Christian Prayer Barriers: Understanding Satan's Hindrances

Satan's hindrances to prayer are explored through a testimony of a young man who was saved and became an evangelist.

The spiritual realm is explained, where demons and human agents work together to attack churches and individuals.

The power of prayer is demonstrated, where Christians can break through darkness and evil powers through focused and repentant prayer.

Distractions and weaknesses in prayer are discussed, and how Satan tries to stop Christians from praying effectively.

How Satan Stops Our Prayers, Combat in the Heavenly Realm By John Mulindy, November 2000 I want to share a testimony with you of someone who was saved, someone who had been serving the devil. And when this man gave his testimony, it so challenged me, I did not want to believe it. I had to go ten days before the Lord in fasting, asking him, Lord, is this true? And at that time, the Lord began to teach me what happens in the spiritual realm when we pray. Now, this man was born after his parents dedicated themselves to Lucifer. When he was still in the womb, they made so many rituals dedicating him to serve Lucifer. when he was four years old he began to exercise his spiritual power and his parents began fearing him and when he was six years old his father surrendered him to the witches to go and be trained and by ten years he was doing great things in the kingdom of the devil and he was feared by the normal witches He was still a young boy, but he was so terrible in the things he did. He grew up to be a young man in his 20s with so much bloodshed on his hands. Killed at will. He had the ability to go outside of his body through transcendental meditation. He could levitate. Sometimes his body would lift off the ground and stay in the air. and sometimes he could go into a trance and come out of his body his body would remain behind and he would go out into the world this is called astro-traveling and this guy was used by Satan to destroy so many churches to break down the churches and to destroy many pastors one day he was assigned to destroy a church that was full of prayer There were so many divisions in this church and many confusions, and he began to work on the attack of this church. But at that time, the pastor called a fast for the whole church. As the church began to fast, there was a lot of repentance and a lot of reconciliation. and the people came together and they began to pray for the work of the Lord in their midst and they continued interceding and crying to God to have mercy and intervene in their lives. As the days went by, this man was coming again and again with demon spirits against this church. But there was a word of prophecy that came telling the Christians to rise up and wage warfare against the powers of darkness that were attacking the church. So one day, this man leaves his body in his room and goes astro-traveling. He leads a mighty force of demonic spirits against this church. Now, this is his testimony. His spirit was moving in the air over the church, trying to attack it but there was a covering of light over the church and suddenly there was an army of angels that attacked them and there was fighting in the air all the demons fled but he was arrested by the angels yes, arrested by the angels he saw himself being held by about six angels and they brought him through the roof of the church down before the church altar. There he was and the people were praying. They were deep in prayer in the spiritual warfare, binding and breaking and casting out. The pastor was on the platform leading the prayers and the warfare. The Spirit of the Lord spoke to the pastor. The yoke has been broken And the victim is there before you Help him through deliverance As the pastor opened his eyes He saw this young man collapse there His body was with him He was in his body The young man says he doesn't know how his body joined him He left it back at his house But there he was in his body, and he didn't know how he entered, except the angels had carried him through the roof. Now, these things are difficult to believe, but the pastor silenced the church and told the church what the Lord had told him, and asked the young man, Who are you? The young man was trembling as the demons began coming out of him. So they prayed for deliverance, and afterwards he began to share his life. This young man has now come to the Lord and is an evangelist preaching the gospel. He is being used by the Lord mightily in setting other people free by deliverance. Now, it was difficult for me to believe this story. so one night I went to a dinner and the reason I went to the dinner is that someone told me that this young man was going to be there and I was so curious to see him and to see if his story was true so at the dinner this man gave his testimony he talked about many things sometimes he cried because of the things he did he shared how he led expositions into the air. He would go with other satanic agents and lots of demon spirits into the air. It was like a shift, and you've got to go work on your shift. So he had a set time for him to go out and wage war in the heavenlies. And listen to what he said. He said that in the heavenlies, in the spiritual realm if the land is covered under a