad name. This is especially sad because true intercessors are servants of God who sacrifice for others daily. Those who get off-balance do so generally from a lack of teaching or else by learning from others who are off-balance. Most people make corrections immediately when they understand the areas in which they
have become extreme.
There are two safeguards for intercessors. The biggest is spiritual accountability. If intercessors are afraid of having their prayers and what
they believe God has shown them judged, then they are on flaky spiritual ground, as we saw with Estelle's group.
Let me interject here that when intercessors pray for ministries outside of their local churches, they need to be submitted to the other ministries for which they intercede as well. If they are not related on an intimate basis, they should have some way to make sure that their prayers are in keeping with the vision of the ministry. Intercessors who are called to pray for parachurch ministries still need to have the covering a local church provides.
The second safeguard to flaky intercession is abiding by the clean heart principle, which we discussed in chapter 3. Psalm 51:10, says "Create in me a clean heart, 0 God."
Estelle, by not knowing her own heart, violated this principle in several areas. For one, she had pride in her heart. She was convinced that she needed to be a leader rather than submit to the leadership of church prayer groups. She felt that her "revelations" were superior to what the pastor or elders heard from God. This is a common trap for some people when God begins to share His secrets with them through prayer.
Estelle also had a critical spirit, which is closely associated with pride. She was critical of the way intercessory groups had been set up by
the pastor, especially since she had not been asked to lead one, and so she started her own. She should have become involved with an established
prayer group in the church, proven herself trustworthy and let God promote her (or not promote her) to leadership.
As intercessors we need to ask God to reveal our heart motives. I have observed that many aspiring intercessors pray out of bitterness and woundedness. What I find remarkable is that they are unaware of these heart conditions. They are drawn to intercession because of its great
power and, subconsciously, because they see it as a means of getting their way. Only God's Spirit can reveal the true condition of our hearts. A good
prayer for intercessors, therefore, is "Lord, show me my heart so that I can remain pure before You always."
Estelle was in further danger of violating the clean heart principle by developing what might be called an Absalom spirit. This happens when an intercessor starts to act toward others as Absalom did toward his father, King David. Absalom was bitter because after he came back from
exile his father did not talk to him. So Absalom began to undermine his father's kingdom. His works in doing this appeared to be good, and he
even helped the people; but his heart attitude was wrong. Absalom desired attention from his father even if it was for wrongdoing. He pursued vengeance, forcing communication.
The second safeguard to flaky intercession is abiding by the clean heart principle, which we discussed in chapter 3. Psalm 51:10, says "Create in me a clean heart, 0 God."
Estelle, by not knowing her own heart, violated this principle in several areas. For one, she had pride in her heart. She was convinced that she needed to be a leader rather than submit to the leadership of church prayer groups. She felt that her "revelations" were superior to what the pastor or elders heard from God. This is a common trap for some people when God begins to share His secrets with them through prayer.
Estelle also had a critical spirit, which is closely associated with pride. She was critical of the way intercessory groups had been set up by
the pastor, especially since she had not been asked to lead one, and so she started her own. She should have become involved with an established
prayer group in the church, proven herself trustworthy and let God promote her (or not promote her) to leadership.
As intercessors we need to ask God to reveal our heart motives. I have observed that many aspiring intercessors pray out of bitterness and woundedness. What I find remarkable is that they are unaware of these heart conditions. They are drawn to intercession because of its great
power and, subconsciously, because they see it as a means of getting their way. Only God's Spirit can reveal the true condition of our hearts. A good
prayer for intercessors, therefore, is "Lord, show me my heart so that I can remain pure before You always."
Estelle was in further danger of violating the clean heart principle by developing what might be called an Absalom spirit. This happens when an intercessor starts to act toward others as Absalom did toward his father, King David. Absalom was bitter because after he came back from
exile his father did not talk to him. So Absalom began to undermine his father's kingdom. His works in doing this appeared to be good, and he
even helped the people; but his heart attitude was wrong. Absalom desired attention from his father even if it was for wrongdoing. He pursued vengeance, forcing communication.
How do we recognize an Absalom spirit in someone else—or ourselves? First of all, he (or she) starts saying things that cut down the minister: "I know the pastor means well, but I have been praying and I think that he just cannot see what the people really need." Then in conversation he gives his wisdom. He may even comment, "Now, if I were the pastor, I would do such-and-such," not realizing he sounds just like Absalom who said to the people, "If I were king, you would be treated right." Intercessors need to judge their hearts constantly to determine why they say what they say, pray the way they pray and react the way they react.
An Absalom spirit left unchecked and uncorrected has caused many church splits because the people start to look to that person for guidance and vision rather than to the pastor. Usually the person affected with the Absalom spirit is sincere about his Christian walk and has no idea what
has happened. If he is ultimately rejected, he goes away hurt, and the church is left wounded. This is not to say that every person who has a
different philosophy of ministry and makes changes in churches is an Absalom, but that the heart always has to be checked before suggestions
are made to change.
Some of you prayer leaders may be saying right now, "Cindy, my pastor doesn't ever talk to me or listen to what God is saying to our prayer group. I'm extremely frustrated!" We will discuss this further in the chapters on leading corporate intercession and personal prayer partners. This is a real problem and often leads to great heartache on the part of those giving of themselves to intercede for their churches.
Gary Greenwald has a section in his book Seductions Exposed about manipulative intercessors that is a classic example of the Absalom spirit.
He writes:
It has been my observation that intercessors often have a tendency to share their revelations with one another when they get together and before long find themselves agreeing with one another. Some time ago a group of intercessors in my church exhibited this truth in a damaging way. The Eagle's Nest had gone through some strife, and many of the people along with a large portion of the pastoral staff had left the church.
One of the intercessors had received a revelation that God's judgment was about to fall upon me because of my supposed disobedience in leading the church in a certain direction. After sharing her views with a few others, they all agreed that if I did not repent, I would be judged like King Nebuchadnezzar, who grew hair like an animal and ate grass in the field.
