Prayer is communication with God.  Intercession is prayer on behalf of others.  Prophetic prayer is communication with God through the leading of the Holy Spirit.  Speaking in tongues is prayer inspired by the Holy Spirit to accomplish the perfect will of the Father.  When we speak out what the Spirit of God moves upon us to speak, we are instruments in God’s hands to create, to declare those things that are not as though they were, to be made manifest.

Because prayer is powerful, because prayer moves mountains, and because prayer is an intimate communication with our Lord, the Lord’s enemy wants to stop it at all costs.  There are so many stories I have of prayer being derailed, shut down, thwarted and broken up.  But God’s purposes are like a river that keeps flowing. The plans of God will prevail in spite of everything the enemy tries to blockade, divide and destroy.

Our enemy, of course, is not flesh and blood, but spirit.  He is a formidable foe.  However, his plans can be  nullified and voided when we pray with the God-given authority of the believer, in the powerful name of Jesus.

 I want to share a vision that God gave me just a few months ago.

 It was in the middle of the night, about 3:00 AM, when I awoke to the sound of the footsteps of a crowd of people running on pavement.   The sound was so loud that it startled me.  I quickly sat up in bed, and  at that instant the room around me changed.  I was in the reception area outside the offices at our church.  This is where our early morning prayer meets.  I was standing by the door looking through the glass.  It was dark outside, with only the parking lot lights illuminating the scene.  Suddenly I see two shadowy  figures, like black silhouettes  running across the front of the  church.   Their forms could be seen for only a few seconds, because of the heavy foliage to the left of the steps.  Then the vision ended and I was back in my bedroom.  I knew immediately that there was an attack on our church.  I began to pray for our church, its leaders and our church’s intercessors.

I continued to pray as I got ready to drive to church for prayer.  When I arrived at the church, it was still pitch black.  As I pulled into the parking spot my headlights flashed against the wall of the church, I startled an animal that had found shelter behind the bushes to the left of the steps. I recognized the animal, for I had seen it once before in the early morning running across  the neighborhood lawns and between the houses trying to avoid my headlights.  It was a coyote, with long spindle-like legs and pointed ears, very lithe and quick, beige in color.  

When I startled the coyote, he ran from the bushes and along the side of the church  to the end of the building.  Before getting out of the car, I asked for God’s protection. Then as I opened the  car door and stepped out, the coyote stuck his head out from the end of the building.  When I saw that he was interested in me, I slammed the door to the car as hard as I could, to scare him away.  It worked - I couldn’t see him, so I walked up the steps quickly and into the church.   

Now I know that it is commonly held belief, that coyotes don’t usually attack people.  But I want to share a story that came from our pastor.  He told us his experience with a coyote, while living in his home, the parsonage next door to the church.

He begins his story by saying that one morning he was on the deck of his house, having a cup of coffee, when suddenly he looked to his left.  On the walkway just off the deck, was  a  coyote.  The coyote  walked slowly towards the pastor with his teeth bared.  His intentions were clear.  He walked towards the pastor in a predatory mode.  He could see that the growling and the determined look in the animal’s eye showed the intent was to attack.  The pastor, kept his eyes on the coyote, and walked backward, slowly towards the door to his house.  By the grace of God, he was able to open the door and get inside safely.

I knew that the coyote was a manifestation of the wicked one’s intention to stop prayer, and to stop the church.  Peter warns us in 1 Peter 5:8:  “Be alert and of sober mind.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”  

 There is another scripture, Zechariah 13:7:  “Strike the shepherd and the flock will scatter.”  The enemy is sometimes subtle and sometimes very blatant.  The vision and the coyote were there as a warning or a “heads up.”  There was a plan in place, to upset and stop, the activities of the church.

Since this warning, prayer has been under attack.  Everyone of the intercessors in our morning prayer group started suffering.  Some developed bodily pains. There were three car accidents, two of which were within a three day period, and the other within the month - a hit and run.  One of the ladies, had a fall that caused a shattered kneecap and a broken wrist.  Several of us have experienced family strife and upheavals, anxiety attacks, and even one of us lost a job.  BUT - God’s purpose will continue on!

We have been praying and interceding for our church, our nation and the world.  The enemy will send threats, and attacks our way to discourage us to stop prayer.  I have so many experiences and visions about this topic, I could write a book.  But for now I would ask  that you take prayer seriously.  It is powerful.  We have to be connected to God.  We have to be in intimate fellowship with him, for this is where our strength comes from.  The Lord is our refuge, our strong tower, our healer, and our deliverer.  But in all circumstances we must never lose focus on God’s purpose.

There is a book that I read - perhaps you have already read it, or heard of it, “The Screwtape Letters” by C.S. Lewis.  It is somewhat amusing.  It is a collection of letters between a novice demon and his older and wiser Uncle, seasoned in the practice of the deceptive arts.  It is instructional in nature, to train the fledgling demon.  

But for us as believers, it opens our eyes to the workings of the enemy. “For we are not unaware of his (the devil’s) schemes.”  2 Corinthians 2:11 

God commands us to “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”  James 4:7   

Through prayer, we are made aware of the plans of the enemy.  We are to be on the offense.  We are to take back ground that Satan has laid claim to, through sin and open doors.   After all Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”  Matthew 16:18  This is God’s primary purpose, to build the church.   

Ephesians 6:10:  “Finally be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”   

The Lord makes it clear, we are to pray without ceasing, to pray in his name, to pray on all occasions, to pray in agreement, to pray in the Spirit, to pray in faith, to pray for our leaders, to pray for the church, to pray for the lost, to pray for the sick, and to pray God’s will to be done on this earth as it is in heaven.   So what is the message?  Just keep on praying!

The United States Mail motto is:  “Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night, stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”  (Herodotus 503 B.C.)  

 Aren’t our prayers letters to Heaven?  Aren’t they messages to the Lord?  We must be like the postmen, the couriers, and not let anything deter our mission, to fulfil the Lord’s commission:  to build his church.  And prayer is what changes hearts and moves mountains.

 So our motto should be:  “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength!”  Philippians 4:13

 And the reward?  

 “To him who overcomes I will give the right to the tree of life, which is is the paradise of God.”  Revelations 2:7

 “He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.”  Revelations 2:11

 “To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna.  I will give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.”  Revelations 2:17

 “To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations...I will also give him the morning star.”  Revelations 2:26

 “He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.”  Revelations 3:5

 “Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God.  Never again will he leave it.  I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God which is the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name.”  Revelations 3:12

“To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.”  Revelations 3:21

And we all said, “AMEN!”