In his recent book Beloved, Francis Chan writes the following:
“I remember my daughter telling me about how one of her college professors asked her class to practice sitting silently alone with the Lord for seven minutes each morning, and almost everyone confessed that they couldn’t do it. They needed to turn music on to distract themselves or couldn’t resist the urge to check their phones. If we can’t sit still and focus for seven minutes, how are we ever going to sustain a relationship with a God that we can’t see? A God who demands that we seek Him with our whole heart?
Silence and meditation are very important spiritual disciplines that are getting utterly lost in the American church. If you find yourself unable to be quiet for any length of time, you urgently need to start working out that spiritual muscle. The enemy has popularized the inability to meditate… This is not a light matter – I truly believe it is critical to the longevity of your faith. We all know that if you stop spending time with someone, it creates distance in the relationship. And a distant, shallow relationship with God is a playground for the enemy.”
In his book Francis also wrote how he has seen hundreds of believers fall away, pastors included, and how many Christians are oblivious to the intense spiritual battles around and against them:
“It’s our natural instinct to protect ourselves when there is physical danger, so how come we don’t protect ourselves in the face of spiritual danger? We have to take this spiritual war more seriously than we currently do. Be honest – how often do you think about the fact that you are at war? When was the last time you actually fought?”
I’ve read a number of Francis Chan’s books and can’t recall him writing much about spiritual warfare. In Beloved he admitted that he had avoided talking about spiritual warfare because, as he put it, “I didn’t want to be one of those people who see demons in everything.” He also stated that he had encountered more spiritual warfare writing Beloved than he had in decades.
Of course. Prayer-powered spiritual warriors who take new ground are a threat to the gates of hell.
As I read how Francis had avoided spiritual warfare for years, I couldn’t help thinking that it was a picture of how many believers and churches avoid it, (or don’t effectively equip their people in these areas) with devastating consequences. I write about spiritual warfare and prayer often and get attacked for it. Francis experienced this when he wrote Beloved. I’ve worked with many believers over the years who don’t understand that much of the torment, affliction, or bondage they’ve been going through for decades is due to spiritual warfare; they’ve spent years looking for horizontal answers for spiritual problems. This doesn’t mean that we don’t need emotional healing, but when the enemy is attacking our wounds or our weak point we have to shut him down for lasting freedom and victory.
“But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”
Matthew 24:13
With the increasing chaos in the world, growing deep roots in Christ every day is a non-negotiable for those who would endure to the end. Shallow Christianity won’t get it done. We have to be all-in with God and keep the sirens of the world and its pleasures and distractions at a distance.
How are you doing with silence with God? Would you be one of those who can’t pray for seven minutes without twitching and going for your phone?
“in quietness and in trust shall be your strength”
– Isaiah 30:15
… which is why Jesus went away alone often for long stretches of prayer and began his ministry with 40 days alone in the desert. If Jesus needed to binge on prayer and silence, we need it one hundred times more.
Your prayer life is critical, more than ever, and learning to stand and shut down the enemy when he hits you is a must. The prayer meeting is just as important. Jim Cymbala, senior pastor, hits on why many pastors might not make the prayer meeting a priority today:
“Why aren’t there more prayer meetings in our churches? I’m convinced that the main reason is that pastors know the folks won’t come due to their lukewarm spiritual condition… But can’t we start somewhere, even if it means just two or three hearty souls?”
Hopefully, this isn’t you, and you’re growing into a prayer warrior who is pouring their life out for eternity.
“I have felt the strongest attacks in decades while writing this book.
If a guy fought a lion and the lion won, would you be surprised? We really shouldn’t be surprised to see so many people currently losing to the enemy. You will die if you don’t get serious about standing in the strength of his might. You are destined to join the long list of those who have fallen unless you recognize the danger.”
– Francis Chan
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
Matthew 7:24-27
See https://theroguechristian.com/spiritual-warfare/ for more information on spiritual warfare.