Because those intercessors had stepped out of their calling as supporters and prayer warriors, they had been deceived into believing they had more vision for the church than their pastor. Their pride had opened them up to a spirit of error. The role of intercessors is to birth the vision received by the leadership through prayer—not to discuss what they may see in the spiritual realm with others. Those intercessors were trying to manipulate me
with their warnings and in doing so had fallen into fleshly manipulation. When they confronted me, I exhorted them telling them they had overstepped their calling. One strong intercessor had led them into their deception. Most of them left the church over the incident.
I do not desire here to make any type of judgment as to what led up to this confrontation, but only to comment on the actions of the intercessors.
First of all, the word the group gave to Greenwald was a harsh correction. Nebuchadnezzar was a king who led his kingdom into abject sin. Even if Greenwald were getting into pride, this offered a rather stiff punishment for it. This isn't to say that God does not deal with pastors. Sometimes, though, intercessors' home lives affect their judgment. Those who are constantly receiving harsh words from God usually come from dysfunctional home situations. This taints what they hear and leads them into legalistic ways of hearing from God and applying what they hear.
Secondly, if God did tell them He was going to judge Greenwald, their attitude should have been a grieving one, as with Daniel when he interpreted the king's dreams: "O king, I pray that this is not for you but for another." Remember when I heard God say that a pastor was in danger of having a heart attack? I had been hurt and desired that judgment fall upon him. My heart was deceitfully wicked, and my sin was greater than his.
Thirdly, if they had heard from God accurately, rather than speak to others about the word of correction, they should have taken it to their prayer closets and cried out to God to warn the pastor. The Word of God says that we are not to rebuke an elder (1 Timothy 5:1). An intercessor is
not to rebuke his pastor but to pray for him, to ask God to send those into his life who would speak a balancing word to him. Many times the Holy
Spirit will speak quickly to pastors about the things that are prayed from a pure heart in the prayer closet.
Fourthly, having done all of this, intercessors who are still concerned might ask the Lord if He has given them a release from the church. They must never, however, speak out against him to members of the congregation. This causes confusion and dissension. An intercessor and particularly a prayer leader is responsible to cover in prayer the vulnerabilities and heart attitudes that God needs to correct in leadership. It goes without saying, of course, that sexual sin and other deviant behaviors need to be shared with the elders in the church.
One other point to keep in mind. It is quite possible that the minister wants to go deeper with God but feels his people are not ready to be led in that particular direction. Maintaining spiritual accountability and following the clean heart principle will keep you from pushing him to move too fast or in the wrong direction.
"Strike-'em-Dead" Prayers
A number of years ago I sat in a prayer meeting in a room filled with intercessors. The leader stood up to pray about a political situation and started to give details concerning a politician who was not behaving in a godly manner. After elaborating on a needed change she asked us to bow our heads and pray. Her prayer for the politician took a compassionate tone, but in a few moments I was startled to hear her say these words: "God, either save him, get him out of office or kill him!" I could hardly believe my ears. She was a godly woman. How could she pray such a thing?
After this I began to hear other intercessors praying in a similar fashion all across the country. They were cursing pornographic bookstores and asking God to burn them down. They were calling on Him to destroy X-rated movie theaters— and to strike down those who would not repent of running them. Other times I listened as intercessors picked up the Psalms of David and read the parts where he asked that his enemies be eaten up with worms and die.
I even heard reports of witches cursing Christians because they thought that if they didn't the Christians would curse them, and they would burn to death.
When I first heard these types of prayers I felt they did not line up with the New Testament pattern for intercession. As I studied I became convinced. Several examples from God's Word leaped out at me, particularly this one:
An Absalom spirit left unchecked and uncorrected has caused many church splits because the people start to look to that person for guidance and vision rather than to the pastor. Usually the person affected with the Absalom spirit is sincere about his Christian walk and has no idea what
has happened. If he is ultimately rejected, he goes away hurt, and the church is left wounded. This is not to say that every person who has a
different philosophy of ministry and makes changes in churches is an Absalom, but that the heart always has to be checked before suggestions
are made to change.
Some of you prayer leaders may be saying right now, "Cindy, my pastor doesn't ever talk to me or listen to what God is saying to our prayer group. I'm extremely frustrated!" We will discuss this further in the chapters on leading corporate intercession and personal prayer partners. This is a real problem and often leads to great heartache on the part of those giving of themselves to intercede for their churches.
Gary Greenwald has a section in his book Seductions Exposed about manipulative intercessors that is a classic example of the Absalom spirit.
He writes:
It has been my observation that intercessors often have a tendency to share their revelations with one another when they get together and before long find themselves agreeing with one another. Some time ago a group of intercessors in my church exhibited this truth in a damaging way. The Eagle's Nest had gone through some strife, and many of the people along with a large portion of the pastoral staff had left the church.
One of the intercessors had received a revelation that God's judgment was about to fall upon me because of my supposed disobedience in leading the church in a certain direction. After sharing her views with a few others, they all agreed that if I did not repent, I would be judged like King Nebuchadnezzar, who grew hair like an animal and ate grass in the field.
Because those intercessors had stepped out of their calling as supporters and prayer warriors, they had been deceived into believing they had more vision for the church than their pastor. Their pride had opened them up to a spirit of error. The role of intercessors is to birth the vision received by the leadership through prayer—not to discuss what they may see in the spiritual realm with others. Those intercessors were trying to manipulate me
with their warnings and in doing so had fallen into fleshly manipulation. When they confronted me, I exhorted them telling them they had overstepped their calling. One strong intercessor had led them into their deception. Most of them left the church over the incident.
I do not desire here to make any type of judgment as to what led up to this confrontation, but only to comment on the actions of the intercessors.
First of all, the word the group gave to Greenwald was a harsh correction. Nebuchadnezzar was a king who led his kingdom into abject sin. Even if Greenwald were getting into pride, this offered a rather stiff punishment for it. This isn't to say that God does not deal with pastors. Sometimes, though, intercessors' home lives affect their judgment. Those who are constantly receiving harsh words from God usually come from dysfunctional home situations. This taints what they hear and leads them into legalistic ways of hearing from God and applying what they hear.
