When it seems like our prayers aren’t being answered

Recently, my young son began to have a string of demonic nightmares. This brings out the momma bear in me and the protective father in my husband! How dare the enemy torment our son and appear to him in dreams?! 

Do you know what we did? We used all of our arsenal of prayer and spiritual warfare knowledge to intercede for him and WITH him. Guess what? They didn’t stop. They kept getting worse. 

Have you ever had this happen? This wouldn’t fit into most people’s theological box. How can the devil torment a believer, especially a young believer, when his Christian parents are praying and battling the enemy on his behalf in the name of Jesus? 

I will tell you the answer and then I will tell you the rest of the story. 

Because the devil doesn’t play by our rules. He doesn’t care about our theology. If he has an avenue to bully, to kill, steal and destroy he will do it. With our physical eyes we can see war and conflict in the physical realm. We know that war is cruel and unfair in the physical. Even with rules of engagement, evil will continue to break rules to try to win. 

If war is cruel in the physical, how much more in the spiritual realm? My father in law used to say, “The devil is the biggest legalist. If he has a reason or thinks he has a reason to be there – he will.” The devil is like a prosecuting attorney, trying to find every loophole to attack a believer. But, guess what? We have a defense attorney. His name is Jesus and his Father is the judge! 

We do not need to fear the enemy, including when he seems relentless and our defense doesn’t seem to be working. Truthfully speaking, the enemy lost at the cross. He lost the war, but he doesn’t like to give up in the battle. How much more should we, who won the war in Christ, not give up in the battle? Why do we say, “Oh well. Jesus won the war, so who cares if we lose this battle?” 

When my son was in our room in the middle of the night, I told him, “Don’t be afraid. The devil can’t hurt you. This isn’t going to last forever. The devil is going to lose this battle. I have walked through this myself. The devil lost with me, and he is going to lose with you too. You are going to see God’s power work in your life to defeat the enemy and you will have a testimony.” 

My husband and I started seeking the Lord more on why the enemy was being allowed to harass our son, with seemingly no response to our prayers and the use of the name of Jesus. We ruled out sin issues. We prayed about some patterns of demonic nightmares that run in the family. Still, no breakthrough. 

In the meantime, our son was not discouraged, but rather strengthened and encouraged in the battle. He started reading scripture and offered to pray before meals. He began to come to us privately and ask to pray together. He got stronger in his prayers. 

When I reached out to my father for wisdom and prayer on the issue, he said he would pray and ask God why this was happening. But, after a minute the Lord showed him. He said, “This is because your son has a fear in his life that he needs to pray about. The fear is giving the enemy an open door to attack him. Pray about it with him every day until you see a break through.” 

Immediately when he told me the type of fear it was, I knew that this was on target. I asked our son what he thought. He said, “I think that’s about right!” So, we began to pray together to give this specific fear to the Lord and ask the Lord to deliver him from it. The first night he said, “I had a dream last night. It was weird, but I wasn’t scared. I felt peace. The devil wasn’t in the dream.” The second day of praying and giving his fear to the Lord, he had no nightmares and was completely at peace. Also, his joy level was way up and the anxiety was gone. 

My friends, there is a way to battle in the spirit realm to encourage our families and the people we are ministering to. Are you ready to minister in these situations? Do you know how to help people with their back against the wall and it “feels” like the devil is “winning?” The devil is a liar and will do everything to scar you into backing down, giving up, and leaving the ministry. Don’t let him win. 

Jesus IS the Victor! Don’t listen to the mockers.