blanket of darkness. That blanket is so thick. It's like a rock. And it covers the whole area. And these spirits are able to go on top of this as well as below this blanket. And from that level, they influence the events on earth. When the evil spirits and human satanic agents leave their shifts, they go down on the earth at the points of covenant, even waters or on the land at points of covenant for refreshing of their spirit And how do they refresh their spirit Now listen to this By sacrifices that people give at the altars There could be sacrifices in open witchcraft, sacrifices in bloodshed of all types, including abortion, including warfare, and human sacrifices, and animal sacrifices. There could be sacrifices of sexual immorality, where people go into sexual perversion and all kinds of promiscuity. And these sinful acts actually give strength to these evil powers. And there are many different types of sacrifices. He said that when satanic agents are up in the heavenly realm and the Christians begin to pray on the earth the prayers of the Christians appear to them in three forms All prayer appears like smoke that rises up to the heavens Now, some people's prayers, they appear like smoke and the smoke goes drifting along and disappears in the air. These prayers come from people who have sin in their lives and they're not willing to deal with it. Their prayers are so weak and they're blown away and disappear in the air. The other type of prayer is also like smoke that rises up until it reaches this rock. But it does not break through the rock. These are usually people who try to purify themselves. But they lack the faith in what they're doing as they pray. They usually ignore the other important aspects that are needed when someone prays. The third type of prayer is like smoke that is filled with fire. As it rises up, it is so hot that when it reaches the rock, the rock begins to melt like wax. It pierces the rock and goes through. Many times as people begin to pray, their prayer looks like the first type. But as they continue praying, their prayer changes and becomes like the second type of prayer. And as they continue praying, suddenly it ignites into fire. And their prayers become so powerful, they pierce through the rock. Many times, the evil agents would notice that the prayers were changing and becoming very close to the state of fire. Then these agents would communicate with other spirits on the earth. And they would tell them, distract that person from prayer. Stop them praying. Pull them out. Now many Christians yield to these distractions. They are pressing through. They're repenting. They're allowing the word to check their spirit. Faith is building up. their prayers are becoming more focused. Then the devil sees their prayers are gaining strength and the distractions begin. Telephones ring. Sometimes in the middle of very intense prayer, the telephone rings and you think you can go answer the phone and then come back and continue praying. But when you come back, you go back to the beginning. And that's what the devil wants. Other kinds of distractions come your way. Even if it means touching your body and bringing you some pain somewhere. Even if it means making you hungry and you want to go to the kitchen and fix something to eat. As long as they can get you out of that place, they have defeated you. Pastors, you must teach your people how to pray. Set aside some time, and not just for some casual prayer. They can do that the rest of the day. Once in a day, a Christian should have a time when they are totally focused, wholeheartedly on God, nothing distracting them. and if people persist in this type of prayer, and allow themselves to be inspired in the Spirit, and keep going, and keep going, something happens in the Spirit. The fire touches the rock, and it melts the rock. When the melting begins, it is so hot, no demon spirit can stand it, and no human spirit can stand it either. They all flee. They all run away. Then there comes an opening in the spiritual realm. And as soon as this comes, all this trouble in prayer stops. The person who is praying on the ground just feels like prayer is suddenly smooth, so enjoyable, so powerful and intense. And I discovered that at that moment, we normally lose conscience of time and other things. Not that we become disorderly, but God takes care of our time. But it's like you lay down everything and you hook up with God. With prayers going through, from that moment there could be no resistance at all. And the person praying will continue as long as he wants. There's no resistance that can stop him. And after he finishes praying, the hole remains open. And he said that the people, they rise out of that place of prayer and they walk out. This open hole moves along with them. They're no longer operating under the blanket. Now they are operating under open heavens. And he said that in that state, The devil cannot do what he wants against them. And the presence of the Lord is like a pillar from heaven resting on their lives. They're protected. And there's so much power inside that pillar that as they move around, the presence touches other people. It discerns what the enemy has done in other people. and as they talk to people and those people are standing with