Secondly, if God did tell them He was going to judge Greenwald, their attitude should have been a grieving one, as with Daniel when he interpreted the king's dreams: "O king, I pray that this is not for you but for another." Remember when I heard God say that a pastor was in danger of having a heart attack? I had been hurt and desired that judgment fall upon him. My heart was deceitfully wicked, and my sin was greater than his.
Thirdly, if they had heard from God accurately, rather than speak to others about the word of correction, they should have taken it to their prayer closets and cried out to God to warn the pastor. The Word of God says that we are not to rebuke an elder (1 Timothy 5:1). An intercessor is
not to rebuke his pastor but to pray for him, to ask God to send those into his life who would speak a balancing word to him. Many times the Holy
Spirit will speak quickly to pastors about the things that are prayed from a pure heart in the prayer closet.
Fourthly, having done all of this, intercessors who are still concerned might ask the Lord if He has given them a release from the church. They must never, however, speak out against him to members of the congregation. This causes confusion and dissension. An intercessor and particularly a prayer leader is responsible to cover in prayer the vulnerabilities and heart attitudes that God needs to correct in leadership. It goes without saying, of course, that sexual sin and other deviant behaviors need to be shared with the elders in the church.
One other point to keep in mind. It is quite possible that the minister wants to go deeper with God but feels his people are not ready to be led in that particular direction. Maintaining spiritual accountability and following the clean heart principle will keep you from pushing him to move too fast or in the wrong direction.
"Strike-'em-Dead" Prayers
A number of years ago I sat in a prayer meeting in a room filled with intercessors. The leader stood up to pray about a political situation and started to give details concerning a politician who was not behaving in a godly manner. After elaborating on a needed change she asked us to bow our heads and pray. Her prayer for the politician took a compassionate tone, but in a few moments I was startled to hear her say these words: "God, either save him, get him out of office or kill him!" I could hardly believe my ears. She was a godly woman. How could she pray such a thing?
After this I began to hear other intercessors praying in a similar fashion all across the country. They were cursing pornographic bookstores and asking God to burn them down. They were calling on Him to destroy X-rated movie theaters— and to strike down those who would not repent of running them. Other times I listened as intercessors picked up the Psalms of David and read the parts where he asked that his enemies be eaten up with worms and die.
I even heard reports of witches cursing Christians because they thought that if they didn't the Christians would curse them, and they would burn to death.
When I first heard these types of prayers I felt they did not line up with the New Testament pattern for intercession. As I studied I became convinced. Several examples from God's Word leaped out at me, particularly this one:
And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?" But He turned and rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them." And they went to another village. Luke 9:54-56
Many times as intercessors we do not know what is influencing us. We can be caught up with a spirit of power and step over into intercession that is far from the heart of Christ. Once again, we need to examine our motives. Here are two reasons not to pray "strike-'em-dead" prayers:
1. Strike-'em-dead praying is a bad witness to non-believers. I have a friend who used to own a bar before she was born again. She was deeply hurt by Christians who were cursing her bar hoping it would burn to the ground. As she said, "I, or a member of my family, could have been hurt in a fire. Why
didn't they pray that I be saved and sell the property to be used for the Kingdom?"
2. Strike-'em-dead praying violates the principle of mercy that is the stance of an intercessor. By definition an intercessor is one who stands in the gap on behalf of another.
This second point came from the wise teaching of Bob Willhite. It was one of the greatest lessons ever taught in a Generals of Intercession meeting. It helped me understand how intercessors should respond when God gives a word of judgment for a people or nation.
Bob explained that God never changes in His nature or in His character, but He does change His mind. And because He does not desire to bring judgment, He seeks for those who will stand in the gap.
Bob then brought this to life with this example. Jeremiah was one of the greatest intercessors in the Bible and he prayed incessantly for Israel.
But at one point God told Jeremiah to stop praying for Israel because He was going to judge it. What was Jeremiah's response? He prayed for God's
mercy for His people. Ten chapters later Jeremiah was still praying for mercy and God's anger was averted. We as intercessors should stand
before God when we receive a word of doom and gloom and pray from Habakkuk 3:2: O God, in judgment, remember mercy.
This teaching changed my life and also changed the way I pray when I see someone in error or when God speaks that He is going to bring severe correction on a person or ministry. As I have jumped into the gap on behalf of the person about to be judged, I have consistently seen God move, the judgment stayed and the person in error do a complete turnaround.
I realize that sometimes we may be in an emergency situation when it might look like a very good idea for God to destroy the enemy—if a robber
were about to shoot your children, for instance. The point that I am making, however, is that while we do rebuke Satan from controlling people, we are not to curse people. We are to cry out to God and let Him decide the judgment.
The point is this—let God judge! In praying for those in political office it is all right to pray, "God, save them; get them right or remove them."
We need, however, to leave it to God as to how He removes them.
Bearing Others' Sicknesses
Over the past years we have received a number of sad reports from pray-ers across America. One of the saddest involved an intercessory prayer group leader who had become sick. As she prayed she felt that this sickness was not hers but that she was bearing it for another friend. She said openly that this sickness could not touch her because it was not real and was only something she was carrying for the weaker person. As time went on, however, she got sicker and sicker. When finally she went to the doctor, she learned that she had an advanced case of diabetes. She was in such serious condition that the doctor could do nothing for her, and she died. This woman took on false burden-bearing and stepped into an area of presumption and deception that killed her.
In studying about this problem I reread a section in Norman Grubbs' book on Rees Howells that shed some light as to where the idea that
intercessors should actually take on another's sickness might have developed. I share this not to attack a man whom I consider personally to
be one of the greatest intercessors who ever lived but to make the point that although Rees Howells was a pioneer in the area of intercession, his
explanation in writing might not convey exactly what the Lord meant when He spoke to him about "identification."
Mr. Howells had already known something of the groanings of the Spirit in him for the needy and afflicted. ... But what would it mean to intercede for a consumptive? As an intercessor, he must enter into the sufferings and take the place of the one prayed for. He knew that a bedridden consumptive could have no normal home life, was confined to one room, and was cut off from everything that once comprised the interests and pleasures of life. So
during this time of "abiding" the Holy Spirit went much deeper in identifying him with the suffering of others. And as he did so, it was not just this one woman, but the consumptives and sufferers of the world whose burden came upon him.
