I want to share with you from a
testimony of someone who was saved, someone who had been serving the
devil. And when that 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 it
was at that time the Lord began to teach me what happens in the
spiritual realm when we pray.
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. When he was
six years, 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. 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 twenties with so much bloodshed
on his hands. Killed at will. He had the ability to go
out of his body through transcendental meditation. And 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-travelling. And
this guy was used by satan to destroy so many churches, to break
down so many churches and to destroy so many pastors.
One day, he was assigned to
destroy a church that was so full of prayer. There were so
many divisions in this church, and many confusions. And he
began to work on 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. And
as they 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 to 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-travelling. 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
and 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, and all the demons
fled, but he was arrested by these angels.
Yes,
arrested by the angels! He saw himself being held by about six
angels, and they brought him through the roof right before the
church altar. There he was, and the people were praying.
They were deep in prayer in 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 collapsed
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 had left
it in his house. But there he was in his body, he didn't know
how he had entered in except the angel 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.
One night, I (John Mulinde) went
to a dinner. The sole reason I went is that someone told me
about this young man, and I was so curious to see him, and see if
his story was true. So I sat at that dinner and in the
evening, this man was given the chance to give his testimony.
He talked about so many things. Sometimes he cried because of
the things he did. As he finished, he made an appeal.
There
were many pastors in that room. And he said, "I appeal to
you, pastors. Please teach the people how to pray." The
people who don't pray, can be taken in anything, in anything by the
devil, and there are ways that the enemy exploits their lives and
their prayers. The enemy knows even how to exploit their
prayers of those people who don't know how to pray. "Teach
the people how to use the spiritual armor that God provides."
Then he shared how he lead
expositions into the air. He would go with other satanic
agents and lots of demon spirits into the air. It was like a
shift, you've got to go and work your shift. So regularly he
had a time he had to go and wage war in the heavenlies. And he
said that in the heavenlies, in the spiritual realm, if the land is
covered under the blanket of darkness, that blanket is so thick, it
is 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 earth at the
points of covenant, even waters or on the land at the points of
covenant for refreshing of their spirit. And how do they
refresh their spirit? By the sacrifices that people give at these
altars. They could be sacrifices in open witchcraft,
sacrifices in bloodshed of all types including abortion, including
warfare and human sacrifices and animal sacrifices. They could
be sacrifices of sexual immorality where people go into sexual
perversions and all kinds of promiscuity. And that act
services the strength of these powers. And many are the
different types of sacrifices.
He said that when satanic agents
are up in the heavenly realm, and the Christians begin to pray on
earth, the prayers of the Christians appear to them in three forms.
All prayers appear like smoke that is rising up into the heavens.
Some
prayers appear like smoke, and it goes drifting along and disappear
in the air. These prayers come from people who have sin in
their lives and they are not willing to deal with it. Their
prayers are so weak, they are 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 are 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 prayers look like the first type, but as they continue
praying, their prayers change and become like the second prayer.
And as they continue praying, suddenly it ignites into fire.
And their prayers become so powerful, they pierce through the rock.
Many times evil agents would
notice that prayers were changing and coming very close to the state
of fire, then these agents would communicate to other spirits on
earth and they tell them, "Distract that
person from prayer. Stop them praying. Pull them out."
Many times Christians yield to
these distractions. They are pressing through, they are
repenting, they are allowing the Word to check their spirit up,
Faith has been building up. Their prayers are becoming more
focused. Then the devil sees their prayers are gaining
strength and the distractions begin. Telephones ring.
Sometimes we, in the middle of very, very intense prayer, the
telephone rings and you think you can go to answer the phone and
then come back and continue praying. 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 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. And he
will say to the pastors, "Teach people. Set aside some time.
Not for just some casual kind of praying. They can do that the
rest of the day. Once in a day, they should have a time when
they are focusing wholeheartedly on God, nothing distracting them.
And if people persist in this kind
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 that rock, and it melts. And this man said, when
the melting begins, it is so hot, no demon spirit can stand it.
No human spirit can stand it. They all flee. They all
run away.
