When you watch the news, observe the culture,
see the evil that's happening around the world
and the challenges in families, have you ever
wondered, what can I do? Is there any hope? Today,
I want to tell you you're in a cosmic conflict
and there's something that you can do that will
make an absolutely vital difference in families,
churches, communities, and the nation that we
live in. It's a spiritual weapon that changes
the course of history. Stay with me. Learn what
it is and how to use it. Welcome to this edition
of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. The mission
of this daily program is to intentionally disciple
Christians through the insightful Bible teaching
of Chip Ingram. And we're nearing the end of
his series, The Invisible War, what every believer
needs to know about Satan, demons, and spiritual
warfare. And today, Chip's going to help us prepare
for the intense spiritual battles we may encounter
by revealing a powerful weapon God's given us.
So go again in your Bible to Ephesians chapter
6, beginning in verse 18, as we join Chip for
today's talk, How to Gain Deliverance from Demonic
Influence. I want to read a story. It's a true
story. It comes out of a book that... It's sort
of a devotional little book, but I want you to
just listen. A missionary was serving as a medic
at a small field through a hospital in Africa.
Periodically had to travel by bicycle through
the jungle to a nearby city for supplies. It
was a two -day trip, so he had to camp out overnight.
He had made the trip several times without incident.
One day, however, he arrived at his destination
and saw that two men were fighting. One was seriously
hurt. So he treated him, witnessed to him, and
went about his business. Upon arriving in the
city again several weeks later, he was approached
by the man that he had treated. He said, I know
you carry money and medicine, said the man to
the missionary. Some friends and I followed you
into the jungle that night after you treated
me, knowing you would have to camp overnight.
We waited for you to go to sleep, and we planned
to kill you and take your money and the drugs.
Just as we started moving into the campsite,
we saw that you were surrounded by 26 armed guards.
There were only six of us, and we knew we couldn't
possibly get near you, so we left. Hearing this,
the missionary laughed. He said, well, that's
impossible. I assure you, I was alone that night
in the campsite. The young man pressed his point.
He says, no, sir, I was not the only one who
saw the guards. My friends also saw them and
we all counted them and we were all frightened.
It was because of those guards that we left you
alone. Several months later, the missionary attended
a church and made the presentation in Michigan
where he told about his experience in Africa.
One of the congregants jumped to his feet, interrupted
the missionary and said something that left everyone
in the church absolutely stunned. We were there
with you in spirit, the man said. The missionary
looked. The man continued, on that night in Africa,
it was morning here. I stopped by the church
to gather some materials for an out -of -town
trip to go to another parish. But as I put my
bags into the trunk, I felt the Lord leading
me to pray for you. The urging was so compelling
and so strong, I called the men of the church
to gather to pray for you. Then the man stood
up and turned around and said, will all of you
men who met with me that morning, Please stand
up. And one by one, all 26 men stood up. And
I would say intercessory prayer is the pivotal
and essential aspect for corporate and individual
deliverance. Notice how Paul ends, verses 18
to 20. With all prayer and petition, pray at
all times, how? In the Spirit. And with this
in view, be on the alert with all perseverance
and petition for all the saints and pray on my
behalf. And what's he pray? That the utterance
may be given to me in the opening of my mouth
to make known with boldness the mystery of the
gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains.
That is proclaiming it that I may speak boldly
as I ought to speak. I want you to look at that
last paragraph and circle the word all, all prayer,
all times, all the saints. And then I want you
to underline prayer, petition, alert, perseverance,
petition, pray on my behalf, utterance given
to me. Is there any doubt that this is talking
about a... level of prayer that isn't sort of
casually talking to God in the car and hoping
some good things happen. The summary of verses
18 to 20 is the means by which believers are
to withstand and overcome the attacks of the
enemy in spiritual warfare is by consistent,
intense, strategic prayer for one another in
conjunction with the personal application of
the armor of God. And so what I want to do is
give you in our time together an overview of
what does consistent, strategic, intentional,
and intense prayer look like from this passage.
And then a bit later, I want to talk about actual
deliverance ministry and at least give an overview
of that. Intercessory prayer is our most powerful
and strategic corporate weapon in spiritual warfare.
Prayer has a direct impact on spiritual warfare.
Mark chapter 9, verses 29, they come down from
the Mount of Transfiguration, and a man says,
Jesus, help me. Your disciples have tried to
cast out this demon, and it won't. And Jesus
says, this kind only comes out by prayer and
fasting. There seems to be a direct correlation
between a kind of prayer, a level of prayer.
