Do Our Prayers Really Limit Satan?

My sister-in-law, Hazel, believes they do. Her phone rang about 2:30 one morning. A call at that hour is seldom good news and this one certainly wasn’t. It was Jan, a teen who had called often before, desperate. Usually Hazel could reason with the girl and convince her to go home from wherever she was. But this time she was calling from a bar and was in no mood for a discussion.

Hazel told her to wait there, dressed and drove downtown to pick her up.

Seeing that Jan was in no condition to be left alone, Hazel brought her to her own home. Jan lay down on the floor in the family room and passed out. Hazel sat beside her for two hours, praying. For the teen’s deliverance, for her salvation, and that she might discover how much Jesus loves her.

Suddenly Jan roused, stood up, and lunged at Hazel with an evil, angry look on her face. She grabbed Hazel around the neck and began to choke her with a strength that seemed superhuman. Desperate under the attack, Hazel called out, “In the name of Jesus take your hands off my neck now!” Instantly Jan released her grip and collapsed on the floor. Hazel sat by her side the rest of the night.

Hazel would learn that Jan had been using alcohol since she was in the seventh grade. One Saturday night she and some friends were attending a party where they were introduced to Satan worship. Although the details were hazy in Jan’s mind she remembered that that night she had committed her life to Satan.

The next couple of years Jan lived in hell. She seemed incapable of escaping Satan’s harassment. Everywhere she turned she seemed to meet him there. The friends she had chosen only helped to pull her down. Jan’s mom and Hazel were part of a prayer group and they all covenanted to surround Jan with fervent, unceasing intercession. They held up before her promises from God’s Word of victory and cleansing. They built in her a realization of how much God loves her. They helped her discover that God had a plan and purpose for her life and that the enemy who hated her was no match for the God who loved her, that “…greater is He who lives in me than he that is in the world.” (I Jn4:4)

You know how this story ends: the enemy’s strongholds were broken! Jan discovered that Jesus is who He claims to be. God got His child back. Jan’s mom got her daughter back. The enemy was repelled and it was reinforced in his mind that he is the loser – now and forever.

By Don Jacobsen