“Megan, you need to share this in your blog. People here at home need to read about this.” Those words were said to me over FaceTime a few nights ago. So, here it goes:
About 2 weeks ago, I had the strangest thing happen to me. During team time that evening we were talking about maybe having an all night prayer vigil at some point while we’re here in this city. Then we were talking about how spiritual warfare is often heightened during the night. All of us admitted to having had experienced some sort of spiritual warfare between the hours of 2:30-3:30am during various seasons of our lives. For instance, being woken up for no apparent reason or waking up from really intense nightmares during that hour. Some of us have heard of other people, a lot of other believers even, having testified to similar experiences. It got me thinking. Before I went to sleep that night, I prayed “Lord if 3am really is an hour where spiritual warfare is heightened… if it’s a time when more prayer is needed…. wake me up.” So… goodnight Megan. I fell asleep. I woke up from a deep sleep in the middle of the night, and when I hit my phone to check the time I saw the clock turn to 3am. I LITERALLY WATCHED THE TIME CHANGE FROM 2:59 to 3:00. I immediately became very alert and felt a heaviness in the air around me. I then felt the Lord press on my heart “get up, it’s time to pray”. So I sat up and prayed for about 10 minutes right there in bed. When I started to feel peace, I fell right back to sleep. I slept like a baby without any nightmares or anything weird. I woke up again when my alarm went off in the morning, and my first thought was: I’m losing my mind.
I decided to wake up to pray around the same time the following night—a teammate joined me. Before I went to sleep, I set my alarm for 2:45am. I didn’t want to wake up any of the other girls in my room with my alarm, so I prayed before I went to sleep “Lord please wake me up right before my alarm goes off”. I woke up at 2:43am!!! Perfect. I went outside to the porch to pray. But as soon as I put one foot outside of my room, I felt like I was suddenly wearing a weighted vest. The atmosphere around me was heavy, and I felt a presence around me. A not so good one. My heart began to race, I took some deep breaths, and I read John 16:25-33. I then prayed hard over spiritual warfare for the hostel we were at, the hostel owners, our new pastor friend, his church, my team, my squad, and Sri Lanka as a whole. I stayed outside praying silently with my teammate for about a half an hour, and then we both went back to bed.
I decided to make this prayer vigil a nightly routine. I felt the Lord telling me that there aren’t any other believers praying in this city at that hour, so He wanted me to do it. He’s called us here to this specific city, and He’s ordained this mission for us to pray and to pray hard. So that’s what I’m doing. This city is so dark. I’ve never been in an environment that feels so spiritually oppressed.
Fast forward about a week. We switched hostels. That same trusty teammate and I ended up sharing a room, just the two of us. This new hostel is designed differently than the first one. Instead of a porch just outside the room, we could go up to the top floor and sit on a balcony that overlooked things. At the first place, I felt like I needed to pray outside on the porch. At the new place, I felt the need to pray on that balcony. My teammate joined me on most nights, but consistently losing an hour of sleep in the middle of the night takes a serious toll, so there were a few nights when I flew solo:
So here we are at the new place. On this particular evening, my alarm went off at 2:45am to pray, I got out of bed, grabbed the door handle, but was suddenly paralyzed in fear. My teammate didn’t hear the alarm go off, and I didn’t have the heart to disturb her peaceful slumber. I was terrified to go outside of the room alone. I just couldn’t handle the warfare that was awaiting me on the other side of that door. In fear, I stayed in my room to pray that night. The next morning I felt convicted. I prayed “Lord, I’m so sorry I chickened out. I know my prayers are effective no matter what my location. But, God, I feel like there’s power in me stepping outside of the comforts of my room and into the open air of this city. I’m a prayer warrior here, and you’re asking me to step into the enemy’s territory. I’m scared to do that by myself.” His response to my prayer was bringing me to Ephesians 6:10-18 (the armor of God) and Psalm 91:11-13 (cue: Angels). Through His Word, He reminded me that He’s equipped me for battle and that I’m never in this fight alone.
So the next night I woke up and told myself that I wasn’t going to be a pansy. This night was another solo mission (in human terms). When I woke up, I said “C’mon Wisehart, you can do this!” My personal pep talk was enough to get me out the door and up the stairs. At first everything was going great, but a few minutes into my prayers, I started freaking out. I then heard claw marks on the roof above me. Right before panic began to ensue, I said, out loud, “I declare Jesus’ name over this space”. I kid you not, immediately the claws disappeared, I heard an intense rustle in the trees, and something scurried off far into the woods. I was then at complete peace for the remainder of my prayer time. Now, please hear me when I say that I do not wish to over-spiritualize things. I understand that all of that noise could’ve very well been an animal, but what if it was something else? I am a threat to the enemy here. They hate me, they hate what I’m doing, and I’m on their turf. In James 2:19 we read that even the demons know who Jesus is, and when they hear His Name, “they shudder”. Regardless of what exactly went down the night, I do know that declaring Jesus’ name was enough to put me at ease.
The following night, I woke up ready to fight. My teammate, my fellow warrior, was by my side. Before opening the door, I decided to put on my armor. As I grabbed the door handle, I prayed “Lord in this moment I’m choosing to fasten on the belt of truth, I’m putting on the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, and the helmet of salvation; I’ve got my shield of faith, and Lord I’m gripping my Sword. Father, will you send your angels before us to that space outside and have them fight off the enemy before we even arrive.” I walked outside, Bible in hand, with more confidence than I think I’ve ever had in my entire life. Before sitting down to pray, I lifted my hands to the heavens and said, “I declare the Name of Jesus over this space.” I had complete peace for a full hour of fervent prayer that night. Not a fear in my mind and not a single distraction while praying.
Spiritual warfare is real.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12
Prayer is effective.
“The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” James 5:16
Angels fight for us.
“For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.” Psalm 91:11
The name of Jesus is powerful.
Jesus told His disciples: “And these signs will accompany those who believe: in My Name they will cast out demons…” Mark 16:17
The Word is truth.
“…the Word of the Lord proves true; He is a shield for those who take refuge in Him.” Psalm 18:30
