10 PITFALLS - for Praying/Prophetic people
Posted by: prophetic <prophetic@...>
Date sent: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 07:09:08 +1000
"TEN PITFALLS - For INTERCESSORS to Avoid"
-Brian Pickering.
1. Becoming Demon Conscious.
The devil loves attention, and he's thrilled when he becomes
the center of conversation. A demon conscious intercessor
is one who sees "a demon behind every bush.' One man
was explaining to me how the devil had caused his car's
transmission to fail. 'When was the last time you serviced
it?' I inquired. "Serviced it? What do you mean?' he
answered innocently.If you fail to service your car or other
mechanical device. it will fail,with or without a devil!
Many years ago, Alice hired a seamstress to make a
dress for her. But before a stitch was sewn, a nervous
seamstress called Alice. 'I can't sew this dress for you,'
she said."Why not" Alice inquired. 'Because I took a
magnifying glass to see the design on gold buttons.
There are lions on your buttons,' the seamstress said.
'So? ''They were growling at one another. so they must
be of the devil.' This lady was acting out of superstition -
Christian superstition.
2. Inflating the Importance of Satan.
I recently invited an intercessor to be listed in the U.S.
Prayer Directory, which we publish each year. 'No way!'
she exclaimed.'Why wouldn't you want to be listed in the
directory?" I inquired. Because,' she said, 'I don't want
the devil to know where I live! "Dryly. I chided, "Why, I'd
be ashamed if the devil didn't know where I live."
Some intercessors and far too many Christians see Satan
and God as almost equal beings, opposites who rule almost
equal kingdoms. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Satan in no way compares to God in power, in presence,
in knowledge or anything else for that matter.
3. Overspiritualizing Things
While it's true that many things - physical objects, words
and numbers - in the natural world often have corresponding
spiritual significance, some intercessors begin to believe
that this is always the case.
Best selling author and internationally known speaker
Cindy Jacobs describes "spiritually weird" people of prayer
as "flaky intercessors." She writes that these men and
women, who for a variety of reasons have drifted outside
biblical guidelines in their zeal for prayer, pose a threat to
the coming revival: "They bring reproach on their ministries
and confusion and division in the church. Flaky intercession
could become a widespread problem in this decade, for
many prophetic voices are proclaiming that God is calling
the church to intense prayer as a prelude to revival.Studies
of past revivals indicate that they were birthed and bathed
in prayer, but that the move of the Holy Spirit was short
circuited by the inability to sustain effective intercession.
In many instances it was flaky intercession that undermined
true prayer and destroyed revival". '(See"Possessing the
Gates of the Enemy", by Cindy Jacobs, p 126).
4. Soulishness.
An undisciplined mind confuses soulishness and spirituality,
allowing the soul to dominate the spirit. Some of what is
referred to as 'drunk in the Spirit', is nothing more than the
intoxication of the soul. Do I believe God can make one
drunk in the Spirit? I do and I have seen it happen to those
I know to have a deep walk with the Lord. But the spiritual
dimension is so real to intercessors that they can easily
fall prey to emotional foolishness if they fail to guard their
hearts (see Prov. 4:13). Alice and I agree that this is how
intercessors sometimes lose their credibility with church leadership.
5. False Travail.
I have used the word "travail" to describe a physical and
spiritual process an intercessor may undergo while in
intense prayer. Perhaps I should explain this. Travailing
prayer is a type of prayer that gives birth to something in
the Spirit. It can be very intense, involving fervent prayer,
tears, even groaning. Sometimes, however. what appears
to be intercessory travail is not. During a time of corporate
intercession, an intercessor may begin to visualize and
then strive to receive the burden of God that others are
experiencing. But instead of genuine, God assigned
travail that flows from the spirit of the intercessor, a
soulish "travail" is released through the mind and
emotions, giving the intercessor a false experience.
Often the whole group stops praying to help someone
'give spiritual birth.' When one person becomes the centre
of attention, this is exactly what the enemy wants... total
distraction! The enemy has effectively sidetracked the
intercessors from the critical issue at hand - usually a
prayer issue that Satan can't afford to leave unchallenged.
The easiest way for him to get relief from focused, united
prayer is to tantalize the group with a bizarre experience.
Sadly, we have witnessed this all over the world in both
evangelical and charismatic prayer circles.
6. Isolationism.
The intercessor who falls into isolationism, or escapism,
becomes a loner. Rather than the prayer closet being a
holy place to meet God, it becomes a place in which to
hide. It becomes a way the intercessor can escape from
personal relationships and responsibilities with a 'holy
excuse.' After all, how can anyone argue with the call of
God on a person's life? And why would anyone be against
prayer? This misguided intercessor attempts to build the
case that he or she can no longer keep house or hold a
job. Other family members have to take up the slack and
do double duty because the intercessor is committed to
"higher" things. This is an expression of spiritual pride
and often takes advantage of others, usually the ones
who love them most. If you do this to a lost spouse.
forget about him ever wanting to become a Christian!
7. Elitism, or Lack of Accountability to Brethren.
Isolationism often leads to a lack of spiritual accountability.