Prayer provides and assists in the deliverance
of others who are undergoing spiritual attack.
Luke 22, Peter, Satan has sought to sift you
like wheat, but I have prayed for you. Power
falls where prayer prevails. All I want you to
get, I want you to get that prayer isn't like
an add -on or it's a few words here and there.
The scripture is teaching that this is vital,
pivotal, core to spiritual warfare and victory.
I did a study in the book of Acts and I put it
in front of you. I went through all the key passages
and all the breakthroughs. And you'll notice
where prayer, Acts 1, Acts 2 .42, 3 .1, chapter
4, chapter 6, chapter 8, chapter 9, chapter 10.
Church history is replete. The Welsh revival
started with a handful of people. People who
met together each Saturday night and prayed.
God spoke to them. And there was a revival there
that spread across the world. The layman's prayer
revival in the 1800s. There wasn't a pastor.
There was no preaching. It moved from city to
city to city where during the noon hour, a handful
of businessmen said, let's pray. Three requests,
pray for him. Three requests, pray for him. And
then it went Chicago, New York, all across the
country. Experts say millions of people came
to Christ. The great awakening in the United
States, our history at Living on the Edge. I
was sitting around a table and, you know, we've
almost gone out of business once or twice, didn't
have sufficient funds. We've had times where
we were taking big steps of faith and either
our family members or people on our team, we
had like cancer, like five different people.
It was like all hell breaking loose. And in those
times, we learn to pray with intensity and we
learn to fast. And I was with our staff recently
and we have a number of new staff members that
said, we don't pray every day because we're holy
or noble or we think it's a good idea. We've
been in crises and we've seen God deliver. We
just decided, why don't we realize how desperate
we are all the time? So we're going to pray.
And when we give a small group to someone, we
say, how can we pray for you? And then we check
back and how it's doing. And we pray for the
people that get connected. And I knew what was
going to happen here. And so the Wednesday before
we came, it was like, let's have a day of fasting
and prayer. It's voluntary. But the great majority
of all of our staff said, we know what would
be happening in your lives. And I knew what was
going to happen in my life. And I knew what probably
what would happen here. God hears where prayer
prevails, power falls. What kinds of prayer bring
God's deliverance and power? It's not casual,
trite little prayers. Notice it's consistent
prayer, verse 18, with all prayer and petition.
The first word there is a general word for prayer.
Notice it's... All prayers, all kinds of prayer
and petition, very specific. And so it's not
just asking, asking, asking. I think one of the
great breakthroughs that will help you in your
prayer life is realize that God longs to be worshiped.
You know, that little acronym that you learn
somewhere, A -C -T -S, adoration, confession,
thanksgiving, supplication. The kind of prayer
where we recognize God for who he is. We begin
to thank him for what he's done and it builds
up our faith. We come and we want to be clean
and we confess our sins. And then we say, now,
holy, almighty, all -powerful God, who you want
to change the whole world. You're not willing
that any should perish. We bring these petitions
before you consistently. And when God sees that,
I think he just leans over and longs to answer
our prayers. It's not just all kinds of prayer,
but he says, pray at all times on all occasions.
I think there's two kinds of prayer. I think
we all need protracted, quiet, extended times
to pray. And then I think we need to have these
punctuated, we're commanded in 1 Thessalonians,
right? Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,
In everything give thanks for this is the will
of God for you in Christ Jesus. And as you study
that passage, it's like a coughing prayer. It's
like, you know, when your mind is free, you're
talking to God. You're in the car. You're walking
from, you're picking up your bag and you're taking
it out to the car. Someone comes to your mind
and as they're coming to your mind, you're not
in conversation. You're constantly, it would
be Brother Lawrence when he talks about practicing
the presence of God. Over time, you're cultivating
an awareness where when you're not thinking about
something else, you are talking to the Lord.
And by the way, I think one of the most important
things in prayer, and especially for people like
me who talk a lot, is to be quiet. And especially
in situations where you don't know what to do
or you need wisdom, ask and then sit quietly.
And learn to recognize God's voice and the promptings
that he gives you. When he gives you a prompting
that will cost you something, that might be embarrassing,
that would really help other people, and that
would glorify him, and you might not want to
do it, there's a good chance it's from God. Because
you wouldn't do that naturally. And you'll learn
to recognize his voice. Consistent prayer. And
intense prayer, not half -hearted prayer. Notice
it says, be on the alert. Literally, the word
means without sleep. It means to be vigilant.
