DAY 13: Our Real Enemy

In Grand Rapids Michigan, there is a building on 72 Ransom Avenue with a very unusual history.  For a hundred years it was a church.  Then it was sold and converted into the largest abortion center in western Michigan, taking the lives of 20,000 children.  Then it was sold again and became the headquarters for LIFE International – a Christian ministry dedicated to opening Pregnancy Care Centers around the world.  

After the abortion doctor was thrown out of the building, 9 board members for Life International met at the property to pray.  Their goal was to reclaim the building for God.

“Why don’t we start our prayers where the abortionist would start his day every morning?” one of them suggested.

They made their way to a back hallway and stood in front of a large metal door that opened into the alley where the doctor parked his car.  The door was bolted shut.

Gathering in a circle, they held hands, prayed for the blood of Christ to cleanse the property, and ended by saying “Amen.”

At that moment, the empty building’s silence was shattered as the big steel door burst open, slamming against the brick wall in the alley.  A sudden rush of air swept out the door.  And a few seconds later a gentle breeze came back in.  

“What just happened?” one of the board members asked.

Shaken, another board member pulled the door closed and said, “I think something just left in a hurry.”

That story is an eerie reminder of who our real enemy is.

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,” the apostle Paul explained, “but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).

The real enemy who seeks to destroy the lives of innocent children in the name of abortion is Satan.

• He is a murderer and the father of lies.  (John 8:44)
• He comes only to steal, kill and destroy.  (John 10:10)
• He has blinded the minds of unbelievers.  (2 Corinthians 4:4)
• He has taken people captive to do his will.  (2 Timothy 2:26)

What’s the moral of the story?  Since abortion is first and foremost a spiritual battle, it’s going to require a spiritual solution.  And that solution is prayer!

“This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”  (Matthew 17:21)

Today let’s do battle in the heavenly realms as we wield the awesome and mighty weapon of intercessory prayer.  

Suggested things to pray for:

• Pray for God to bind Satan – the strong man who controls abortion centers.  (Mt 12:28-29)
• Pray for God to cast Satan out of abortion clinics.  (Mt 17:21)
• Pray for people to come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil (2Tim 2:26)