Interceding against the Powers of Darkness; a short Bible Study on Warfare

Then he said to me, Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your mind and heart to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come as a consequence of and in response to your words. Daniel 10:12

The angel told Daniel, “Your prayers got through the very first day.” God hears us the first day we pray, but we do have to stand sometimes before the answer comes. It is not God who withholds answers to our prayers. He sends the answer but there are forces out in the heavens endeavoring to intercept those answers.

For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood (contending only with physical opponents), but against despotisms, against the powers, against the master spirits who are the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere. Ephesians 6:12

Despotisms - unlimited authority, absolute power
Despot - a tyrant

We wrestle not against flesh and blood. . . We try to fight, wrestle and cope with situations we see, when we are really wrestling against an unseen power behind the situation.

But against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world. . . Another scripture declares “the whole world lies in wickedness” 1 John 5:19. The Amplified version reads, “and the whole world around us is under the power of the evil one.” If the whole world lies in wickedness and in darkness, then the devil is ruling the whole world. He is ruling everybody who is unsaved. But as a Child of God, he does not rule us. We are not of the world. We are children of light, not darkness. “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us able to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. The Father has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” Colossians 1:12 -13 God has taken us out from under the control of darkness and the rulers of darkness; the devil, demons and evil spirits. Everything on this earth is dominated, ruled or influenced by spirits in the unseen world. We as Christians are influenced and led by the Spirit of God. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Romans 8:14

Ephesians 6:10-18 Because we do wrestle in our prayer life against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, and wicked spirits in the heavenlies, the object of taking on the whole armor of God is so that we can enter into the prayer life. We have authority in the Name of Jesus against all powers of darkness. The Bible calls us citizens of heaven. We need to know our rights and claim them.

Intercession comes in when we have to intercede for people who don’t know their rights. They may be honest, sincere, saved for years, but spiritual things remain hidden to them. When praying for others, we may have to take more time to intercede, because they may be yielding to evil spirits. Ephesians 6:18 speaks about making supplication “for all saints”. An intercessor is one who takes the place of another.

Interceding in the spirit with "groanings that cannot be uttered"; “For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.” 1 Corinthians 14:14 Praying in the spirit provides a way for us to pray for things we know not, for things we don’t even know about, for people we don’t know. We need to have heart felt prayers, and trust the Holy Spirit to help to make intercession for individuals or situations when we do not know how to pray.

Interceding with the Understanding; “I, even I, am He who blots out and cancels your transgressions, for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins. Put Me in remembrance (remind Me of your merits); let us plead and argue together. Set forth your case, that you may be proved right.” Isaiah 43:25-26 God told us to remind Him of what He said. In other words, “plead your cause.”