Albert M. McCaig

One of the most difficult concepts to accept as Christians is that bad things really do happen to good people. Good Christian people really do suffer serious illness, loss, disappointment, hardship, and financial ruin. Adversity can be just around every corner, ready to happen even to the most dedicated and spiritually mature believer. In this episode we will look at why God allows those things to happen, and what our response should be in those tough times.

We will see how the earlier sessions on the fundamentals of prayer, the mechanics of prayer, and especially the heart of prayer enable us to work through the adversity in our lives through prayer. The introduction to healing and spiritual warfare are brought into play to show us how we use those practical applications in our lives to get through the adversity we face in our lives. 

You can’t predict the time or day when adversity will strike, but if you are prayed up; if you are read up in the Bible; and if you are ready for the attacks that Satan and his demons will launch against you, you will indeed be able to pray through adversity. And in doing that you will have that peace in your life, even in the middle of the storms. You will persevere through the grace of God.

This session is about praying through adversity. We must learn how to do that so that we can have the kind of peace from the Lord, even in the face of adversity, that is covered in Scripture. Jesus told us, as recorded in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

It is so easy to be close to God when things are going well. When life is good, it’s easy to thank God for all the blessings that are flowing down on us. It’s easy to feel good about our faith and believe that we are strong Christians, when things are good. But, what about when the bottom drops out? What about when our health fails, when troubles seem to come in waves? How close to God are we in those times? How thankful to God are we in those times?

One of the most difficult concepts to accept as a Christian is that bad things really do happen to good people. Good Christian people really do suffer serious illness, loss, disappointment, hardship, and financial ruin. Adversity can be just around every corner, ready to happen even to the most dedicated and spiritually mature believer.

In this session, we will examine why our loving God allows His children to be attacked in such ways. For most of us, we question what is going on and wonder about this one question: “Why, God, are you allowing this to happen to me? I’m one of your children.”

The answers to such a question may defy logic, and in the midst of the adversity, it may cause us to even doubt our faith and our salvation.

This is the third session of our study on praying in spiritual warfare. This session has a sub-title of The Devil You Don’t Know, and the reason for that is that there are so many subtle influences that Satan exerts on our lives that we often don’t recognize them for what they are; that is being an act of Satan. Hollywood may hate Christianity, but it seems to love the opposite. Culture denies Christ, but embraces the opposite. Satan is often pictured as a red, humanlike creature with horns, a tail and carrying a pitchfork. In our modern culture, Satan is more of a cartoon character than a real entity. But the Bible is clear that Satan is real and is the enemy of God’s people. 

When we think of Satan, we think of evil and spiritual warfare. We think of what we’re seeing in the breakdown of our culture. Murder, rape, robbery, rampant drug use, child molestation, pornography, lying and deceit on a national scale; so many things that we attribute to Satan and his minions. Frankly, those evil things are fairly easy to recognize. We know they are evil. Those things are from the devil we do know.

We know him because we see the obvious results all around us. Most of us, though, should be looking out for the more common and subtle ways that the devil attacks us. His favorite tactics are more subtle and we ought not let the severe, open sins we see distract us from the more common sins we don’t see.

This episode continues our coverage of one of the least understood, and least practiced, areas of Christian faith: spiritual warfare. In past sessions, we will have seen that we are at war with Satan. Satan has attacked us and will continue to attack us. As Christians we are Satan’s enemy and we are at war with him. In Ephesians 6:11–13, in which Paul dealt with being prepared for spiritual warfare. He said, “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”

Episode 011 introduces the concepts of deliverance and exorcism, the differences, and why it is important in our Christian lives. While strictly an introduction to the concepts of deliverance, this session is intended to awaken a desire in the student to learn more about this little known and little understood aspect of our faith.

