Message #17 (of 20) from the PrayerPower radio series
"Praying for Protection"

by Kaye Johns

A familiar verse from the New International Version of the Bible reads, "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." That’s 2 Corinthians 10:5.

Let me read now from The Living Bible, 2 Corinthians 10, verses 3-5: "It is true that I am an ordinary, weak human being, but I don’t use human plans and methods to win my battles. I use God’s mighty weapons, not those made by man, to knock down the devil’s strongholds. These weapons can break down every proud argument against God and every wall that can be built to keep men from finding him. With these weapons I can capture rebels and bring them back to God, and change them into men whose hearts’ desire is obedience to Christ."

One weapon is prayer. Many requests come to us from friends, from family -- even from those we don’t know -- for God’s children in rebellion. Young people leave home and are gone for years. Husbands or wives walk out and never look back. Friends live outside the expressed will of God, without concern. How do we pray for them? What do we ask?

These verses tell us we can ask God to demolish Satan’s strongholds in a person’s mind, to take every thought captive to obey Christ. With our prayers, we can "capture rebels and bring them back to God, and change them into [those] whose hearts’ desire is obedience to Christ." Do we believe that? Do we ask for it?

Pray with me now -- Father, we ask now for You to break down the strongholds in our minds -- allowed by self, nurtured by sin, built up by Satan. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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