Applying Strategic Prayer Strategies to Help Others Find Victory in Christ

What are strategic prayer strategies?

Prayer strategies are those long-term plans or approaches that people use to ensure the success of their strategic prayers. Thom S. Rainer wrote an article Ten simple Strategies for Prayer in which he lists things like using the popular ACTS prayer acrostic, having prayer triggers, praying the Lord’s prayer, etc, as prayer strategies.

Applying Strategic Prayer Strategies to Help Others Find Victory in Christ

Because strategic prayer is about praying God’s will to be done so that He may be glorified, we must ask the question: Is it God’s will that others find victory in Christ? Most assuredly, yes! In Luke 4:17-21, Christ reads Isaiah’s prophecy about the Messiah and ends by saying, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” The passage he read said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” In Jesus’ ministry, he preached the good news of the Kingdom of God, healed the sick, cast out demons and set the captives free from the strong man, Satan. And he has sent us believers to do the same things in his name.

Does God have a strategy for it? Absolutely, we need not look too far for that.  We need only look at what Jesus is doing and do the same. The scriptures say Jesus is “able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” (Hebrews 7:25). Also see Romans 8:34. His plan for our salvation, not just of our souls but for our sanctification and freedom is intercessory prayer.

The writer recently finished reading Chip Ingram’s book titled, The Invisible War: What every believer needs to know about Satan, demons, and spiritual warfare. It is a very well written book. In section four of the book, Ingram says many things about the role of intercessory prayer that this writer agrees with and has practiced in the past even prior to encountering Ingram’s work. Here are some of the things he said:

“Intercessory prayer is pivotal and essential for corporate and individual deliverance—Ephesians 6:18–20.”

“Intercessory prayer is our most powerful and strategic corporate weapon in spiritual warfare.”

“The means by which believers are to withstand and overcome the attacks of the enemy in spiritual warfare is by consistent, intense, and strategic prayer for one another in conjunction with the personal application of the armor of God.”

Here are some scriptures that show the power of prayer in spiritual warfare

-Mark 9:29. Some evil spirits only come out by prayer. In Mark 9:29, the disciples were unable to cast out an evil spirit that was causing a little boy to seize and throwing him to the ground. Later the disciples privately asked him why they couldn’t do it. Jesus responded that “this kind can come out only by prayer”. Some manuscripts say, “by prayer and fasting”. Obviously, the disciples weren’t praying much.

-Luke 22:31-32. Intercessory prayer helps those who are under spiritual attack to stand firm. In this passage, Jesus prays for Peter after Satan asked to sift him like weed. Jesus said to Peter, “‘Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” Notice Jesus praying that Peter’s faith may not fail. According to Ephesians 6, faith is what we use to stop the flaming arrows of the devil. Ephesians 6 also shows prayer as an indispensable part of spiritual warfare.

-Acts 1:14; 2:42; 3:1; 4:31; 6:4; 10:9. God’s power comes when his people pray.

What kinds of prayer work in spiritual warfare (and on other occasions)?

-Earnest and fervent prayers by believers who are living righteous lives. “The earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power and wonderful results.” James 5:16 TLB
-Praying in the spirit; Praying on all occasions; and praying with all kinds of prayers “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”Ephesians 6:18
-Praying without ceasing. “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Intercessory prayer is crucial for helping others find victory in Christ. Even though the Lord Jesus has won the war and conquered the evil one, he himself lives to offer up intercessions for us. An important point of intercession is that God will give them their eyes so that they may see (2 Kings 6:17) the war that is happening around them, see and understand the devil’s strategy and devices and see the resources that God has provided for them to use and overcome the evil one.

Without going into so much detail, here are some strategic prayer strategies to help others find freedom in Christ.

1. Engage in intense and persistent intercessory prayer for them.
2. Have disciplined scheduled prayer times and then pray spontaneously all day.
3. Pray A.C.T.S. prayers. Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. I have found A.C.T.S. prayers very helpful.
4. In his book Quiet Talks on Prayer, S.D. Gordon talks about three kinds of prayers: Communion, Petition, and Intercession. All of them are important to anyone who wants to use strategic prayer to help others find victory in Christ.
5. Put on the full armor of God yourself before you are interceding for others. Intercession is fighting spiritual warfare and the devil will attack you.
6. Use George Muller’s approach or something similar to discern the will of God before spending the time to invest on praying. George Muller is a hero of this writer who himself has started an orphan care organization in Cameroon that has been operational since 2005 and has served over a thousand orphans and vulnerable children. His approach to discerning God’s will is very effective and can be found here.
7. Persist in prayer. Pray consistently. George Muller’s faith and persistence in prayer are also instructive here. Jesus also taught about persistence in prayer when he told the parable of the widow and the wicked judge.

The writer loves this quote by S. D. Gordon in his book, Quiet Talks on Prayer. He says, “You can do more than pray after you have prayed. But you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.” S.D. Gordon has also said elsewhere, “Prayer strikes the winning blow; service is simply picking up the pieces.” This is so true for spiritual warfare. With that in mind, after one has used intercessory, one may use the following ideas from Neil Anderson’s book, Bondage Breaker to pick up the pieces by engaging the person to help them find freedom in Christ. The writer has found these very useful in his own ministry.

In the Bondage Breaker, Neil T. Anderson gives the following aid to people who want to help others find freedom in Christ.

Principles of Spiritual Conflict Resolution

1. How should we help people find freedom?: “We should derive our methodology for dealing with the kingdom of darkness primarily from the epistles rather than the Gospels and the Book of Acts.” He advises us to look to how things were done after the cross when the church was founded, not before it.
2. Who is responsible? “Because there are no instructions in the epistles to cast out demons does not mean that Christians cannot have spiritual problems. It means that the responsibility for living free in Christ has shifted from the specially endowed agent of authority to the individual believer.”
3. What should be the focus? “Dealing with the demonic should be seen as a truth encounter rather than a power encounter.” You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.
4. What are the qualifications of a helper? ” The primary prerequisites for helping others find freedom are godly character and the ability to teach.”

Guidelines for Helping Others Find Freedom

1. “Gather Background Information”. Do this just like a doctor or counselor would in a visit. The medical analogy here is to take a history and perform a physical exam.
2. “Determine False Beliefs” Determine their concept of  God, their identity, what God has done, and the devil. A.W. Tozer once said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” The medical analogy here is to diagnose the disease. In this situation, the disease is false beliefs since this battle is a mental battle. 
3. “Deal with the Individual, Not the Demons”. The medical analogy is to focus on the patient, not the disease. Focus on wellness, not removing the pain. This is very important. Recently, I was listening to a fellow physician, Dr. Curt Thompson, a psychiatrist talk about helping patients with anxiety, depression, etc. He said something that reminded me of experiences I have with similar patients on a weekly basis. He said he asks them, “Are you sick to get well or simply get rid of the pain?” The difference is profound. Many times, patients want to get rid of the pain but they are not willing to make the kinds of lifestyle changes that will serve as a means for them to get well. All they want a pill or something to take away the pain. Unfortunately, most such medications only treat the symptoms, not the root cause of the disease. The same thing is true in spiritual disease.
4. “Lead Them Through the Steps to Freedom.” The medical analogy here is to give the patient acute medical treatment that stops disease progression and heals the patient. But it doesn’t prevent the disease from coming back again in the future.