5. Appendix: Prayers for Spiritual Warfare

These prayers were written by Dr. Phil Kayser (pk) and Mark Bubeck (mb). More prayers are available in the booklet, Prayers for Spiritual Warfare, available at https://kaysercommentary.com/booklets.md

I recommend that you pray these prayers out loud. It was rare in Biblical times to pray silently, and there is something powerful about praying out loud and with emotional feeling.

Prayer for the Filling of the Spirit (pk)

Father, your word has promised that if we ask for the Spirit, you will give of the Spirit far more readily than parents give the necessities of life to their children. I lay claim to the “how much more” of Luke 11:13 and ask that you would give to me an extra portion of the Spirit’s presence for today. I need the Spirit because you have commanded me to “walk in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16) in everything that I do. Help me to “sing in the Spirit” (1 Cor. 14:15), to “worship…in the Spirit” (Phil. 3:3) and to “rejoice in the Holy Spirit” (1 Thess. 1:6; Rom. 14:17). Please help me to “pray in the Spirit” (Jude 20; Eph. 6:18) since I do not know what I should pray for as I ought (Rom. 8:26). Help me to “love in the Spirit” (Col. 1:18), be “led by the Spirit” (Matt. 4:1; Rom. 8:14; Gal. 5:18), be “moved by the Spirit” (Luke 2:27), be “compelled by the Spirit” (Acts 20:22 NIV) and to have my “mind controlled by the Spirit” (Rom. 8:6). May every part of me be controlled by the Spirit (Rom. 8:6,9) so that I might “live in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25; Rom. 8:13). I want to be taught by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 2:13), to speak by the Spirit since “no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:3). Wash and sanctify me by the Spirit (1 Cor. 6:11).

I know that Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1:17-20 is according to your will, and I ask that the reality of your transforming power would work in my life today:

…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places…

I do not ask this because I deserve it, but because I am united to Christ and He has purchased everything that is necessary for my full enjoyment of the Spirit. I ask it simply because you have promised the Spirit to those who come in faith (Gal. 3:1-5; Luke 11:13). Thank you for your gracious gift, Father. I love you and praise you. May the Spirit cause me to glorify you today.

Lord Jesus, you are the vine and we are the branches (John 15:1-8). I acknowledge that my life flows from you, and that without you I can do nothing (v. 5). I know that you were given the Holy Spirit “without measure.” I ask that you would release your life into my life that I might bear fruit. Release your strength, wisdom, healing [etc.] to meet the needs of this day. You have said that all who drink of you will never thirst since they will have within them a fountain of living water that never grows dry (John 4:14). I need that for my dryness. I lay claim to your promise in John 7:37-39:

“If anyone thirst, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Lord, since you have been glorified, and everything necessary has been done that we might receive the Spirit, I pray that the Holy Spirit would be poured out upon me today. This passage says that “anyone” who thirsts may come to drink and will receive. Lord, I come to you and I now drink of you. Thank you for your gift of the Spirit. Thank you for your life giving waters.

Holy Spirit, I invite you now to baptize me afresh with the fire of your love. I want to know you, not just know about you. I want to experience your presence in my life. I give myself to you and ask that you would give yourself to me. I need your power in my life. Please come, and fill me now. Come into my life as the “Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD” (Isa. 11:2). I need those things in my life. I am your bondservant and I come humbly to be controlled and moved by you. Whatever giftings you want to pour out in my life today (1 Cor. 12-14; Eph. 4:7ff; Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Pet. 4:9-11), I gladly receive and determine now to use to the glory of the Father. I will not limit your gifts by my perceptions of what I can handle, or what I need. I receive your sovereign will to give as you please. Work in me mightily to the glory of God.

Fill me with your gracious fruit. Help me to walk in the Spirit that I might not fulfill the lusts of the flesh (Gal. 5:16). I lay claim to your supernatural love that can love the unlovable. I lay claim to your joy of the Lord which is my strength (Neh. 8:10). I lay claim to Your peace that passes all understanding (Phil. 4:7); your longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5.23). Help me to do everything today by your working, that you would replace my evil thinking with the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2.16), my rebellious will with the will of Christ, my unruly emotions with the compassion of Christ.