It means not going through the motions. And then
it says, with all perseverance. It's not giving
up. Unless you're different than everyone else
in the world that I know, sometimes when you're
praying, and it just feels like you're in mud
galoshes, and no matter how hard you try, you're
not making any progress, or you begin to pray.
You know, there's times, don't we all experience
the presence of God when we're praying? And it's
exciting and there's such a sense. And isn't
there times where it's like, I mean, this is
like, I'm not sure I'm even making it up to the
ceiling, let alone through the ceiling, let alone
to heaven, right? And it just feels dull and
I'm not connected. The old saints used to talk
about praying through. You know what happens?
You know, the temptation when you get there is
like, you know, hey, I'll check you later. You
know, this is just, I'm, you know. Who do you
think wants you to stop praying? You know, I
don't wake up every day. I really, really love
my wife deeply. But I don't wake up every day
with my emotions overflowing every single day.
But that has nothing to do with not loving her.
And I think many of us, especially out of our
sort of evangelical mindset, is that if we don't
feel God and have some sort of ooey -gooey experience
with Him, somehow He's not around. Faith is not
based on. God hears you as much when you feel
Him as if you don't feel Him. In fact, it requires
a lot more faith to do what's right when you're
not motivated and you don't want to do it. And
what I find as you pray through, In the confession,
I don't always pray through, but I long to. And
what I know, it's these kind of prayers when
it's a battle. Elizabeth Elliot has a great little
book on prayer, and she has this line in it,
and she says, I suppose people who ski like to
ski. I suppose they have the ability to ski.
And she says they not only have the ability to
ski, but they have a place where they can ski.
And they make time for skiing. And it's something
they do when they have the time and when they
have the money. And her confession was, sometimes
that's how I pray. I used to think prayer was
a lot like skiing. You know, when I'm in the
mood to pray, I think I'll pray. And when I can
make the time to pray, I think I'll pray. And
it really is a nice thing to do if you have the
time. And then she has this line, but skiing
is a sport and prayer is work. It's not skiing.
It must be taken from other things that are very
important. I've shared this a lot and I guess
I'll keep sharing it. I live with a woman who
prays like no one I've ever met. And I mean this,
I think I will get to heaven. And I will get
to see that I ran many, many errands that God
and Teresa had been talking about. And don't
get me wrong, I pray and I'm growing in my prayer
life. But it's interesting, my kids are in a
really big jam. Is mom home? Why? I need to ask
her to really pray. We just have this track record
of unbelievable, amazing answers to prayer. We
have a... We went through a book together, and
one of the quotes was from Haddon Robinson. He
was a professor of preaching at Dallas, and then
later I think was the president of Denver Seminary,
and then later headed up a department at Gordon
-Conwell. And it's a quick quote, but it's now
on all of our screens that comes up every day,
living on the edge. Prayer is the battle. Ministry
is the spoils. Prayer is the battle. Ministry
is the spoils. You're listening to Living on
the Edge with Chip Ingram, and we'll get you
back to today's program in just a second. But
first, I want to tell you that this insightful
teaching from Ephesians chapter 6 is also in
a helpful small group format. So if you're not
in authentic community, or you and your friends
are looking for something else to study, order
the resources for The Invisible War small group
today. Stick around after the message to learn
how. With that, here again is Chip to continue
his talk. It's the kind of prayer that's consistent,
it's intense, and then it's strategic. Notice
he says, I pray for all the saints. God's messengers
will be bold. That utterance may be given. It's
about God's message. Warren Wiersbe said, prayer
is the energy that allows the soldier to wear
the army and wield the sword. And I think...
When you listen to what Paul prayed, and I'm
going to say something only because I think we're
missing out. We tend to unconsciously get very
self -focused. And what I'm about to say, especially
for you, like, take it literally, people. I'm
not saying you shouldn't do this. What I'm saying
is, don't let it get limited to this. We've unconsciously...
got this idea that we live in this silo. And
so Lord, help me and help my husband, help my
kids. And we've got a need over here and grandma's
ankle hurts. And Lord, would you help our church?
And you pray some specific things. And oh gosh,
the mall is so full at this time. Would you please,
could I get a parking spot like on the first
or second floor? And by the way, you know what?