Mr. Howells had not gone very far on this path before the conviction took definite hold of him that before he was through, the Lord would literally let this disease come upon him and that only as an actual consumptive would he fully be able to intercede for consumptives. That this was not a foolish imagination but a practical possibility will be seen later in his life when, after taking great personal risks to care for a consumptive, it looked as though he had contracted the disease. Moreover, in all the earlier intercession he had literally had to take the place of, and live like, the ones prayed for.
This passage opens some dangerous areas for intercessors because the idea of identification could be stretched and taken out of context until
intercessors feel that they are the ones who bring salvation and change, that their works bring healing and wholeness.
God's Word tells us that Jesus bore our sins in His own body on the cross and that we are healed by His stripes (1 Peter 2:24). Nothing in our carrying sickness brings healing. Only the work of Christ, which we appropriate as we pray, can do that. To say that we bear someone's sickness physically in intercession is a false fellowship of suffering. It is true that we will suffer certain things as we intercede, such as hunger when we fast. Isaiah 58 says that fasting afflicts the soul, and I believe it; it surely does afflict mine. Other times it might mean giving hours of your time when you want to be out doing something else. For many intercessors it has meant being misunderstood or thought of as kind of crazy.
I am sure that many intercessors are saying at this point, "But the same sickness afflicting the person I was praying for hit my body, too." Others might be thinking, "Sometimes I didn't even know that the people I was praying for were afflicted with the same kind of sickness I had. Why did that happen if I was not bearing their sickness?"
Please remember that when you stand in the gap for another you place yourself in prayer between the person for whom you are interceding
and whatever the devil is trying to inflict upon him or her. Thus, the very sickness that is hitting the person for whom you are praying will sometimes hit you, too. The important thing is to resist immediately what Satan is trying to do not only against the person for whom you are praying but also against you. If the enemy cannot kill the person he has targeted, he does not mind afflicting an intercessor instead. Remember, Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10).
At other times you may not even know at first that you are supposed to be interceding for a person who is sick, but discover later that your symptoms were exactly the same. There are times that the Lord puts us in the gap, and we are not aware of what has happened at first. This is another reason always to resist the fiery darts of the enemy and ask the Lord if those darts were meant for you or someone for whom you are supposed to be praying.
Witchcraft Praying
Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery [witchcraft] Galatians 5:19-20
Quite a number of years ago I was home on a lovely spring day when Leslie (not her real name) called me on the phone. Leslie was very excited as she shared that a friend had just confirmed to her during a time of intercession that she would marry a well-known single televangelist. She was ecstatic as she told about the detailed "word" her friend had given her.
The more Leslie talked, the more I prayed for wisdom. What Leslie did not know was that just that morning I had received a call from Phoebe (not her real name) living in California telling me exactly the same news—about herself. Phoebe's revelation was so similar it was eerie. After Leslie stopped bubbling I sent a quick prayer to God to give me the right words to say so as not to offend Leslie or discredit my other friend.
Thinking that my pause was prompted by pleased shock Leslie exclaimed, "Cindy, I want you to pray and agree with me that he will meet me and that the marriage will happen quickly thereafter."
Well, I really was in quite a predicament! I knew I could not pray that way for a number of reasons.
1. God had not confirmed to me that they were to be married.
2. More importantly, God had not spoken to the evangelist that they would be married.
3. If I put those two points aside to agree with Leslie in prayer, I would be getting into the area of witchcraft, praying in a manipulative fashion.
This is what I could do:
1. I affirmed that I also desired that she find a godly husband.
2. I told her that I had not heard a direct word from God that this evangelist was to be her husband but would be glad to pray with her for God to bring His best to her, and that if this evangelist was His best, that God would cause them to meet.
3. I told her about the call from California. She knew that since God does not condone polygamy, one of them was wrong.
4. I prayed and agreed with Leslie for God to bring the husband into her life who would best suit God's gifts and purposes for them both.
Why was Leslie in danger of getting into witchcraft praying? It was not her desire to do so, but in her loneliness she was stepping into the realm of manipulation and control in her prayers. This is the basis of what witches do in their unholy intercession: They produce curses and false bindings on those for whom they pray. This is why witchcraft is listed as a work of the flesh in Galatians 5:20. These are actually psychic prayers out of our own human minds and not ones prayed from the mind of Christ. The psychics and witches sometimes call this mind control.
Throughout the years Mike and I have seen variations of witchcraft praying as we have ministered in Generals of Intercession. Some people run around and "claim" houses and property, which puts bindings on other people's property. We have known people who were unable to sell property for long periods of time because some Christian decided that he wanted it as his own and prayed accordingly. We always suggest to people who pray over property (or whatever they hope to possess) that they pray like this:
Lord, I believe that You have spoken to me in my heart that this will be my property. If it is the land You have set aside for my use, please hold it for me and bless the people who own it financially while we are making arrangements to buy it One day a man called me and said that God had told him that his wife did not have a strong enough anointing to match the call on his life. He said, therefore, that she was going to die and that God was going to give him another wife. Even more astounding was the fact that he had convinced his wife that this was true. Fortunately, he was open to instruction and soon saw the error in his thinking. I told him, "Since God can do anything, why not just pray that God will increase her anointing also?" He thanked me and hung up the phone happy in this decision. Believe it or not, stories like this are fairly common in intercessory circles. We have heard many variations through the years, as have most prayer leaders. Let me explain what happens when someone prays manipulating prayers.
When someone prays a prayer out of his own mind, will or emotion, he is releasing tremendous psychic (and many times demonic) forces to work against the one for whom he is praying. Proverbs 18:21 says: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue. . . . " Words are powerful. Consider the words of the Hebrew spies in the book of Numbers. The evil report given by the spies defiled the whole camp. Our words spoken in prayer can work in much the same way; if the plan prayed for others is not God's will for their lives, they can find themselves confused.
Intercessory groups that operate out of an Absalom spirit pray in this manner quite often: "God, our pastor has stayed in this pulpit past his time. We ask You to remove him, Lord, and bring in the right one who will bless Your people."
