The Intercessors Handbook

by Jennifer Eivaz

  During one of these times of fasting, I began contending with something deeply spiritual and very evil. I did not pick the fight on my own but was led into it. Again, I discerned it was a demonic spirit that was occultic in nature, and I could feel its location in the city. It sat in the north area of Turlock—an area of the city that was undeveloped and mostly fields.

  One night I awoke around one or two in the morning, feeling again the severe contention with this spirit and even sensing it could take my life. I do not know how this happened, but as I felt myself struggling to stay alive, it seemed that my spirit left my body in that intense moment and proceeded to travel through five different homes of people in my church. As my spirit entered their homes, I found them in their beds and attempted to wake them, telling them to pray for me because I was in trouble. After I left the fifth home, I came back to my body and continued to contend, but I began to feel a sense of peace. The battle was not over, but I was alive.

  I was so sure of what happened during the night that I began to question the families of the five households the following weekend. I asked, “Did you pray for me the other night?” Four households said no. The fifth, however, belonged to a prayerful woman named Veronica Martinez. I asked her the same question. She replied in her beautiful accent, “Oh, yes! Your spirit appeared in my room. I knew I needed to pray for you.” I thanked her because her prayer before God probably saved my life.

  Toward the end of the forty-day fast, we were at Saturday night prayer, praying for our city. I felt that same severe contention again, but now something was different. I felt a breakthrough and clear victory over that demon. I kicked off my shoes in that moment, a response to the breakthrough I felt in my spirit.

  Whenever I go through something like this, I do not settle for what I feel or what I think I see. I begin looking for results. If it is real, something will appear to prove it out.

  The first thing I noticed was that the vise grip on my head had stopped and I could pray without oppression. I also noticed a bump in church growth during the next month. The biggest result happened within the next year. The area of land where that spirit was seated came under wide-scale construction and development. The land became useful instead of standing barren. New homes were built, as well as a new school and plenty of shopping areas. We purchased a beautiful new home in that area, too. (To the victor go the spoils, right?)

  In hindsight, I realized I should have sought help from like-minded intercessors in this situation. I neglected to do that out of ignorance, and that caused me to suffer more than was necessary.

  What I want you to take from these stories is this: When God gives you an assignment, He gives you authority for the assignment. However, even though we have the authority to act, we are not to handle our assignments presumptuously. We do not presume authority over territorial spirits and confront them just for the sake of confronting them. This would be misusing our spiritual authority and could take us outside of God’s protection in a dangerous way.

  I believe this is what happened to an influential pastor, intercessor and author who once organized a huge prayer crusade in a metropolitan city. During the crusade, he led a stadium full of people to confront the city’s demonic powers and principalities. He targeted principalities and powers of occultism and perversion in an attempt to tear them down. Instead of the demonic powers being torn down, however, he appeared to be the one torn down. Within a short time, his reputation was attacked on national television, which affected his ministry. Later, it was reported that he had lost his mind, his marriage and his ministry.

  It is important for us to heed the words of John Paul Jackson, from his book Needless Casualties of War, where he says, “Jesus showed us the proper way to use authority. He did nothing on His own authority, but only what the Father told Him to do.”4 By operating from this place, we keep from going astray and suffering dire consequences.

  Advancing the Kingdom of God does not come without a fight. As we prayerfully commit to His priorities and step out in response to His specific instructions, we will come into contention with territorial spirits as the two kingdoms collide. Prayer becomes our weapon of choice and the only thing that really works.

  Whole cities and nations, not just individuals, still suffer the chains of demonic bondage. Intercessors are the ones who become the problem solvers in such circumstances. Intercessors seem to catch the coming winds of revival before anyone else. They are compelled to pray until every spiritual obstacle is reordered to accommodate the plans of God. Intercessors invite the presence and power of Jesus into their metron, thus stopping Satan’s plans, cleansing the atmosphere and putting angels on assignment (see Psalm 103:20). Furthermore, as much as demons resist you, you will discover even greater armies of angels ready to assist you—the subject to which we will now turn.

  Kingdom Prayer Principles

  When Jesus said to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19), it was an act of war against the demonic spirits assigned to deceive the nations.

  Satan and his demonic cohorts lost their authority to rule at the cross. They did not lose their power, however, and will continue their sinister assignments until overcome by the authority and prayers of the Church.

  When God gives a directive to advance on something and it is met with opposition, we can assume there is a territorial spirit behind it. We need to consider the spirit of the matter since we do not live in a purely natural world.

  We are citizens of heaven and earth at the same time. Prayer is the place where heaven and earth become one.

  Because we live in both a natural and a spiritual realm, it is normal for Christians to encounter the spiritual realm in the context of prayer.

  We experience two kingdoms in conflict and exercise our spiritual authority with higher spirits and lower spirits differently. Lower spirits are often handled personally, while higher spirits are handled as the Spirit leads us.

  When God gives us an assignment, He gives us authority for the assignment. Even though we have the authority to act, we do not handle our assignments presumptuously.

