{"id":12645,"date":"2024-02-06T13:52:33","date_gmt":"2024-02-06T19:52:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/?p=12645"},"modified":"2024-02-06T13:52:36","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T19:52:36","slug":"3-questions-to-ask-when-confronting-conflict-in-prayer-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2024\/02\/3-questions-to-ask-when-confronting-conflict-in-prayer-2\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Questions to Ask When Confronting Conflict in Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

To engage in effective spiritual warfare, you need to know your enemy and your authority, but most of all, you need to know how to fight! Baptist pastor John Piper says that \u201cthe number one reason why prayer malfunctions in the hands of . . . believers is that they try to turn a wartime walkie-talkie into a domestic intercom. Until you believe that life is war, you cannot know what prayer is for.\u201d[i]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are three questions you should always ask when confronting any kind of conflict in prayer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Diagnosis<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What is the enemy\u2019s strategy against this person or place? To answer this question, you need common sense (it\u2019s often quite obvious), wisdom (not all bad things that happen are necessarily demonic), and spiritual discernment (Satan can be a convincing liar). In 1\u00a0Corinthians 12, the apostle Paul includes the ability of \u201cdistinguishing between spirits\u201d in his list of the great spiritual gifts alongside things like prophecy and healing. We need to ask the Lord, therefore, to open our eyes to see and understand what\u2019s going on in the spiritual realm all around us, just as Elisha prayed for his terrified servant \u201c\u2018Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.\u2019 Then the Lord opened the servant\u2019s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around.\u201d[ii]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Prognosis<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Having diagnosed the problem, ask yourself, What might God\u2019s better plan be for this person or place? To answer this question, you need to listen carefully to his Word and especially his promises, as well as any intuitions you may receive from the Holy Spirit, as did Uncle Joe in Massachusetts and Daniel in ancient Babylon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Prescription<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Having discerned what Satan is trying to do and what God is wanting to do, ask yourself, What can I now do, both prayerfully and practically, to thwart Satan\u2019s plan and to welcome God\u2019s better purposes into this person, place, or situation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The passage of Scripture quoted more often than any other in relation to spiritual warfare is Ephesians 6:11-18, in which the apostle Paul urges us to \u201cPut on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil\u2019s schemes.\u201d He proceeds to itemize the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, \u201cwhich is the word of God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[i]<\/a> John Piper, \u201cPrayer: The Work of Missions,\u201d ACMC Annual Meeting, Denver, Colorado, July 28, 1988, https:\/\/www.desiringgod.org\/messages\/prayer-the-work-of-missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[ii]<\/a> 2\u00a0Kings 6:17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taken from How to Pray: A Simple Guide for Normal People<\/em> by Pete Greig. Copyright \u00a9 2019. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pete Greig<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

is an award-winning author, pastor, and one of the\u00a0bewildered instigators of the 24-7 Prayer movement which has reached more than half the nations on earth. He serves as the Team Leader at Emmaus Rd in Guildford, as a Vice-President for the NGO Tearfund and as an Associate Tutor at St Mellitus Theological College in London<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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More from Pete<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To engage in effective spiritual warfare, you need to know your enemy and your authority, but most of all, you need to know how to fight! Baptist pastor John Piper says that \u201cthe number one reason why prayer malfunctions in … <\/p>\n

Read more3 Questions to Ask When Confronting Conflict in Prayer<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":12648,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":""},"categories":[613,8,1],"tags":[268,395],"yoast_head":"\n3 Questions to Ask When Confronting Conflict in Prayer - The Disciplemaker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2024\/02\/3-questions-to-ask-when-confronting-conflict-in-prayer-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"3 Questions to Ask When Confronting Conflict in Prayer - The Disciplemaker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"To engage in effective spiritual warfare, you need to know your enemy and your authority, but most of all, you need to know how to fight! 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