We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.

The (Spiritual) War on Terror
Jesus’ ministry was a ministry not of resignation but of revolt. He was about revolting against the cruel tyranny of a world ruler (Satan) that was oppressing God’s people. He was about seeking to give back to people, and to win back for his Father, what the enemy had stolen and destroyed. He was about restoring humanity to its rightful place of dominion over the earth, and thus about empowering humans to rise up against the cosmic thief who had stolen this from them.
Jesus’ very being, and certainly his deeds and his teaching, were about training us to revolt against the enemy in order to make our circumstances a place where we can discern the hand of God. From this perspective, we must never pray to accept “as from the father’s loving hand” any evil event.
We ought rather to pray to change things. Many think that the purpose of prayer is not to change God or to change things but only to change us. And while it sounds pious, it’s altogether unscriptural.
The primary purpose of prayer, as illustrated throughout Scripture, is precisely to change the way things are. Crucial matters, including much of God’s own activity, are contingent upon our prayer.
The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective (James 5:15-16). Whether we pray, how faith-filled our prayer is, how persistent it is and even how many people agree together in prayer are all factors that have a real effect in getting God to move and thus in changing the world. Jesus attached real urgency to prayer (see Lk 11:5-13; 18:1-8) and believers are therefore to strive to be involved in it on a nonstop basis (1 Thess 5:17).
According to Scripture, prayer can save a nation (Ex 32;10-14), and the lack of prayer can destroy it (Ezek 22:30). Faith-filled prayer moves God to bless, and the lack of prayer hinders it (2 Chron 30:18-20; Lk 18:1-8). Faith-filled prayer empowers one to free other people from demons, while the lack of faith-filled prayer leaves these very people enslaved.
In the midst of the spiritual war, things genuinely hang upon what free, morally responsible beings do or do not do. To expand God’s kingdom is to revolt against the kingdom of evil and the main thing that we do, as Jesus both teaches and demonstrates, is to exercise prayer and faith. When disciples do this, no demonic obstacle to the kingdom, however formidable, can stand in their way (Mt 21:21-22).
—Adapted from God at War, 201-205
Image by _Pek_ via Flickr.
Category: General
Tags: Open Theism, Prayer, Warfare Worldview
Related Reading

What is the significance of Esther 4:14?
The wise Mordecai encourages Esther to bravely risk her life by pleading the case of the Jews before King Xerxes, saying, “…if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come…

How do you respond to 1 Kings 13:2–3?
The Lord proclaims against the pagan alter of Jeroboam, “O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: ‘A son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who offer incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.’ He…

What, Father, Do You Desire This Minute?
Frank Laubach, a 20th century missionary to Philippines, wrote about the challenge of being continually aware of the presence of God and learning to respond to God’s promptings. He wrote, “I feel simply carried along each hour, doing my part in a plan which is far beyond myself. This sense of cooperation with God in…

Open2013
As I’m sure many of you know, the understanding of the Christian faith and the model of the Christian church is in the process of being transformed. All around the globe, and in a multitude of different ways, we are seeing new wine being poured out and old wine skins bursting apart. Many of us…

Podcast: Is Open Theism an Accommodation?
Or for that matter is accommodation an accommodation? Greg talks about things that impact God. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0407.mp3

What is the significance of Isaiah 38:1–5?
God tells Hezekiah “you shall die: you shall not recover” (vs. 1). Hezekiah pleads with God and God decides to “add fifteen years” to his life. As we noted concerning 2 Kings 20:1–5, if God foreknew that he wasn’t going to end Hezekiah’s life, his declaration that he intended to do so and his decision…