Flow through me to minister to others. Please flood the deepest places of my life, washing away the filth and replacing it with the righteousness of Christ. Cleanse my wounds that still tend to dominate my thoughts and are keeping me from emotional freedom. Help me to know Christ and the power of His resurrection.

I want to learn more and more what it means to walk in the Spirit. May I not lift so much as a straw from the ground without your presence, love and approval. By faith, I thank you even now that you have answered this prayer and have poured out your Spirit in my life. Praise be to your name! Praise be to your name! I love you and thank you.

Sample Prayer of Surrender (pk)

Father, I surrender to you today with all my heart and soul. Lord Jesus, You are the Lord of my whole life. Dear Holy Spirit, I open all the secret places of my heart to You.

Oh God, I will hold nothing back. I offer up my body as a living sacrifice to be used entirely for you today. All that I have is yours: my health, my time, my family, my successes, my failures, my relationships, my occupation, my times of relaxation and of work. I release these things and let them go. I surrender my fears, my insecurities, my sexuality, my strengths and my weaknesses. I especially surrender __________ and __________. I surrender my understanding of how these things ought to be, my choices and my will. I want to relate to these things as a steward, receiving my strength and my direction from you. Take me and use me. Amen.

Alternatively, you could pray the following prayer of Ignatius: “Take, Lord, and receive, all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and possess. You have given all to me. To You, O Lord, I return it. All is yours. Dispose of it wholly according to your will. Give me your love and your grace, for this is sufficient for me.”

Our Death With Christ (mb)

Heavenly Father, I enter by faith today into death with the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. I appropriate all of the benefit of the crucifixion which is mine because of my union with Christ. I count myself dead to my old fleshly nature and all of its workings through my union with Christ at the cross. I recognize that my old nature always wants to resurrect itself against You and Your will for my life, but I will to let it remain dead in death with my Lord on the cross. I am thankful that this absolute truth can be my subjective experience. I recognize that appropriating the death of my flesh is an essential step to victory over these fleshly temptations which buffet me. Amen.

Appropriating This Walk With Christ (mb)

Blessed heavenly Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I desire to walk in the Spirit today. I recognize that only as He lives the life of the Lord Jesus Christ in me will I be able to escape the works of my flesh. I desire the Holy Spirit to bring all of the work of the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ into my life today. I pray that the Holy Spirit may produce His fruit within my whole being and shed abroad in my heart great love for the heavenly Father, for the Lord Jesus Christ, and for others about me. Forgive me, dear Holy Spirit, for all times I have grieved or quenched You. Enable me to respond to Your grace and to be sensitive to Your voice. Grant to me the desire and enablement to be obedient to Your precious Word. Grant me discernment to avoid being deceived by false spirits. I desire that the Holy Spirit fill all of my being with His presence and control me by faith. I trust my victory over the flesh today completely into the hands of the Holy Spirit as I let Him take control of me. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I receive all the fullness of the Holy Spirit into all areas of my being today. Amen.

Appropriating Our Victory Over the World (mb)

Loving heavenly Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I approach You again in prayer. I glorify You that all of my victory and ability to walk pleasing before You has been provided by Your grace. I desire to claim my victory that You have provided over my enemy, the world system. I recognize its powerful appeal to my fallen fleshly nature. I see that Satan’s deception and power in the world is strong against me. I know I cannot overcome the world through my own efforts. I enter into Your provided victory. Thank You that in His humanity, the Lord Jesus Christ overcame the world for me. Thank You that He met all of its temptations for me and defeated them. Thank You that Jesus Christ died and shed His blood that He might accomplish His full victory over the world and its ruler. Thank You that the blood of the Savior cleanses me of the times I have failed to overcome the world. I enter into my Lord’s victory and bring it strong against the appeal of the world to me.

