Focus on Prayer

The other day, I was reminded of a television “show” I produced in college as a project for a film and television class. I called it The 8th Day of Creation. Pretty simple and straightforward, I used various visual images while the narrator and a friend were watching creation as depicted in Genesis. The narrator was Lucifer and his friend was one of his chief demons. Needless to say, they were a bit put out by what God had done. It seemed their situation was hopeless. But then, on the 8th day, after God had rested, Lucifer came up with an idea–a creation of his own. He called it “Money” and assured his friend that it would go a long way to undo all the good God had done.

My theology back then wasn’t exactly well thought-out and mature. So I couldn’t differentiate between something God created and the twisting that takes place by Satan. But money certainly is one of Satan’s favorite tools, thousands of days after its actual “creation.”

–Joe Vigliano

I understand that Satan is, indeed, a defeated foe. We–you and I–are merely fighting skirmishes until he is finally and completely vanquished.

But fight we must.

I’ve heard and read that when you rebuke Satan and any of his evil spirits, you need to do it out loud. God has not given them the ability to read our minds. Although they seem to be really good guessers. And they certainly whisper into my ear more than I care for.

I’ve also heard and read that we aren’t supposed to be rebuking Satan and his demons at all–that’s the job of God and His angels. Except in the Biblically clear example of exorcising a demon from someone who is possessed.

This is one of those issues where there’s no clear-cut Biblical imperative one way or the other, at least that I’ve seen. So being the pragmatic sort, I’ve experimented with various methods. Fortunately–or unfortunately–I’m under enough attack that I have plenty of opportunities for testing.

Here are my tentative conclusions:

1. Praying to God for protection from and help with spiritual attacks is more effective than addressing Satan and the evil spirits directly.
2. Praying out loud is not necessary for God to hear me, but I like the idea of the evil spirits hearing me so they know Divine help is on the way. (Kind of like saying, “I’m gonna tell my big brother…”)

I’d be interested in the opinions–and experiences–of others.

–Joe Vigliano