If it is not the time for the pastor to move, their prayer opens a door for Satan to attack the pastor's thought life and begin to create confusion.
Whereas the pastor was once sure of being called to that church, he or she may suddenly feel troubled and may sense heaviness or bondage when
delivering sermons or ministering to needs. The works of the flesh, or witchcraft, will afflict the pastor, but it will rebound against the person praying as well. The Bible says in Galatians 6:7 that what you sow, so shall you reap.
If you have been praying wrong prayers, repent and ask the Lord to remove the deception from your life. Ask God to show you any wrong praying you have done. Then, in the name of Jesus, release each one for whom you have prayed amiss and manipulated in prayer. If you sense that you have had intercessors pray manipulative prayers over you, consider this: Are you experiencing confusion or heaviness for no known reason? If the problem is not physical or related to sin or strife, then pray in this manner:
Father, in the name of Jesus, I now break the power of every work prayed for me that is contrary to Your will for my life. I thank You now that all bondage is broken from any manipulating prayers.
The Bridal Chamber
There are some incredibly flaky things going on in intercessory circles —such as shooting at the devil with cap guns and shocking visitors (not to
mention pastors!) by squatting in the Sunday morning services and groaning as if giving birth. (As I said earlier, most intercessors are humble, balanced people of God; it is the few who are flaky who give the intercessors a bad name.) But few deceptions that flaky intercessors fall into compare with what I call the "bridal chamber experience." This is a physical relationship with spiritual beings.
Before I wrote this chapter I deliberated as to whether or not I should bring up this subject at all. In recent years not much has been said about
sexual relationships with evil spirits, although with the rise of the New Age and satanism we are beginning to hear more about it. Yet it is not something new—even among Christians. St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas discussed the subject. They wrestled with, among other things, the meaning of Genesis 6:1-4, which states that the "sons of God" bore children to the "daughters of men." It was a common topic among church leaders in the Middle Ages. Since the Enlightenment, however, the debate has shifted as to whether or not demons even exist; investigation of their activities has assumed a lower priority.
Recognizing that some may say, "It looks as though Cindy has now joined those flaky intercessors she is describing," I nevertheless feel that discussing this is worth the risk. We may not like it (I certainly do not), but we cannot escape the fact that either something is happening or certain individuals are so convinced it is that it makes no difference to them if it is real or not. My desire is not to be lurid but to be very clear that there is a problem out there that must be exposed. Having said this, let me describe the phenomenon as discreetly as I can.
I first became aware of this problem in a conversation with an intercessor. We were talking about something totally unrelated when Louise (not her real name) began talking excitedly about how God blesses mature intercessors with special intimacy with Him. The word intimacy triggered something inside of me. A red flag went up. As I asked her to tell me more about what she meant by intimacy she described how Jesus would come to her in the night and take her into the bridal chamber. When she said, "Jesus would come in the night," three red flags went up. Thinking that I must be mistaken about what she was implying I said, "Louise, you mean that the Lord lets you know in your heart He loves you?" At this point Louise began to stammer.
When the whole story came out, it was apparent that she was in grave deception, which, I am happy to say, she is no longer involved in today. Evidently those experiences began when she was awakened in the night and felt that every part of her body was charged and alive and a voice told her that it was Jesus coming to take her to the bridal chamber. She would become aroused in ways that the Holy Spirit does not do but that were purely demonic. But because the voice was so beautiful and said that it was Jesus, she felt that she must be having some unique experience in which the Lord was loving her in a special way.
Louise was actually being attacked by evil spirits that come generally in the night, although sometimes in the daytime, with tormenting sexual dreams. These spirits are called the incubus and succubus. Webster's dictionary gives the following definition for incubus: "A spirit or demon thought in medieval times to lie on sleeping persons, especially women, with whom it sought sexual intercourse: see also succubus."
After this encounter with Louise I began asking other prayer leaders if they had ever dealt with people who had similar stories and was told over and over that they had. Many did not know what to call it, but they knew that it was demonic.
How did I minister to Louise? First I asked her to renounce as sin her actions in participating with the demonic spirit. She asked God to forgive
her for believing a lie from Satan and attributing to Jesus what was from the devil.
Second, we asked the Lord to show us what opening had allowed the deception and attack against her. Louise said that her husband did not give her what she needed in their relationship and that she was bitter toward him for his lack of attention. This left her an easy mark for the enemy.
Third, we looked at the biblical precedents for intimacy in the Word and saw that those given by God touch us deeply with joy in the spirit, not physical arousal.
Fourth, in prayer, I took authority over the demonic incubus spirit, commanding that it no longer visit her in the night. She did the same and told the incubus spirit that she wanted it to leave.
One day this subject came up among a group of intercessors and friends. They were asking me some of my concerns as I was writing this book and I shared my struggles with them in writing on the topic of the false bridal chamber experience. One of them told me this story of a woman to whom she had ministered who was deceived by the incubus spirit.
A young worship leader named Gloria (not her name) had been deeply in love with a handsome young man. They were engaged to be married when he died suddenly. Naturally this broke Gloria's heart, and she missed him desperately. One day as she was playing her guitar and worshiping the Lord she sensed someone in the room with her. To her shock and delight a spirit who looked like her fiance entered the room. At first it was unbelievable, but it was so wonderful being with him that she let her defenses down. After all, she reasoned, he had come when she was worshiping the Lord. Perhaps God was allowing this because of her deep grief.
As time went on the deception deepened. She shared the experience with a friend who took the matter to her prayer closet. The friend asked God to show Gloria who the spirit really was so that she would be free from its influence.
A while later Gloria was again worshiping the Lord when she felt the presence in her living room. As she went into the room she saw him lying on the couch, but to her utter shock his form was disgusting and revolting. Only his eyes looked like those of her fiance. The Lord had revealed the incubus spirit for what it really was. She went for ministry to be set free from its influence.
Safeguards Against Flaky Intercession
The surest way to avoid falling into any of these areas of flaky intercession is to focus your prayer on God's living Word.
When I first learned to "pray the Word," I had a little book with topic headings and related Scriptures for almost any situation. If someone had a need, I just turned to the appropriate section of the book and prayed directly from it.