them they come inside this pillar and as long as they stay inside that pillar all the bondages of the enemy weaken. So when these people who have this spiritual breakthrough share Jesus Christ with sinners their resistance is low. It's so easy to bring them through. When they pray for the sick or pray about things, the presence which is there makes all the difference And this man said that the devil hates such people And if there are places where prayer is regularly being prayed through like that the presence comes upon that place and does not leave So even the people who don't know God, when they come into this place, suddenly all the bondages are weakened. And if someone cared just to minister to them patiently and with love, they can easily be pulled through. not by power, not by might but by the Spirit of God who is present and if no one bothers about these people and they come into his presence they feel convicted and they begin to debate whether to yield or not but if they are not pulled through when they walk away from this place bondages get stronger and the devil tries his best not to allow them to come back into such an environment. Okay, now you can imagine we're all sitting down looking at this man tell his story. And he was telling us of the things he used to do and what he has seen. Then he told us what they would do to people who have broken through in prayer. he said that they marked such people. They studied these people. They dug up everything they could find about these people so that they knew their weaknesses. And when someone overcomes them in prayer and breaks through, they communicate with other spirits and say, target him with this and with this. These are his weaknesses. So when this person walks out of the prayer closet, the spirit of prayer is upon him. The presence is upon him. His spirit is high, and the joy of the Lord is his strength. And as he moves, the enemy tries to bring those things that can distract him from focusing on the Lord. so if his weakness is in the area of temper then the enemy is going to cause people to do things that anger him and if he is not sensitive to the Holy Spirit and he gets angry and loses his temper then he takes his eyes off the Lord and being angry he feels so furious and after a few minutes he wants to put that behind him and move along in the joy of the Lord but he doesn't feel it anymore. He tries to feel good again but he doesn't feel any good again. Why? This is why. Because as he yielded to the temptation they worked very hard to close the door upstairs and once they restore the rock the presence is cut off. And that person does not cease from being a child of God. But that extra anointing that goes on his life that presence that could do things without his manipulating anything is just cut off. Because the evil spirits seek out where your weaknesses are. If a person's weakness is sexuality then the enemy will prepare people, events and something that will suddenly draw out that man's sexual passion. And if that man yields to this temptation and opens his mind to receive these thoughts entertains them, then when he is through with everything and wants to move again in the anointing he just discovers it's no longer there. maybe you say well that's not fair just remember what the Bible says put on the helmet of salvation put on the breastplate of righteousness now we normally don't see the need for these weapons of warfare but remember Jesus told us how to pray he said lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. Every time you have a breakthrough in prayer, as you come to the end, remember you are still a weak human being. Remember, you have not yet been perfected. So ask the Lord. Say, Lord, I've enjoyed this time of prayer but when I walk out into the world, lead me not into temptation. Don't let me walk into the devil's trap. I know the enemy is setting a trap there. I don't know what form it's going to take. And I know I'm still weak in certain areas. If I'm just put in the right place, I'll yield to it. So, Father, please protect me. When you see me turning the corner to where the trap is, just cause me to turn to the other side. Intervene, O Lord. don't allow me to move just by my own strength and ability. Deliver me from the evil one. God is able to do it. So if something bad happens that gets your eyes off Jesus, just say, thank you, Jesus. That's why the Apostle Paul wrote, thank God in everything. Some things are not good. They're painful. and we wonder why God would allow it. But if we only knew what he is saving us from, we would thank him. When we learn to trust in the Lord, we just thank him for everything. And this man said that when you break through in prayer, the answer will always come. He did not know a case when prayer broke through and the answer did not come. He said the answer always comes, but in most cases it would never get to the person who asked. Why? Because the battle is in the heavenlies, and the answer may be hindered if they can successfully cut off the open heavens and restore the rock. And then this man spoke something that really shook my faith. I mean, I had to personally fast for 10 days to ask the Lord if this was true. So hear this. The man said that every Christian has an angel serving him. Now, we