This episode covers one of the least understood, and least practiced, areas of Christian faith: spiritual warfare. We have seen that we are at war with Satan. Satan has attacked us and will continue to attack us. As Christians we are Satan’s enemy and we are at war with him. This session introduces us to what must be done to be ready to engage in powerful warfare against the enemy. We will study the concepts of demonic activity including oppression, possession, demons, and curses. We will learn what those terms mean, that they are real and not merely imaginary manifestations created by Hollywood and mystery writers. 

We will answer serious questions of spiritual warfare: Is the spiritual world really all around us? Are demons everywhere? Are there angels? If they are all around us, are the angels and demons fighting one another? We will see in scripture that the devil is at work now more than at any other time.

We will study Ephesians 6:11–13, in which Paul dealt with being prepared for spiritual warfare. He said, “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”

This episode continues to delve in to one of the great mysteries of faith; spiritual healing. The Bible addresses healing in at least 175 places. We see it in the Bible; but, we will find out in this session if we really believe it. We will see how healing prayer will connect the spiritual world with the physical world. This is a personal approach to healing prayer so that it becomes a part of our every-day prayer life. We will also learn how to become prayer warriors, practicing healing prayer in a scriptural manner for the good of not only ourselves, but others in need of healing. We will take the skepticism out of scripture, and give healing prayer a practical application in our lives.

This episode begins our examination into one of the great mysteries of faith; spiritual healing. For any number of reasons, there has been skepticism surrounding the concept of biblical or scriptural healing, not just outside the church, but inside the church and throughout the Christian world. The Bible addresses healing in at least 175 places. We see it in the Bible; but, we will find out in this session if we really believe it.

We will briefly study the methods of healing set out in scripture: through a person with that spiritual gift; through the laying on of hands; through anointing with oil; through a prayer of faith; through intercession by others; and, through divine intervention. While we introduce all those methods, we will not cover them all. We will study in depth the method covered in James 5.

We will see how healing prayer is one area where we connect the spiritual world with the physical world

The Heart of Prayer is the substance of prayer. Here in Part 2, we will complete our examination of the three aspects in the heart of prayer: our relationship and fellowship with God; receiving affirmative answers to Prayer; and, praying in God’s will.

Our prayer life is the life-line of our relationship to God. We can know about God in our mind, but we also need to know the character of God in our heart so that we can mold our will into the will of God.

In the heart of prayer, we will learn that we must first seek God’s wisdom in a scriptural way so we can know and understand the will of God. We must become peacemakers in our homes, at our work, in school, in church, and in all our relationships. 

Through the Heart of Prayer, we will know we have gained proper wisdom and are in the will of God when our prayers are peace loving, considerate, submissive, and full of mercy and good fruit.

The Heart of Prayer is the substance of prayer. We will cover three aspects: in this episode, our relationship and fellowship with God; receiving affirmative answers to Prayer; and, praying in God’s will.  We will cover the content of heart-felt prayer so that we can mold our will into the will of God. We will study how we come to find out God’s will, and then follow that will in not only our prayer life, but in all aspects of our life.

In the heart of prayer, we will learn that we must first seek God’s wisdom in a scriptural way so we can know and understand the will of God. We must become peacemakers in our homes, at our work, in school, in church, and in all our relationships. 

Through the Heart of Prayer, we will know we have gained proper wisdom and are in the will of God when our prayers are peace loving, considerate, submissive, and full of mercy and good fruit.

God invented prayer as a means of His communicating with us and our communicating with Him. Our study will examine how, if we are not getting results from our prayers and if we are not hearing God, the communication breakdown is on our end, not God’s.

Jesus gave us the model prayer. In the Mechanics of Prayer session, we break down the Model Prayer of Jesus into its component parts, examining why Jesus gave us such specific instructions on the contents of our prayers.

Finally, we look at the six forms of prayer, which are: prayer of agreement; prayer of faith; prayer of consecration and dedication; prayer of praise and worship; prayer of intercession; and, prayer of binding and loosing. We will discuss the scriptural basis of each form of prayer, why it is important to use the correct form for a particular circumstance, and how those forms of prayer work together