  Prayer is our weapon of choice and the only thing that really works. Intercessors seem to catch the coming winds of revival before anyone else. They are compelled to pray until every spiritual obstacle is reordered to accommodate the plans of God.

  Thoughts for Reflection

  Has God ever given you a directive that did not work out as planned? Why do you think it did not work out?

  How have you experienced living in both a natural and a spiritual realm at the same time?

  Have you ever recognized a conflict in your life as having spiritual dimensions behind it? How did you know?

  Jesus dealt with higher and lower spirits differently. What does that look like in your world?

  Some people advise others not to be “overly spiritual.” Is that possible? Explain why or why not.

  6

  God’s Mighty Invisible Army

  Remember Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, whom we discussed in the last chapter—the one who believed God was sovereign only over the hills? Well, we are going to look at yet another time he lost out.

  This same king went to war against the king of Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet. But Elisha kept revealing the king of Aram’s secret war plans to the king of Israel, thus saving Israel from surprise attacks (see 2 Kings 6:8–10). Ben-Hadad became so frustrated with this that he demanded to know who in his army kept betraying him. He discovered he was not being betrayed from the inside, however, but by the prophet Elisha, who was capable of hearing “the very words [the king spoke] in [his] bedroom” (verse 12).

  In response, the king of Aram and his troops surrounded the city where Elisha lived. He intended to kill Elisha so he could go on to conquer Israel, uninterrupted.

  As the troops surrounded the city of Dothan, Elisha’s servant cried out in fear because death appeared imminent. Elisha, however, was not worried. He could see into the spirit realm. He told
his servant, “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (verse 16). He then prayed to God that his servant be given eyes to see what he saw. God answered favorably, and the servant’s spiritual eyes were opened.

  What did he see? Innumerable angelic troops on horses and chariots of fire filling the sky (see verse 17). Soon enough, the battle was over, with Israel as the victor.

  Angels among Us

  Everywhere God is and everywhere God’s people are, His angels are there, too. We see in both the Old and New Testaments a variety of scenes that point to the reality of angels. They are an invisible army on assignment, helping the Body of Christ fulfill her assignment to preach the Gospel and bring heaven to earth.

  If we could see into the spiritual realm and observe where the angels are and what they are doing, we would find peace in the most difficult situations. Sadly, the ministry of angels has been underemphasized. I believe this is because we avoid what we fear and reject what we do not understand. The ministry of angels is a key to answered prayer, though, and therefore something we need to discover and embrace.

  So, what do we need to know about angels?

  First, that angels are immortal spirits created by God before the earth was formed. We see them giving God the glory as the earth’s foundations were laid (see Job 38:4–7). We also note that they are servants and “sent to serve those who will inherit salvation” (Hebrews 1:14). Those who will inherit salvation are us—people on earth—so we can presume angels came into being prior to the arrival of human beings on earth.

  The Bible also says there is an innumerable number of angels (see Jeremiah 33:22 NASB; Hebrews 12:22). Although this is not said directly in Scripture, we can put some passages together to discover there are more angels than demons in existence. Lucifer, also known as Satan or the Morning Star, was cast out of heaven to the earth (see Isaiah 14:12; Luke 10:18; Revelation 9:1). That is why we see him show up in the Garden to tempt Adam and Eve. And when Satan fell from heaven, he took a third of the angels with him. The apostle John describes how this happened. He saw a vision of a dragon sweeping a third of the stars from the sky with his tail and then being hurled out of heaven with his angels (see Revelation 12:7–9). This shows us there are probably two angels for every one demon. If God is still inclined to create angels, there could be many more.

  Angels inhabit both heaven and earth and actually travel between them. We know this from the story in Genesis 28:10–22, where we find the Lord appearing to Jacob in a dream, telling him of the generational promises coming to him and his family. In the dream, the Lord stood above a stairway that connected heaven and earth. Angels used this stairway to travel back and forth between both places. Jesus later confirmed this detail, telling Nathanael that he would see angels descending between heaven and earth because of the Son of Man, referring to Himself (see John 1:51).

  Why do angels go back and forth between heaven and earth? Their primary purpose is to serve God in heaven and to serve the heirs of salvation, which are you and I, believers in Jesus as Lord (see Psalm 103:20; Hebrews 1:14). Angels serve and perform a variety of spiritual and natural tasks. In general, here is what they do:

  Protect (see Daniel 6:20–23; 2 Kings 6:13–17)

  Guide (see Mark 16:5–7; Acts 8:26)

  Reveal information (see Luke 1:11–20; Acts 1:11)

  Provide (see Genesis 21:17–20; 1 Kings 19:5–7)

  Arrive in response to prayer (see Daniel 9:22–23; Acts 12:8–12)

  Fight demonic spirits (see Daniel 10:20; Revelation 12:7)

  Care for believers upon death (see Luke 16:22; Jude 9)

  Many people can cite experiences where they knew an angel had protected them, either because they saw an angel or because the circumstances were too miraculous not to have included the involvement of an angel. For example, a woman in our church was driving on the freeway when the cars stopped much too quickly for her to respond.