know from the Bible that there are ministering spirits to us. He said that when people pray, the answer comes in the hands of the angel. The angel brings the answer, just like we read in the book of Daniel. But then he said something really tough. If the one who prays knows the spiritual armor and is clothed with the spiritual armor, then the answer comes by an angel who is also clothed in the full armor. But if the one who prays doesn't care about spiritual armor. Then their angel comes without the armor Christians who don care about what kind of thoughts that come into their mind They don fight the battle in their mind Their angels come without the helmet of salvation Whatever spiritual weapon you ignore on earth, the angel doesn't have it as he serves you. In other words, our spiritual armor is not protecting our physical bodies. It's protecting our spiritual exploits. When the angel is coming, the evil spirits would focus and look at him and notice the areas which are not covered. And those are the areas they would attack. If the angel has no helmet, they would shoot at its head. If he had no breastplate, they would shoot at his chest. And if he had no shoes, they would try to make fire to burn his feet. Now, I know this is hard to believe. I'm just repeating what this man said. We asked him, can angels feel fire? And you know what he said to us? Remember, this is the spiritual realm. These are spirits dealing with spirits. The battle is intense. And when they overpower an angel of God, the first thing they target is the answer he's carrying. And they take that from him. And these are the gifts that are given through the cults and through witchcraft. Remember what the Bible says in the book of James. It says, all good things come from God. So where does the devil get the things he gives to his people? Some people who cannot have children They go to witch doctors and Satanists And they get pregnant Who gave them that baby? Is Satan a creator? No, he steals from those who don't pray to the end In the Bible, Jesus said pray without ceasing. And when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? Will Jesus find you still there waiting? Or will you give up and let the enemy steal what you prayed for? And they're not satisfied with just stealing the answer. They also are interested in detaining the angel. and they start fighting him. Sometimes they succeed in holding and binding the angel. When that happens, the Christian is a victim on earth and they can do anything with the Christian because he is totally left without ministry in the spirit. I said to this man, do you mean that an angel can be held in captivity by demonic forces? Now, he was just sharing his experiences. And he said that they wouldn't hold the angel too long, because as other Christians prayed elsewhere, reinforcements would come, and the angels would go free. And if the Christian responsible did not pray through, he remains a captive. Then the enemy sends his own angel, as an angel of light, to this person. and that is where deceptions come in. False visions and false prophecies. False leadership, leading and guiding and making all types of wrong decisions. And many times this person is open to all kinds of attacks and bondages. I left that dinner so troubled. I said, Lord, I don't even want to try to believe this guy. It removes all my confidence and my security. When I went to seek the Lord, it was 10 days. And the Lord did two things. He not only confirmed the things that I heard, He opened my mind to see a lot more than what was said. And secondly, He led me to see what we are supposed to do as the things are happening so that we can overcome. these three important things. Number one, how to operate with the weapons of our warfare. The Bible calls them the armor of God. And it's not our armor. It's God's armor. When we use it, we are allowing God to fight on our behalf. Number two, understand the relationship of the ministering spirits, the angels, to our spiritual lives. And to be sensitive to what is happening in our hearts as a leading to what needs to be happening in the spirit concerning us. Thirdly, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not supposed to come as our servant, serving us and bringing things to us. He does not run to and fro to the Father and tell Him what we need. That is the work of the angels. But He stands by our side. Doing what? guiding us, teaching us, leading us, and helping us to pray the right way. And when these things are happening in the spiritual world, he tells us, sometimes he wakes you up in the night and says, Pray! And you say, No, my time has not yet come. And he says, Pray now! Why? Because he sees what is happening in the Spirit. Sometimes he says, tomorrow, fasting. And you say, oh, oh no, no, no, no, I'll start on Monday. But he understands what is happening in the spiritual realm. We should learn to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. He guides us in the paths of righteousness. We've got to learn to break through in prayer. to maintain our breakthrough once we've scored it and let it become enjoyable. Hallelujah! There's enough of God's grace and enough power for victory. Amen? Thank you. Thank you.

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