I also open my heart to the full victory of the Holy Spirit over the world. I trust Him to put desires within my being which are above the world. I trust Him to cause the world’s appeal to me to be blotted out. May He keep me from being double-minded. I don’t want to love the things of God with one part of me and the things of the world with another part of me. May the Holy Spirit unite my heart to fear Your name. May He bring me all together in wholeness to love and serve You with all of my will, my mind, my emotions, my body, and my spirit. Thank You for providing all of my victory. I appropriate it now in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Putting on the Armor of God (mb)

Heavenly Father, I desire to be obedient by being strong in the Lord and the power of Your might. I see that this is Your will and purpose for me. I recognize that it is essential to put on the armor that You have provided, and I do so now with gratitude and praise that You have provided all I need to stand in victory against Satan and his kingdom. Grant me wisdom to discern the tactics and sneakiness of Satan’s strategy against me. Enable me to wrestle in victory against the princes, powers, rulers, and wicked spirits who carry the battle of darkness against me.

I delight to take the armor You have provided and by faith to put it on as effective spiritual protection against the spiritual forces of darkness.

I confidently take the loin girdle of truth that You offer me. I take Him who is the truth as my strength and protection. I reject Satan’s lies and deceiving ways to gain advantage against me. Grant me discernment and wisdom to recognize the subtle deceiving ways in which Satan seeks to cause me to accept his lies as truth. I desire to believe only the truth, to live the truth, to speak the truth, and to know the truth. I worship and praise You that You lead me only in the ways of truth. Thank You that Satan cannot stand against the bold use of truth.

Thank You for the breastplate of righteousness which you offer me. I eagerly accept it and put it on as my protection.

Thank You for reminding me again that all of my righteousness comes from You. I embrace that righteousness which is mine by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is His righteousness that is mine through justification. I reject and repudiate all trust in my own righteousness which is as filthy rags. I ask You to cleanse me of all the times I have counted my own goodness as being acceptable before You. I bring the righteousness of my Lord directly against all of Satan’s workings against me. I express my desire to walk in righteousness before God today. By faith I appropriate the righteousness of Christ and invite Him to walk in His holiness in my life today that I might experience His righteousness in total context of ordinary living. I count upon the righteousness of my Lord to be my protection. I know that Satan must retreat from before the righteousness of God.

Thank You, Lord, for the sandals of peace You have provided. I desire that my feet should stand on the solid rock of the peace that You have provided. I claim the peace with God which is mine through justification. I desire the peace of God which touches my emotions and feelings through prayer and sanctification (Phil 4:6). Thank You that as I walk in obedience to You that the God of peace promises to walk with me (Phil. 4:9), that as the God of peace You are putting Satan under my feet (Rom. 16:20). I will share this good news of peace with all others today that Your Spirit will bring into my life and witness. Thank You that You have not given me the spirit of fear but of love and power and a sound mind (2 Tim. 1:7). Thank You that Satan cannot stand against Your peace.

Eagerly, Lord, I lift up the shield of faith against all the blazing missiles that Satan and his hosts fire at me. I recognize that You are my shield and that in Your incarnation and crucifixion You took the arrows of Satan which I deserved. By faith I count upon You to shield me from above and beneath; on my right and my left; in front of me and behind me, that I might be protected, walled in, encapsulated by You that Satan may gain no way to hurt or destroy me from fulfilling Your will today. I am willing that any fiery darts of Satan You wish to touch me should do so, but I shall look upon them as refining fires permitted in Your providence for my refining and glory (1 Pet. 1). Thank You, Lord, that You are a complete and perfect shield and that Satan cannot touch me apart from Your sovereign purpose.

I recognize that my mind is a particular target of Satan’s deceiving ways. I take from You the helmet of salvation. I cover my mind, my thoughts, with Your salvation. I recognize that the Lord Jesus Christ is my salvation. I helmet my head with Him. I invite His mind to be in me. Let me think His thoughts, feel His love and compassion, and discern His will and leading in all things. Let my mind be occupied with the continuing, daily, saving work of my Lord in and through my life. May the salvation of my Lord meet and defeat all Satanic thoughts that come to my mind.

With joy I take hold upon the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. I affirm that Your Word is the trustworthy, infallible Word of God. I choose to believe it and to live in its truth and power. Grant me the love for Your Word which comes from the Holy Spirit. Forgive and cleanse me from the sin of neglecting Your Word. Enable me to memorize it and to meditate upon its truth. Grant me proficient recall and skill in using Your Word against all of Satan’s subtle attacks against me, even as my Lord Jesus Christ used the Word against Satan. Enable me to use Your Word not only to defend me from Satan, but also to claim its promises and to wield the sword strong against Satan to defeat him, to push him back, to take away from him ground he claims, and to win great victories for my God through Your Word. Thank You that Satan must retreat from Your Word applied against him.