One day a woman phoned with a dire financial need. Would I pray? Boy, would I! I prayed every prosperity Scripture in my little book and any other verses I could think of. I also told the devil to get his hands off her finances. I felt quite satisfied with my spirituality.
On hanging up, however, I sensed that the Holy Spirit was grieved; so I prayed again. God began to show me that He had been dealing with the
woman about getting a job and that she was resisting Him because of laziness. Her financial need had resulted from disobedience.
I realized that she was unrepentant, and that I had prayed against the dealings of God in her life! I was shaken and quickly asked for God's forgiveness. Since then I have sought God for His living or rhema word for each situation in which I minister.
This is a critical point to grasp. We must learn how to pray God's living Word. Some people pray cafeteria-style: They go through the Word of God searching for a part that will fulfill their appetites. "God," they pray, "I want a new house, the neighbor next door as my spouse and please throw in a new car for good measure."
God's Word is full of promises and blessings, and in many specific instances He may want to give us a home, spouse or car; but assuming
that everything we want is God's will is not the same as praying God's Word.
As we try to listen more closely to the way God directs us to intercede, coupled with the knowledge of ways the devil would try to lead us astray,
we can continue to intercede with confidence, sure that flaky intercession will never be a part of our lives.
Many times as intercessors we do not know what is influencing us. We can be caught up with a spirit of power and step over into intercession that is far from the heart of Christ. Once again, we need to examine our motives. Here are two reasons not to pray "strike-'em-dead" prayers:
1. Strike-'em-dead praying is a bad witness to non-believers. I have a friend who used to own a bar before she was born again. She was deeply hurt by Christians who were cursing her bar hoping it would burn to the ground. As she said, "I, or a member of my family, could have been hurt in a fire. Why
didn't they pray that I be saved and sell the property to be used for the Kingdom?"
2. Strike-'em-dead praying violates the principle of mercy that is the stance of an intercessor. By definition an intercessor is one who stands in the gap on behalf of another.
This second point came from the wise teaching of Bob Willhite. It was one of the greatest lessons ever taught in a Generals of Intercession meeting. It helped me understand how intercessors should respond when God gives a word of judgment for a people or nation.
Bob explained that God never changes in His nature or in His character, but He does change His mind. And because He does not desire to bring judgment, He seeks for those who will stand in the gap.
Bob then brought this to life with this example. Jeremiah was one of the greatest intercessors in the Bible and he prayed incessantly for Israel.
But at one point God told Jeremiah to stop praying for Israel because He was going to judge it. What was Jeremiah's response? He prayed for God's
mercy for His people. Ten chapters later Jeremiah was still praying for mercy and God's anger was averted. We as intercessors should stand
before God when we receive a word of doom and gloom and pray from Habakkuk 3:2: O God, in judgment, remember mercy.
This teaching changed my life and also changed the way I pray when I see someone in error or when God speaks that He is going to bring severe correction on a person or ministry. As I have jumped into the gap on behalf of the person about to be judged, I have consistently seen God move, the judgment stayed and the person in error do a complete turnaround.
I realize that sometimes we may be in an emergency situation when it might look like a very good idea for God to destroy the enemy—if a robber
were about to shoot your children, for instance. The point that I am making, however, is that while we do rebuke Satan from controlling people, we are not to curse people. We are to cry out to God and let Him decide the judgment.
The point is this—let God judge! In praying for those in political office it is all right to pray, "God, save them; get them right or remove them."
We need, however, to leave it to God as to how He removes them.
Bearing Others' Sicknesses
Over the past years we have received a number of sad reports from pray-ers across America. One of the saddest involved an intercessory prayer group leader who had become sick. As she prayed she felt that this sickness was not hers but that she was bearing it for another friend. She said openly that this sickness could not touch her because it was not real and was only something she was carrying for the weaker person. As time went on, however, she got sicker and sicker. When finally she went to the doctor, she learned that she had an advanced case of diabetes. She was in such serious condition that the doctor could do nothing for her, and she died. This woman took on false burden-bearing and stepped into an area of presumption and deception that killed her.
In studying about this problem I reread a section in Norman Grubbs' book on Rees Howells that shed some light as to where the idea that
intercessors should actually take on another's sickness might have developed. I share this not to attack a man whom I consider personally to
be one of the greatest intercessors who ever lived but to make the point that although Rees Howells was a pioneer in the area of intercession, his
explanation in writing might not convey exactly what the Lord meant when He spoke to him about "identification."
Mr. Howells had already known something of the groanings of the Spirit in him for the needy and afflicted. ... But what would it mean to intercede for a consumptive? As an intercessor, he must enter into the sufferings and take the place of the one prayed for. He knew that a bedridden consumptive could have no normal home life, was confined to one room, and was cut off from everything that once comprised the interests and pleasures of life. So
during this time of "abiding" the Holy Spirit went much deeper in identifying him with the suffering of others. And as he did so, it was not just this one woman, but the consumptives and sufferers of the world whose burden came upon him.
Mr. Howells had not gone very far on this path before the conviction took definite hold of him that before he was through, the Lord would literally let this disease come upon him and that only as an actual consumptive would he fully be able to intercede for consumptives. That this was not a foolish imagination but a practical possibility will be seen later in his life when, after taking great personal risks to care for a consumptive, it looked as though he had contracted the disease. Moreover, in all the earlier intercession he had literally had to take the place of, and live like, the ones prayed for.
This passage opens some dangerous areas for intercessors because the idea of identification could be stretched and taken out of context until
intercessors feel that they are the ones who bring salvation and change, that their works bring healing and wholeness.
God's Word tells us that Jesus bore our sins in His own body on the cross and that we are healed by His stripes (1 Peter 2:24). Nothing in our carrying sickness brings healing. Only the work of Christ, which we appropriate as we pray, can do that. To say that we bear someone's sickness physically in intercession is a false fellowship of suffering. It is true that we will suffer certain things as we intercede, such as hunger when we fast. Isaiah 58 says that fasting afflicts the soul, and I believe it; it surely does afflict mine. Other times it might mean giving hours of your time when you want to be out doing something else. For many intercessors it has meant being misunderstood or thought of as kind of crazy.