I think God hears there's nothing too small.
But when you read, The prayers in scripture,
God, I pray that you might open their eyes. They
might have spiritual discernment to understand
who you really are. Lord, I pray that they might
know the height and depth and length and breadth
and know the love of God that surpasses knowledge.
Here he prays, give me utterance and boldness
that your message and your messengers. When do
we pray? God, we want to reach the city. God,
will you cause these churches to get unified?
God, would you do something radical in our culture?
Lord, would you cause the gospel to go forth
through all the continents? In other words, Paul's
praying a missional prayer. Paul's saying, it's
not about, does my life work out? Am I happy
today? Is my knee feeling a little better? Do
I have a parking spot? And again, I'm glad when
he answers about my knee. And it is kind of neat
when, wow, hey, there's a parking spot. I think
we should let, those are those, as you're driving,
as you're thinking, you're always talking with
the Lord. But there's sometimes you need to get
your armor on and you need to understand we have
been given a mission to take. The gospel to the
ends of the earth. And I am in his ambassadors.
And I want to pray for the message. And I want
to pray for the messenger. And I want him to
use me here and my family here and my kids and
my grandkids and this church. He says, ask of
me and I will give you the nations. I think we're
asking really small little prayers and we get
really small little answers. Ask him for big
things that you know for sure are on his heart.
And you just might be shocked at what the Lord
will do. The summary is the missing ingredient
in most Christian lives and in most churches
is a commitment and regular practice of intercessory
prayer. Scripture indicates its individual and
corporate consistent, intense, strategic responsibility.
that will in fact deliver one from evil. I have
a quote here that I put in your notes by S .D.
Gordon. Follow along as I read it. And by the
way, it is so convicting that maybe that's what
we need. The great people of the earth today
are the people who pray. I do not mean those
who talk about prayer, nor those who say they
believe in prayer. nor those who can explain
about prayer. But I mean people who take time
and pray. They have not the time. It must be
taken from something else. This something else
is very important and pressing, but still less
important and less pressing than prayer. And
so I want to pause and just say, okay, We've
talked about the reality of a war, of spiritual
warfare, a command to stand firm. The way to
stand firm is we put on our armor. Okay, we're
going to have the shield of faith, the helmet
of salvation. And then we're going to sort of
weave all this together with prayer. And here's
the summary statement I really want you to get.
It is because this is not about, oh, I came.
from studying on spiritual warfare, and now I'm
either fearful. The great majority of the teaching
on spiritual warfare in the Bible has to do with
alertness, preparation, defense, and being proactive
to prevent demonic influence from breaking our
fellowship with Christ and thwarting God's program
in our lives. What are we to do, however, when
the enemy gets a foothold in a life? Ours or
someone we know and love. So what I want you
to get is, if you walk with God, if you're renewing
your mind, if you're listening to Him, if you're
in a community of believers, the great majority
of the spiritual attack you'll catch, you'll
walk with God, but there are times, and this
is the big shift, when there's some avenues where
the enemy begins to get a foothold, either in
your life or someone else's, What do you do?
I mean, what are we to make of this whole thing
called the ministry of deliverance? The central
text of the New Testament on spiritual warfare
is Ephesians 6, put on the armor. Now I want
to give you more of an overview. And you'll see
I've given you lots of notes and lots of passages.
And this really is the kind of thing that you
need to study and check out. and discuss and
become aware of. But I think this whole ministry
of deliverance is one that is really, there's
either huge extremes that you need to avoid or
the thought that this never happens anyway. So
what I've done is I'm going to talk about its
validity. I'm going to talk about the problems
of this kind of a ministry. I'm going to talk
about the causes of demonic influence, evidences
in the New Testament. Then I'm going to talk
about What specific action steps would normal,
ordinary people like us take if there's a clear
indication that someone is either oppressed or
harassed or actually engaged in ways where demonic
influence, and you need to do something about
it? So with that, let's look at the validity
of the ministry. Jesus regularly exercised this
ministry. If you go through the Gospels, about
25 % to 30 % of his time and energy casting out
demons as one of the things that he does. The
apostles regularly exercise this ministry. On
their first little mission trip, you remember
what he did? He gave them authority over demons
and authority to heal as he was going to validate
his mission. The early church regularly exercise
this ministry. In Acts 16, we have this situation
where the occult was so heavy that the people
came, remember, they brought all their satanic
books and they burned them. And then Simon saw
the power of God even greater, and he tried to
buy it, and he got a sharp rebuke. In the early
church, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Origen, Athanasius,
all the way the first 400 years of the church,
deliverance ministry from demonic influence,
it's a norm. There's an excellent article you
can Google. It's by Paul Thigpen, Discipleship
Journal. Issue 81, 1994. He does a historic analysis
of deliverance ministry from the first 400 years.
