CONTINUED:
This brings us to another element of spiritual warfare... binding and loosing.
Matthew 16:19
And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
As it relates to spiritual warfare, "Binding" restrains evil spirits and the powers of the enemy in preparation for being cast out or cast down. "Loosing" unleashes the power of God to bring answers to prayer involving deliverance, healing, blessing, miracles, and restoration. Loosing can also be used with regards to imprecatory prayer to bring a curse of judgment against spiritual enemies, schemes, and constructs.
We had a short discussion on
imprecatory prayer on another thread. Imprecatory prayers are prayers of warfare. They are prayers of declaration that involve rebukes and curses upon our spiritual enemies. For example, when Paul cursed Elymas the sorcerer with blindness. Another rather intense imprecatory prayer can be found in
Psalms 140:1-13. While these prayers use much strong language, and appear to be merciless, they must be put into proper context and perspective.
First, imprecatory prayers are only even considered after all efforts to show mercy, patience, kindness, and love have been exhausted.
Second, they are not prayers of revenge, they are prayers of justice that desire to see God's will and purposes defeat the enemy and end all oppression.
Thirdly, there is an underlying desire that through such judgment one's enemies might feel the pressure and repent that they might be made right with God.
Ever pray that God "rattle the cage" or "ring the bell" of a man who opposed you in the Spirit? God has a way of knocking the man square in the head and landing him on his back. Now, if the man is wise and spiritual, he might realize that God is trying to get his attention, and that it might be best if he make his peace with the Lord. Remember, the goal of any imprecatory prayer is the salvation and well being of one's enemies. Not their destruction. Although, if God moves forward and destroys one's enemies, one can be assured that said enemy had crossed the line with God and it was time to cash in the chips.
And so, prayer for the merciless destruction of one's enemies is a sin. Jesus illustrates this when the disciples offer to pray for fire to come down and consume those who rejected Christ:
Luke 9:54-56 King James Version (KJV)
54 And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?
55 But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.
56 For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.
Another element of imprecatory prayer is apocalyptic language, or euphemistic language. Praying that one's enemies experience destruction, calamity, that their skulls be broken, teeth shattered, and throat slit by the sword of their own mouths isn't to be viewed as being literal. Such language can be seen in many of the imprecatory Psalms (
Psalms 7, 35, 55, 58, 59, 69, 79, 109, 137 and 139). The answer to such prayers might simply be a significant set back for one's spiritual enemies. For example, the loss of a contract, a sickness, their car breaking down, the failure of their business, a work place accident, etc. We must realize that such imprecative language is symbolic and only expressing the spiritual severity of our warfare. For example, the OT prophets and Christ spoke with an imprecative prophesy of judgment against corrupt earthly nations that included the skies falling, the sun, moon, and stars being darkened, the earth being opened, and other seemingly apocalyptic language. However, these empires fell and these nations were laid waste through natural means in due time without these things literally manifesting. Such is the nature of imprecative prayer and prophecy. These prayers are simply to loose the power of God in one's defense against one's spiritual enemies, including the demonic forces that are aligned against us.
With binding and loosing prayer we will note several things:
First, the authority is granted to us here on earth.
Second, direction of action begins on earth, not in Heaven. Faith expressed through prayer begins on earth and moves Heaven (the spiritual kingdom's reality).
The battle begins with us being willing to pray and engage. We often wonder why we aren't seeing more miracles, healings, revivals, outpourings, etc. coming from God. What we fail to realize is that God is waiting for us to unleash His power through our faith and the authority given to us in Christ Jesus. Consider this... Peter didn't pray that God would heal the lame man at the gate of the temple. No. Peter prayed a declarative prayer saying, "Silver and gold have I none, but that which I do have, give I thee..." Peter understood that the power was his to unleash through the name and authority of Jesus. What Peter had was power and authority.
But sadly, we often worry about how we'll look if there aren't results. First, there will only be results if God wills it. The power is His very own Spirit. Second, this only reveals our lack of faith. Remember when I mentioned that the very fabric of the universe is designed to respond to what is expected of it? If you expect that you might fail, you invariably will. If you expect that your prayers might not be answered, they won't be. We need a new baptism of understanding that illuminates our understanding of true faith. Sometimes the failure of a prayer is in the very wording of the prayer. If I say,
"Lord, I really need a car, please bless me with a car."
What did I affirm??? I affirmed my lack. I didn't affirm God's power. But if I pray,
"Lord, I speak your blessing and power over my life. Father, I thank you for meeting my every need. I have need of wheels, oh Lord. I know you're able, and I give you all the glory, honor, thanksgiving, and praise for it. In Jesus name, Amen."
Now, what did I affirm??? God's power.
When casting out evil spirits, we must speak words of faith and power. We must bind the enemy, and loose the power of God.
I saw my whole work transformed. It was like something was in the water. Everyone was on my case. Everyone seemed to have a problem with me and/or my work. The harder I tried to please, the more unpleased people were. Here's how powerful this can be. God's power always works in accordance to His will. I wasn't sure what the problem was. So, knowing how the power of God works, I simply prayed, "Father, I don't know what is necessary here, but you do. I loose your power in this place and ask that you fix what is wrong here, for you alone are able." Guess what? Within a week, I think it was only two days, everything changed and I had favor with everyone. To this day, I don't know what happened specifically. But I know the power of God went to work on my behalf.
If uncertain as to what you're up against spiritually, sometimes just releasing the power of God into the situation will allow God to go to work on your behalf, uprooting or revealing strongholds you didn't realize were present.
I know many might disagree with me. But, this is what I believe. And please understand, sometimes things are just a matter of semantics. My "methods" or understanding of spiritual principles might be worded or informed differently from another's.
I might see value in what is discovered on the quantum level, and another brother might not care one bit or see how it is remotely spiritually relevant. But that doesn't mean one is right and the other is wrong. Spiritual realities and principles are vast and multifaceted. Sometimes good men can see things from different angles. It doesn't mean that they are not looking at the very same thing. They just see it differently.
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