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 so smooth,
so enjoyable, so powerful and intense. And I've discovered at
that moment, we normally lose conscience of time and other things.
Not that we become disorderly. God takes care of our time.
But it is like you lay down everything, and you hook up with God.
And this man said that when the prayers go through, from that moment
there can be no resistance at all, and the person praying will
continue as long as he wants. There is no resistance that can
stop him.
And then he said, after he
finishes praying, the hole remains open, and he said that people,
when they rise out of their place of prayer, and they walk out, this
open hole moves along with them. They are no longer operating
under the blanket. They are operating under open heavens.
And he said 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 are protected, and there
is so much power inside that pillar that as they move around, that
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 break-through share Jesus
Christ with the sinners, their resistance is low. It is 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 the devil hates such people.
And it said 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 to just
minister to them patiently and with love, they can easily be pulled
through, not by power nor by might but by the Spirit of God, who is
present. And he said, if no one bothers about these people,
they come into his presence, they feel convicted, 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.
You can imagine we were all seated
looking at this man. He was telling us the things he used to
do and what he used to see. Then he told us what they would do
to people who have broken through in prayer. He said they
marked such people; they studied such people. They dug up
everything they could find about such people. So 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 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 spirits
are high, the joy of the Lord is his strength. As he moves the
enemy tries to bring those things that can distract him from
focusing on the Lord.
If his weakness is in the area of
temper, then the enemy is going to cause people to do things which
can make him really angry. And if he is not sensitive to the
Holy Spirit, and he allows himself to go into the temper, he takes
his eyes off the Lord. He gets angry, he feels so furious, and
after a few minutes later, 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; he doesn't feel any good again.
Why? As he yielded to the temptation, they worked hard to close the
door upstairs. And once they restore the rock, the presence is
cut off. The person does not cease being a child of God.
But that extra anointing that goes on his life, that presence that
could do things without his manipulating anything, it's just cut
off. They seek out where the weaknesses are.
If it is in the temptation to
sexuality, the enemy will prepare people, events, something that
will suddenly draw out that passion to go towards that temptation.
And if that man yields to this temptation and opens up his mind to
receive these thoughts, entertains them, when he is through with
everything and wants to move again in the anointing, he just
discovers it is no longer there. Maybe you say, "That's not
fair." Just remember what the Bible says, "Put on the helmet of
salvation. Put on the breastplate of righteousness." We
normally do not see the position, the place of these weapons of
warfare. But remember what Jesus told us to pray towards the
end of the Lord's prayer, "Take 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.
Ask the Lord, say "Lord, I've enjoyed this time of prayer, but when
I walk out into this world, lead me not into temptation. Don't
allow me to walk into the devil's trap. I know the enemy is
setting a trap out there. I don't know what form it is going
to take. And I know I am still weak in certain areas. If
I am just put in the right place, I will yield to that.
Protect me, Lord. When you see me turning that corner where
the trap is, just cause me to turn to the other side.
Intervene, O Lord. Don't allow me to move by just my own
strength and ability. Deliver me from the evil one."
God is able to do that. He
is able. That is why sometimes things happen, all you need to
say is, "Thank you, Jesus." That's why Apostle Paul wrote in the
book of Thessalonians and said, "Thank God in everything for that is
the will of God in Christ for you." Some things are not good.
They are painful, and we wonder why God would allow it. But if
only we knew what He is saving us from, we would thank Him.
When we learn to trust the Lord, we just thank Him in everything.
Beloved, I don't know whether to
go deeper because I do not want to start something I cannot finish.
Let me just try to take one step forward. And this man said
that when prayer breaks through like that, the answer will always
come. He said he does not know a case where prayer broke
through and the answer did not come. He said the answer always
came, but in most cases, it would never get to the person who asked.
Why? Battle in the heavenlies. He says as long as they succeed
in cutting off the open heavens and the rock is restored, they watch
this person, they are waiting because they know the answer is
definitely coming.
And then this man spoke something
that really shook my faith. It is because of the next part he
shared that I went into fasting ten days to say, Lord, is this true?
