The Enemy Is Real, but So Is Your Authority
The first 3 pages of Guarded. Read them, then decide.
Scripture does not waste time convincing you the enemy exists. It assumes you already know. What scripture spends its time on is teaching you what to do about him.
"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Ephesians 6:12, KJV
That verse names your true opponent, and just as important, it names who is not your opponent. Not your husband. Not your daughter who has not called you back. Not your neighbor, your coworker, your own reflection in the mirror at the end of a long day. Flesh and blood is not the fight. Something behind the flesh and blood is.
This matters because most people fight the wrong target, aiming their frustration at the person in front of them when the real work is somewhere else entirely. Learning to see past the person to the pressure behind them will change how you fight almost everything in this book.
What Nobody Told You: You Were Assigned, Not Volunteered
There is a word in scripture for the person who stands watch over a city and reports what she sees coming. Watchman. And in Isaiah 62, God says something about that role that most people have never had pointed out to them: he says he is the one who sets them there, on the wall, and that they are never to hold their peace, day or night.
You did not appoint yourself the prayer of your family. You did not decide to be the one who wakes up at three in the morning with somebody's name on your heart. That is a post, and somebody assigned it to you. Which means the tiredness you feel is not you being dramatic. It is a watchwoman's tiredness.
"Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you." Luke 10:19, KJV
Authority. Not a request. Not a hope. An authority already given, sitting in your hands right now whether you have used it yet or not.
You are not fighting to win. You are fighting from a win that has already been secured.
| Fighting for victory | Fighting from victory |
|---|---|
| Anxious. Checking over her shoulder. | Calm. Steady, unhurried in her prayer. |
| Unsure if she has done enough. | Certain the outcome was never in question. |
| Fights from fear of losing. | Fights from a win already secured. |
| Prays louder when she is afraid. | Prays plainer, because volume was never the power. |
The Posture Check
Before any prayer in this book, run these three lines. They take ten seconds and they change everything that comes after.
- Who am I actually fighting? Name the person you are angry at, then set them down. They are not the assignment.
- Am I asking, or am I standing? Asking is fine. But some things you do not ask about. You stand on them, because they were already settled.
- What has already been settled about this? Say one thing out loud that God has already said. Start there, not from zero.
You will meet real enemies in the pages ahead. Real tactics. Real names for things you have felt but never had words for. You do not need to be afraid of any of it. You already have the authority. This book is simply going to teach you how to walk in it.
"I do not enter this fight to win it. I enter it from a win already secured. The authority in my hands was given, not earned, and it does not depend on how I feel this morning. I take my post. Amen."