  “It all seemed like it was happening in slow motion,” Catherine says. “I watched myself drive into the car in front of me, pass through the vehicle and even the person inside, and then to a clear space on the road without damage or harm.”

  Several vehicles in front of and behind Catherine’s car were hit in the bottlenecked traffic, but she went untouched. The driver of the car she passed through jumped out of his vehicle in surprise and fright, asking, “What was that?” He knew some type of miracle had happened. This is the work of angels.

  Again, relating the story from the last chapter, the prophet Daniel had been fasting and praying for 21 days when an angel appeared to him. The angel said, “Your words were heard, and I have come in response to them” (Daniel 10:12).

  Angels are being dispatched from heaven to earth to answer our prayers. Remember, this is being done by permission of our heavenly Father, because all answers to prayer originate in Him. Prayer puts this invisible army into action. However, there are principles we need to understand.

  Heaven Open to Us

  John had just baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. Afterward, Jesus began to pray, and when He did, “heaven was opened” (Luke 3:21). Out of heaven, the Holy Spirit fell upon Him like a dove, and His Father spoke His love for Jesus in the hearing of all the people.

  Although this passage does not provide direct instruction, we can receive insight about prayer through it. That insight would be this: When Jesus prayed, heaven opened. If that happened to Jesus, who was our example, then it will happen for us. We will pray, and heaven will open over us, too.

  Paul the apostle wrote, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). Every blessing of God exists first in the heavenly realm. A lifestyle of prayer causes heaven to open over us, and we can expect God’s blessings to fall upon us like the rain (see Deuteronomy 28:12).

  When heaven opens, we can expect a variety of things to happen. First, we can expect an increase in angelic activity. It is not necessary to see angels to verify this, but we can trust the biblical pattern either way. The angels will ascend and descend on the location where we have prayed (see Genesis 28:10–12; John 1:51). We can also expect the Holy Spirit to fall upon us in power. When the 120 believers gathered to pray in the Upper Room, heaven opened and the Holy Spirit fell upon them in response to their prayers (see Acts 2:1–4). An open heaven is also connected to provision and our needs being met. Asaph described in the Psalms how heaven opened and manna, or “angel’s food,” came down (see Psalm 78:23–25). Malachi also instructed the people to restore their tithes to see the windows of heaven open up again over their lives (see Malachi 3:10). Finally, an open heaven allows us to experience the voice and revelation of God in ways we normally would not. The apostle John stood before an open door in heaven and heard a voice that invited him, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this” (Revelation 4:1).

  When the blessings of heaven are not falling on our lives, we need to check the conditions of heaven. If you are sensitive to spiritual atmospheres, an open or closed heaven is an atmosphere you can feel. A closed heaven feels like your prayers hit the ceiling and fall back down. This verse describes it well: “The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron” (Deuteronomy 28:23). In the context of this verse, heaven closes when the people of God fail to hear and obey God’s voice.

  Heaven can also be hindered by darkness above. Again in the story of Daniel, heaven was closed because a demonic prince, the prince of Persia, stood in his way. It opened again only after the archangel Michael fought and won against this spirit, which released Daniel’s answer to prayer.

  Heaven is not always open, which means angels are not always on assignment to help. The prophet Isaiah seemed to shout in frustration, “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!” (Isaiah 64:1). If we read further in the passage, we see the Israelites had stopped praying and were experiencing the consequences of their sin
s. Prayerlessness keeps heaven closed, which blocks God’s angels and blessings from reaching us.

  For us, Jesus has now become the “open heaven,” which is characterized by perpetual angelic activity (see John 1:51). We step into an open heaven the same way Jesus did: when we pray. We pray to our heavenly Father in Jesus’ name, asking for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. This puts us in direct proximity to the angels coming and going between earth and heaven, having come in response to our prayers and with our prayers putting them on assignment in earth’s realm.

  Authority within Us

  While I was ministering at Greater Chicago Church in the Oak Park area, a whole new world opened to me in this regard. Pastors Ian and Rachel Carroll asked me to do a comprehensive seminar on prayer. At the first session, I communicated to the attendees about God’s ability to pour out His Spirit on the entire city of Chicago.

  Perhaps that sounds grandiose, but I based it on an incredible outpouring that took place while I attended Oral Roberts University. In 1993, the Holy Spirit fell on the entire campus for a month in a glorious visitation. During that time, the Holy Spirit did not have much regard for what people were doing and seemed to enjoy interrupting chapel services, classrooms, the cafeteria, the outdoors, the library, restrooms . . . everything, everywhere! Students were often found holding on to poles, chairs and trees and acting quite drunk in His presence (see Acts 2:13, 15). It was a life-changing and unforgettable experience.

  As I shared this story with the audience in Chicago, the room’s atmosphere changed. A band of angels came into the room, and their presence stopped anything else from happening. I have the ability to see into the spirit realm and saw the angels come in that moment, but you did not need to see them to experience the results. They were quite eager and lively in their behavior. They came in all shapes and sizes, and the wings of some hit me as they moved back and forth in the room.