Offensive Prayer

The best defense is a good offense. This adage has been effectively applied by coaches, defense attorneys, activists, politicians and military generals to effectively advance a cause. It should also be used daily by Christians in prayer and in action. Offensive prayer is a powerful weapon¹ capable of defense even while offensively pulling down strongholds².

Prayer is often a last resort in response to a crisis or need. Our prayer lives may exist in neutral 95% of our lives until we lose our job, get diagnosed with a life threatening disease, see our child in a car accident or some other life-altering event. Defensive prayer is important. We need to pray defensively in times of crisis. However, we need to pray offensively that other 95% of the time. We cannot afford to be in neutral or lax when we are not in a crisis.

This is why we are instructed to pray constantly³, not because we are in a constant crisis, but because we are in a battle and need to advance God’s light. The kingdom of darkness is boldly moving forward; we see chaos and violence all around us. Fear is omnipresent evidenced by people in masks either from viruses or anarchy and violence. Humanism and immorality have been legalized under the guise of human rights. Prescriptions for anti-anxiety and depression medications have sky-rocketed. The world is truly mired in dire darkness. And here is where offensive prayer really shows off!

God has empowered the ‘church’ to be light. Can light be seen in broad daylight? No! But in deep darkness, the light of God’s love becomes clearly contrasted with the demonic, hopeless darkness. Believers have The Answer that people living in depressed dark humanism need, but they will never see that light without offensive action rooted in prayer. Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”⁴ Jesus operated offensively, and His offensive actions provided His defense. Jesus learned the offensive strategy of “doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil”⁵, destroying the devil’s works⁶ from His Father⁷, and that is exactly where we will find our offensive strategy too. Our light will not be found in programs, meetings or books about God; it is found through time spent in communion with Him and His presence.

Offensive prayer isn’t just a play on words, it may actually offend hearers, and it should. Remember who we are battling: “rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”⁸ Evil forces should be offended by our prayers. Cancer, addiction, immorality, pride, lust, anger, lies and every form of demonic power should be negatively affected by our words when we pray for and with someone. Every prayer should be offensive, make an impact and take spiritual ground in the same way as a light in a dark room.

Common, normal, average people are operating as vessels of light, praying with people in restaurants, sharing the gospel in parking lots, laying hands on injured people in hotel gyms and sharing God everywhere they go (watch the videos below.) They are dispensing God’s love, physical healing, freedom from addictions, emotional liberation and so much more. God is not a respecter of persons, He does not play favorites and He will use each and every person who makes themselves available⁹. Jesus used fishermen, tax collectors, housewives, notorious sinners and common folk. Most were not formerly educated (although Luke was a doctor, he is not credited with a single healing, but he was an excellent record keeper and assistant to the only other educated apostle, Paul.) Like Jesus, those common folk shared a message from God with everyone they encountered. Those average citizens started in constant, united prayer and advanced the kingdom of God’s light powerfully in a hostile, dark world¹⁰. And so can we.

“The weapons we use in our fight are not the world's weapons but God's powerful weapons, which we use to destroy strongholds.”

• • • 1 Corinthians 10:4 • • •

This kind of offensive prayer starts in our prayer closet, but it cannot end there. We cannot pray for God to touch people while in our prayer closet and remain silent when we are out. God has given us the power, the talent, the command to act as Jesus did: to speak words God has given and allow God to work through us. Jesus said,
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”¹¹

This is an impossibly tall order to tackle without an offensive prayer life, so many churches simply dismiss it. But faith without action is worthless.¹²There is no such thing as a “closet Christian”; believers still have to act, to pick up the stones and attack the giants. Light cannot be seen in the closet, so our actions must be public, “on a stand…let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”¹³

The darkness around us desperately needs to see the light of God in us. It might seem inconceivable to do the things that Jesus did—to heal strangers or speak a work of knowledge to someone—but Jesus wouldn’t have commanded us to do it if He wasn’t going to back it up. He was true to His word when He charged His followers to “heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons”¹⁴ and He is still doing ‘good works’ through obedient believers today. An offensive prayer life will show up in the form of faith to be obedient and a heart to see people though God’s eyes.

Defensive prayers are rooted in our own agendas while offensive prayers are rooted in God’s kingdom agenda. But like so many other things in God’s realm, it is counter-intuitive: praying God’s kingdom agenda produces change in us and blesses us far more than praying our own defensive prayers. Our vision begins to align with the Word, we begin to hunger for more of the Holy Spirit. This is the first step to producing the fruit that glorifies God¹⁵, pulling down strongholds and the advancing of the kingdom that yield the “Satan-fall-like-lightening-from-heaven”¹⁶ effect. Offensive prayers allow the Holy Spirit to connect us to God, brighten our ‘light’ and advance the kingdom of light through us to those in darkness.

There is a well-known quote from Emerson about sowing and reaping, modified here: Sow a thought, reap a word; sow a word, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character, sow a character, reap a destiny. Offensive actions begin in knowing and speaking God’s word—first in prayer back to God and second in words of encouragement to others. The action will follow. Darkness is closing in, we have the Light. Isn’t it time for God’s people quit praying defense and get offensive in prayer?