Holding to a martyr complex, the lone intercessor begins
to feel that no one understands her. She translates this to
mean... "I'm special". As a prayer elitist, she begins to
withdraw, especially from strong Christians, and surround
herself with those who are spiritually weaker than she. In
the flesh, she can easily intimidate others with her forceful
personality or her way with words. She can manipulate
others with tears, moodiness or mysteries she feels she
alone possesses. These are often controlling intercessors
who would become spiritual gurus, or self appointed
ministers. Never submit to the spiritual leadership of
anyone who is not submitted to other recognised spiritual
leadership within the Body.
Sometimes they seek undue attention from their pastors.
Spiritual pride is evidenced when our need to be right is
elevated above the need to be one. This results in crippled
or stunted relationships. Such a person will sacrifice
meaningful, loving relationships for non essential issues
and personal spiritual opinions. Beware of this type of person.
God has designed the Church so that the members are
interdependent upon each other. Every one of us, pastors
as well, should have the spiritual oversight and accountability
of at least one other brother or sister in the Lord. Preferably
this is a person with strength of character beyond our own
to whom we will listen and submit.
8. Lack of Accountabillty to the Church.
An intercessor who is not accountable to his or her brothers
and sisters in Christ will gradually deny accountability to
God's designated spiritual authority. This intercessor will
begin to elevate personal revelation (what he or she feels
God is saying now) above Scripture (what He has already
said) and proclaim this to anyone who will listen. DANGER.
We are living at a time when these 'prophetic renegades'
are infiltrating the Church. They are divisive in the flock
and disrespectful, even critical of pastors. They will destroy
people's confidence in their pastors by portraying him as
someone who simply isn't spiritual enough to understand
the deep truths of God. Intercessors who operate in this
deception surround themselves with others who are
unhappy and have difficulty following pastoral leadership.
Out of synch with the vision of the church, they may
begin to have "private" meetings. In this way, these
unaccountable prayer warriors compete with the pastor
for the allegiance of the people. A good pastor doesn't
compete with Jesus for the love of His Bride. He has no
selfish desire for her affection, so it is difficult for the
pastor to confront someone in the church who is vying
for the church's affection. A confrontation can give the
appearance that the pastor is jealous of the intercessor,
rather than guarding the flock's devotion to her true lover
and groom, the Lord Jesus.
9. Witchcraft Praying
Witchcraft prayer is the act of consciously praying
contrary to God's revealed will and is characterized by
the use of controlling or manipulative prayer.Intercessors
must exercise caution not to confuse their own will with
God's will. When praying for family members, spouses,
pastors or others, it is important that they limit prayers
to the will of God. God's will, of course, is found in His
Word. It is always safe to pray the Scriptures. But
praying people should avoid praying their opinions and desires.
Alice and I call this "witchcraft prayer" because the very
essence of witchcraft is control. Prayer based on a desire
to control is essentially the practice of witchcraft.
10. Ministering out of Hurt.
Some intercessors have been wounded and even spiritually
abused. Sadly, this abuse is sometimes at the hands of
spiritual leadership who misunderstand and mistreat them.
Quite often the pastor isn't even aware of what is happening.
Of course, it is also possible that the pastor feels threatened
by an intercessor's spiritual gifts. The pastor, who should
be equipping his budding prayer warriors and providing
them a safe place to experiment and learn, may even
confuse immaturity with impurity and "blow them away."
Rather than seek reconciliation, the intercessor may cling
to resentment, resulting in a warped view of leadership. A
wounded intercessor may refuse to see leaders as the
fallen men or women that they are and offer no grace to
the leaders. From this perspective, leaders are a threat
rather than a blessing, and the intercessor is no longer
able to submit to authority.
This most often results in the following process:
1. The intercessor may lick her wounds, seek to become
the centre of attention and seek to manipulate others with
self pity.
2. Her spiritual pride now wounded, the intercessor adopts
a martyr complex, elevating herself and her ideas above
others, especially above those in authority.
3. The intercessor becomes critical of church authorities.
Her spiritual gift of discernment, now being fleshly motivated
rather than spiritually empowered, becomes judgmental.
4. The intercessor surrounds herself with other wounded,
critical soldiers in order to justify her right to remain
wounded and bitter! All of these can be the result of
ministering out of hurt - ministering from one's emotions,
rather than out of one's spirit.
How to be Protected from this:
When an intercessor falls into one or more of these traps,
his or her effectiveness for God has been compromised.
Unaware of the flaws at first,this person will eventually
suffer a spiritual "meltdown." You can find protection
from these and other pitfalls in these ways:
Stay close to God. Walk in holiness and purity and seek
Him daily.. Stay close to the Word. Every experience,
every idea, every spiritual impression must be subject to
the written Word of God. God will never say something
contradictory to what He has written!. Stay close to one
another. Each Christian needs to have meaningful
relationships with mature Christians. It is here that
accountability is maintained. Remember, accountability
establishes your credibility.
___________________________
Source: USA Prayer Network.
========================