Can you prove it to me? This man said that every Christian has got
an angel serving that Christian. Now we know the Bible says
angels 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 like we can read it in the book of Daniel.
Then he said something really tough; if the one who prays knows the
spiritual armors and is clothed with them, the answer comes by an
angel who is also clothed in full armor.
If the one who prays doesn't care
about spiritual armory, their angels come without spiritual armor.
Christians who don't care about what kind of thoughts come into
their minds. They don't fight the battle of their minds.
Their angels come without the helmet. 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.
This
man said, when the angel is coming, they would focus and look at him
and notice the areas which are not covered, and those are the areas
they would attack. If he has no helmet, they would shoot at
his head. If he has no breastplate, they would shoot at his
chest. If he has no shoes, they would make a fire that he is
walking in the fire. Now I am just repeating what this man
said. Actually, we asked him, "Can angels feel fire?" And you
know what he said to us? Remember this is a spiritual realm.
These are spirits dealing with spirits. The battle is
intensive, and when they overpower an angel of God, the first thing
they target is the answer he is carrying, and they get that from
him, that is what they give through the cults, the witchcraft, and
people say, "I got this because of witchcraft."
Remember what the Bible says in
the book of James? 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. Jesus
said, "Pray without ceasing." And then He said, "But when the Son of
Man comes, will He find faith?" Will He find you still there
waiting? Or will you have given up and the enemy would steal what
you have prayed for?
Then this man said that they are
not satisfied with just stealing the answer. They are also
interested in detaining the angel. And they start fighting
him. And he said sometimes they succeed in holding and binding
the angel. And he says, when that happens, the Christian is a
victim on earth. They can do anything with that Christian
because he is totally left without ministry in the Spirit.
I said to him, "Do you mean an
angel can be held in captivity by demonic forces?" This man did not
even know the scriptures by the time he was saying all this.
He did not know very many scriptures. He was just sharing his
experiences. And he said, they wouldn't hold the angel too
long because as other Christians prayed elsewhere, reinforcement
would come, and the angels would go free. 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 the deceptions come in. False visions and
false prophecies. False leadership, I mean leading, guidance
in the spirit, making wrong decisions of all types. And many
times this person is open to all kinds of attack and bondages.
And I asked the Lord. I left
that dinner so troubled, so troubled. I said, "Lord, I don't
want even to try and believe this." It removes all my confidence, my
security. When I went to seek the Lord, it was ten days, the
Lord did two things. He did not only confirm the things I had
heard, he opened my mind to see a lot more that this man could not
tell us of what happens in the spiritual realm. And two, he
led me to see what we are supposed to do as the things are happening
so that we are not overcome but that we can overcome. And we
need to know three things and really come to terms with these three
things.
One: how to operate with the
weapons of our warfare. The Bible calls them the armor of God.
It is not our armor; it is God's armor. When we use it, we
allow God to fight on our behalf. 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. That brings us to the third thing: that is 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 to tell Him what we need.
That is the work of angels. But He stands by our side.
Doing what? Guiding us, teaching us, leading us, helping us to pray
the right way. And when these things are happening in the
spiritual realm, He tells us, sometimes He wakes you up in the night
and says, "Pray." You say, "No! My time is not yet come." And He
says, "Pray now!" Why? He sees what is happening in the spirit.
Sometimes He says, "Tomorrow-fasting!" You say, "Oh, 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. Beloved we've got to stop here. Maybe
tomorrow morning, we can talk about how we can pray through, knowing
the battles in the spirit and how we can break through. How we
can maintain our breakthrough once we have scored it. And once
we learn this, it becomes enjoyable. Then we learn one thing:
the battle is not ours; the battle is of the Lord! Hallelujah!
Let's
just stand up. Look someone in the eye, and just think about
how many times that person could have missed what God had for him.
But join your hands if you can, two or three people, and just tell
each other, "There's no need for more defeat! We can overcome! There
is enough power to overcome! Jesus has already done the whole work."
Pray for each other that the Lord will help us to overcome. We
should not lose. There is enough grace, enough power for
victory. 
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