God is Watching Over in Our Fight for the Souls of Others

Just a few minutes ago, I was told that an extended family member had said to his parents that he wanted to go to hell.  I almost lost my breath, and had to cry out to the Lord the same cry that Jesus made on the cross, “Father, forgive them, (him), for he knows not what he does.” Suddenly my beautiful, sunshiny day was changed into sadness.

At the same time, I realized that I was being called into yet another battle for the precious soul of a deceived, rebellious, ungrateful young person, who has no idea what horror the words he uttered would mean for eternity.

People who have experienced an encounter with the living Lord Jesus Christ, and know His amazing love and care are deeply grieved upon hearing such a statement from anyone, let alone a family member.  But exactly because we do know and love Jesus, we are also called to enter into spiritual battle for the very life of this deceived person….one who is held captive by the enemy of all souls, the devil, who came to steal, kill and destroy.

How do we fight such a fierce battle?  By not leaning on human strength, but as the Scripture teaches, “prayer and fasting.”  When Jesus was confronted when He came down from the Mount of Transfiguration with the father whose son was also in the grip of the enemy of souls, and with the disciples who had not been able to cast out the demon controlling him, our Lord said, “This kind only goes out by prayer and fasting.” Matthew 17:21

When we fast and prayer for a soul, we are on holy ground, and we are in obedience to the commander of the army of believers who are called to this battle.  And we can be absolutely sure that we are not alone in this battle, but rather our dear Lord Jesus Christ is definitely watching over us in that He Himself has called us to battle, and has promised to never leave us or forsake us! 

Mary Fawcett