I am sure that many intercessors are saying at this point, "But the same sickness afflicting the person I was praying for hit my body, too." Others might be thinking, "Sometimes I didn't even know that the people I was praying for were afflicted with the same kind of sickness I had. Why did that happen if I was not bearing their sickness?"
Please remember that when you stand in the gap for another you place yourself in prayer between the person for whom you are interceding
and whatever the devil is trying to inflict upon him or her. Thus, the very sickness that is hitting the person for whom you are praying will sometimes hit you, too. The important thing is to resist immediately what Satan is trying to do not only against the person for whom you are praying but also against you. If the enemy cannot kill the person he has targeted, he does not mind afflicting an intercessor instead. Remember, Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10).
At other times you may not even know at first that you are supposed to be interceding for a person who is sick, but discover later that your symptoms were exactly the same. There are times that the Lord puts us in the gap, and we are not aware of what has happened at first. This is another reason always to resist the fiery darts of the enemy and ask the Lord if those darts were meant for you or someone for whom you are supposed to be praying.
Witchcraft Praying
Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery [witchcraft] Galatians 5:19-20
Quite a number of years ago I was home on a lovely spring day when Leslie (not her real name) called me on the phone. Leslie was very excited as she shared that a friend had just confirmed to her during a time of intercession that she would marry a well-known single televangelist. She was ecstatic as she told about the detailed "word" her friend had given her.
The more Leslie talked, the more I prayed for wisdom. What Leslie did not know was that just that morning I had received a call from Phoebe (not her real name) living in California telling me exactly the same news—about herself. Phoebe's revelation was so similar it was eerie. After Leslie stopped bubbling I sent a quick prayer to God to give me the right words to say so as not to offend Leslie or discredit my other friend.
Thinking that my pause was prompted by pleased shock Leslie exclaimed, "Cindy, I want you to pray and agree with me that he will meet me and that the marriage will happen quickly thereafter."
Well, I really was in quite a predicament! I knew I could not pray that way for a number of reasons.
1. God had not confirmed to me that they were to be married.
2. More importantly, God had not spoken to the evangelist that they would be married.
3. If I put those two points aside to agree with Leslie in prayer, I would be getting into the area of witchcraft, praying in a manipulative fashion.
This is what I could do:
1. I affirmed that I also desired that she find a godly husband.
2. I told her that I had not heard a direct word from God that this evangelist was to be her husband but would be glad to pray with her for God to bring His best to her, and that if this evangelist was His best, that God would cause them to meet.
3. I told her about the call from California. She knew that since God does not condone polygamy, one of them was wrong.
4. I prayed and agreed with Leslie for God to bring the husband into her life who would best suit God's gifts and purposes for them both.
Why was Leslie in danger of getting into witchcraft praying? It was not her desire to do so, but in her loneliness she was stepping into the realm of manipulation and control in her prayers. This is the basis of what witches do in their unholy intercession: They produce curses and false bindings on those for whom they pray. This is why witchcraft is listed as a work of the flesh in Galatians 5:20. These are actually psychic prayers out of our own human minds and not ones prayed from the mind of Christ. The psychics and witches sometimes call this mind control.
Throughout the years Mike and I have seen variations of witchcraft praying as we have ministered in Generals of Intercession. Some people run around and "claim" houses and property, which puts bindings on other people's property. We have known people who were unable to sell property for long periods of time because some Christian decided that he wanted it as his own and prayed accordingly. We always suggest to people who pray over property (or whatever they hope to possess) that they pray like this:
Lord, I believe that You have spoken to me in my heart that this will be my property. If it is the land You have set aside for my use, please hold it for me and bless the people who own it financially while we are making arrangements to buy it One day a man called me and said that God had told him that his wife did not have a strong enough anointing to match the call on his life. He said, therefore, that she was going to die and that God was going to give him another wife. Even more astounding was the fact that he had convinced his wife that this was true. Fortunately, he was open to instruction and soon saw the error in his thinking. I told him, "Since God can do anything, why not just pray that God will increase her anointing also?" He thanked me and hung up the phone happy in this decision. Believe it or not, stories like this are fairly common in intercessory circles. We have heard many variations through the years, as have most prayer leaders. Let me explain what happens when someone prays manipulating prayers.
When someone prays a prayer out of his own mind, will or emotion, he is releasing tremendous psychic (and many times demonic) forces to work against the one for whom he is praying. Proverbs 18:21 says: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue. . . . " Words are powerful. Consider the words of the Hebrew spies in the book of Numbers. The evil report given by the spies defiled the whole camp. Our words spoken in prayer can work in much the same way; if the plan prayed for others is not God's will for their lives, they can find themselves confused.
Intercessory groups that operate out of an Absalom spirit pray in this manner quite often: "God, our pastor has stayed in this pulpit past his time. We ask You to remove him, Lord, and bring in the right one who will bless Your people."
If it is not the time for the pastor to move, their prayer opens a door for Satan to attack the pastor's thought life and begin to create confusion.
Whereas the pastor was once sure of being called to that church, he or she may suddenly feel troubled and may sense heaviness or bondage when
delivering sermons or ministering to needs. The works of the flesh, or witchcraft, will afflict the pastor, but it will rebound against the person praying as well. The Bible says in Galatians 6:7 that what you sow, so shall you reap.
If you have been praying wrong prayers, repent and ask the Lord to remove the deception from your life. Ask God to show you any wrong praying you have done. Then, in the name of Jesus, release each one for whom you have prayed amiss and manipulated in prayer. If you sense that you have had intercessors pray manipulative prayers over you, consider this: Are you experiencing confusion or heaviness for no known reason? If the problem is not physical or related to sin or strife, then pray in this manner:
Father, in the name of Jesus, I now break the power of every work prayed for me that is contrary to Your will for my life. I thank You now that all bondage is broken from any manipulating prayers.
The Bridal Chamber
There are some incredibly flaky things going on in intercessory circles —such as shooting at the devil with cap guns and shocking visitors (not to
mention pastors!) by squatting in the Sunday morning services and groaning as if giving birth. (As I said earlier, most intercessors are humble, balanced people of God; it is the few who are flaky who give the intercessors a bad name.) But few deceptions that flaky intercessors fall into compare with what I call the "bridal chamber experience." This is a physical relationship with spiritual beings.