Thank You, dear Lord, for prayer. Help me to keep this armor well oiled with prayer. I desire to pray at all times with depth and intensity as the Holy Spirit leads me. I reject all fleshly praying as sin. I trust the Holy Spirit to enable me, to intercede for me and through me. Grant me great supplication and burden for others in God’s family of blood-washed saints. Enable me to see their needs and to assist them through prayer as the enemy attacks them. All of these petitions, intercessions, and words of praise I offer up before the true and living God in the name and worthy merit of my Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

A Couple Whose Marriage is in Trouble (mb)

Loving heavenly Father, I thank You for Your perfect plan for our marriage. I know that a marriage functioning in Your will and blessing is fulfilling and beautiful. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I bring our marriage before You that You might make it all You desire it to be. Please forgive me for my sins of failure in our marriage. [One may specify and enlarge confession.]

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I tear down all of Satan’s strongholds designed to destroy our marriage. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I break all relationships between us that have been established by Satan and his wicked spirits. I will accept only the relationships established by You and the blessed Holy Spirit. I invite the Holy Spirit to enable me to relate to [my wife] in a manner that will meet [her] needs. I submit our conversation to You, that it may please You. I submit our physical relationship to You that it may enjoy your blessing. I submit our love to You that You may cause it to grow and mature. I desire to know and experience in marriage the fullness of Your perfect will. Open my eyes to see all areas where I am deceived. Open [my wife’s] eyes to see any of Satan’s deception upon [her]. Make our union to be the Christ-centered and blessed relationship You have designed in Your perfect will. I ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ with thanksgiving. Amen.

Demonic Bondage, Yet He Shows No Desire to Help Himself or to Have Anyone Else Help Him (mb)

Heavenly Father, I bring before You and the Lord Jesus Christ one who is very dear to You and to me, [Fred Smith]. I have come to see that Satan is blinding and binding him in awful bondage. He is in such a condition that he cannot or will not come to You for help on his own. I stand in for him in intercessory prayer before Your throne. I draw upon the Person of the Holy Spirit that He may guide me to pray in wisdom, power, and understanding.

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I loose [Fred] from the awful bondage the powers of darkness are putting upon him. I bind all powers of darkness set on destroying his life. I bind them aside in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and forbid them to work. I bind up all powers of depression that are seeking to cut [Fred] off and imprison him in a tomb of despondency. I bring in prayer the focus of the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ directly upon [Fred] to his strengthening and help. I bring the mighty power of my Lord’s incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and glorification directly against all forces of darkness seeking to destroy [Fred]. I ask the Holy Spirit to apply all of the mighty work of the Lord Jesus Christ directly against all forces of darkness seeking to destroy [Fred].

I pray, heavenly Father, that You may open [Fred’s] eyes of understanding. Remove all blindness and spiritual deafness from his heart. As a priest of God in Fred’s life, I plead Your mercy over his sins of failure and rebellion. I claim all of his life united together in obedient love and service to the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Spirit of the living God focus His mighty work upon [Fred] to grant him repentance and to set him completely free from all that binds him.

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I thank You for Your answer. Grant me the grace to be persistent and faithful in my intercessions for [Fred], that You may be glorified through this deliverance, Amen.

Renunciation and Affirmation (mb)

As a child of God purchased by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, I here and now renounce and repudiate all the sins of my ancestors. As one who has been delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son, I cancel out all demonic working that has been passed on to me from my ancestors. As one who has been crucified with Jesus Christ and raised to walk in newness of life, I cancel every curse that may have been put upon me. I announce to Satan and all his forces that Christ became a curse for me when He hung on the cross. As one who has been crucified and raised with Christ and now sits with Him in heavenly places, I renounce any and every way in which Satan may claim ownership of me. I declare myself to be eternally and completely signed over and committed to the Lord Jesus Christ. All this I do in the name and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 6:4; Gal. 2:20; 3:13; Eph. 1:7; 2:5-6; Col 1:13).