In fact, in the early church, in the early hundreds
of years, they actually had an office of deliverance.
So this, for our modern ears, America, some of
this may sound a little weird, but it's historic.
The other thing is, this is not weird around
the world. I remember You know, you think as
people are modern and sophisticated, you know,
of course, you know, in the back in Papua New
Guinea and maybe in Thailand or, you know, oh,
when you're in India, it is, man, there's just,
there's over a million gods there. And we would
think of all those things, but I remember being
in South Africa, and we were at a cemetery, and
we'd been doing some ministry there, and it was
a nicer part of town, and I watched Mercedes
pull up. So these people were wealthy, well -educated,
and they all were getting out, and they were
taking food and flowers and different things
and putting them on all these graves. And I turned
to the guy that was with us. I said, what is
this all about? Oh, I mean, they're scared to
death of ancestral spirits. And they have manifestations
of things in their home, and they're making an
offering to the spirits of their father or grandfather
or people that are manifesting, and they're scared
to death. And so can you imagine having a modern
mind, a modern job? driving up in a Mercedes
and making offerings to ancestral spirits out
of fear. This is Living on the Edge with Chip
Ingram. And you've been listening to part one
of Chip's message, How to Gain Deliverance from
Demonic Influence from our series, The Invisible
War. Chip will be back shortly to share some
helpful application for us to think about. Right
now, there's a spiritual battle happening all
around us. We can't see it, but it's an epic
struggle for our hearts and minds. So what are
we as believers supposed to do? Well, through
this eight -part study, Chip shares some insights
from Ephesians chapter 6 for how we're to think
about, prepare for, and respond to spiritual
warfare. Learn why we don't have to be afraid
because of the armor God's given us to fight
back and fight well. To learn more about this
series, visit livingontheedge .org or the Chip
Ingram app. Well, Chip's with me in studio now
to share a quick word. Thanks, Dave. Before we
go any further, I want to remind you what we're
learning in this series. There is a war happening
all around us. We have an enemy whose purpose
is to destroy us and our connection with God.
And you have to know how to fight and to fight
back effectively. I want to encourage you to
get the small group study, The Invisible War,
what every Christian needs to know about Satan,
demons, and spiritual warfare. It'll teach you
how Satan attacks, how to put on your armor,
and how you already have the victory, but you
have to possess it. You know, we're in a battle,
and my experience over and over as a pastor,
it's sitting around a table or in a living room
with a group of people where you share, you pray,
you share insights about what you're learning
and where you're struggling, and you come together
and put this into practice. That's where real
growth occurs. Let me encourage you. Don't just
read the book or listen to the message. Get the
small group. Dig in. and say, Lord, you have
given us the victory. Would you now show us how
to live it out day by day? To learn more about
the Invisible War small group, go to livingontheedge
.org. Join Chip in this vital study and uncover
the biblical weapons and armor we've been given
to withstand Satan's attacks and stand victorious
over him. Place your order for the Invisible
War small group by visiting livingontheedge .org.
App listeners tap special offers. Well, with
that, here again is Chip. As we close today's
program, what I'd like you to do is set your
watch or set aside today, not tomorrow, today,
15 minutes. I mean, if you have a timer, put
it on for 15 minutes, and then I want you to
pray how you've learned today. Consistent, intense,
strategic prayers. for 15 minutes and do it today.
If your mind wanders, it wanders. But you do
this for 15 minutes and then you decide for the
next few days to pray for 15 minutes, you will
see progress, you will see answers, and you'll
see deliverance. And here's a hint. If you struggle,
find one or two other people that would be willing
to partner in this kind of prayer and you will
start to see amazing things happen. There's a
secret weapon. It's called prayer. But it's a
special kind of prayer, and you've got to use
it. May God bless, encourage, and give you faith
as you pray today. Great encouragement, Chip.
Well, be sure to listen in next time as Chip
wraps up our series, The Invisible War. Until
then, this is Dave Drury saying thanks for joining
us for this edition of Living on the Edge.