Before I wrote this chapter I deliberated as to whether or not I should bring up this subject at all. In recent years not much has been said about
sexual relationships with evil spirits, although with the rise of the New Age and satanism we are beginning to hear more about it. Yet it is not something new—even among Christians. St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas discussed the subject. They wrestled with, among other things, the meaning of Genesis 6:1-4, which states that the "sons of God" bore children to the "daughters of men." It was a common topic among church leaders in the Middle Ages. Since the Enlightenment, however, the debate has shifted as to whether or not demons even exist; investigation of their activities has assumed a lower priority.
Recognizing that some may say, "It looks as though Cindy has now joined those flaky intercessors she is describing," I nevertheless feel that discussing this is worth the risk. We may not like it (I certainly do not), but we cannot escape the fact that either something is happening or certain individuals are so convinced it is that it makes no difference to them if it is real or not. My desire is not to be lurid but to be very clear that there is a problem out there that must be exposed. Having said this, let me describe the phenomenon as discreetly as I can.
I first became aware of this problem in a conversation with an intercessor. We were talking about something totally unrelated when Louise (not her real name) began talking excitedly about how God blesses mature intercessors with special intimacy with Him. The word intimacy triggered something inside of me. A red flag went up. As I asked her to tell me more about what she meant by intimacy she described how Jesus would come to her in the night and take her into the bridal chamber. When she said, "Jesus would come in the night," three red flags went up. Thinking that I must be mistaken about what she was implying I said, "Louise, you mean that the Lord lets you know in your heart He loves you?" At this point Louise began to stammer.
When the whole story came out, it was apparent that she was in grave deception, which, I am happy to say, she is no longer involved in today. Evidently those experiences began when she was awakened in the night and felt that every part of her body was charged and alive and a voice told her that it was Jesus coming to take her to the bridal chamber. She would become aroused in ways that the Holy Spirit does not do but that were purely demonic. But because the voice was so beautiful and said that it was Jesus, she felt that she must be having some unique experience in which the Lord was loving her in a special way.
Louise was actually being attacked by evil spirits that come generally in the night, although sometimes in the daytime, with tormenting sexual dreams. These spirits are called the incubus and succubus. Webster's dictionary gives the following definition for incubus: "A spirit or demon thought in medieval times to lie on sleeping persons, especially women, with whom it sought sexual intercourse: see also succubus."
After this encounter with Louise I began asking other prayer leaders if they had ever dealt with people who had similar stories and was told over and over that they had. Many did not know what to call it, but they knew that it was demonic.
How did I minister to Louise? First I asked her to renounce as sin her actions in participating with the demonic spirit. She asked God to forgive
her for believing a lie from Satan and attributing to Jesus what was from the devil.
Second, we asked the Lord to show us what opening had allowed the deception and attack against her. Louise said that her husband did not give her what she needed in their relationship and that she was bitter toward him for his lack of attention. This left her an easy mark for the enemy.
Third, we looked at the biblical precedents for intimacy in the Word and saw that those given by God touch us deeply with joy in the spirit, not physical arousal.
Fourth, in prayer, I took authority over the demonic incubus spirit, commanding that it no longer visit her in the night. She did the same and told the incubus spirit that she wanted it to leave.
One day this subject came up among a group of intercessors and friends. They were asking me some of my concerns as I was writing this book and I shared my struggles with them in writing on the topic of the false bridal chamber experience. One of them told me this story of a woman to whom she had ministered who was deceived by the incubus spirit.
A young worship leader named Gloria (not her name) had been deeply in love with a handsome young man. They were engaged to be married when he died suddenly. Naturally this broke Gloria's heart, and she missed him desperately. One day as she was playing her guitar and worshiping the Lord she sensed someone in the room with her. To her shock and delight a spirit who looked like her fiance entered the room. At first it was unbelievable, but it was so wonderful being with him that she let her defenses down. After all, she reasoned, he had come when she was worshiping the Lord. Perhaps God was allowing this because of her deep grief.
As time went on the deception deepened. She shared the experience with a friend who took the matter to her prayer closet. The friend asked God to show Gloria who the spirit really was so that she would be free from its influence.
A while later Gloria was again worshiping the Lord when she felt the presence in her living room. As she went into the room she saw him lying on the couch, but to her utter shock his form was disgusting and revolting. Only his eyes looked like those of her fiance. The Lord had revealed the incubus spirit for what it really was. She went for ministry to be set free from its influence.
Safeguards Against Flaky Intercession
The surest way to avoid falling into any of these areas of flaky intercession is to focus your prayer on God's living Word.
When I first learned to "pray the Word," I had a little book with topic headings and related Scriptures for almost any situation. If someone had a need, I just turned to the appropriate section of the book and prayed directly from it.
One day a woman phoned with a dire financial need. Would I pray? Boy, would I! I prayed every prosperity Scripture in my little book and any other verses I could think of. I also told the devil to get his hands off her finances. I felt quite satisfied with my spirituality.
On hanging up, however, I sensed that the Holy Spirit was grieved; so I prayed again. God began to show me that He had been dealing with the
woman about getting a job and that she was resisting Him because of laziness. Her financial need had resulted from disobedience.
I realized that she was unrepentant, and that I had prayed against the dealings of God in her life! I was shaken and quickly asked for God's forgiveness. Since then I have sought God for His living or rhema word for each situation in which I minister.
This is a critical point to grasp. We must learn how to pray God's living Word. Some people pray cafeteria-style: They go through the Word of God searching for a part that will fulfill their appetites. "God," they pray, "I want a new house, the neighbor next door as my spouse and please throw in a new car for good measure."
God's Word is full of promises and blessings, and in many specific instances He may want to give us a home, spouse or car; but assuming
that everything we want is God's will is not the same as praying God's Word.
As we try to listen more closely to the way God directs us to intercede, coupled with the knowledge of ways the devil would try to lead us astray,
we can continue to intercede with confidence, sure that flaky intercession will never be a part of our lives.
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