One day, I was working with one of my clients who had been working hard to win his personal battles against unwanted patterns of misbehavior.
He and I were working to improve his prayers. As with many of my clients, I found that I needed to remind him that he is at war with an intelligent and strategic opponent.
To help my clients maintain perspective, I often refer to Satan as, “The 7000 year old military and psychological genius.”
As my client and I were talking, as I listened to several of the themes of his prayers, I finally realized what was wrong with his prayer style.
I discovered what was wrong, not only with his prayer style, but with the style of many of the men I work with.
I am now learning, that for quite some time now, men of our culture have been praying the way farmers pray instead of the way warriors need to pray.
It occurred to me that this is because the work of men in our culture has been primarily farming and/or missionary work for several generations now.
It is a new idea, for many of us, that we are finding ourselves in a modern day war: A war for the hearts and minds of men.
To work through the practical application of this idea, I imagine I am living back in the days of the Nephites. I imagine that some of the men are farmers, some of the men are missionaries, and some of the men are warriors. (And yes, at times, sometimes men are all three.)
I come from a family of farmers. The mentality passed on to me by my parents and their parents empowered me to be an excellent missionary.
Because the mentality of a missionary is more like a farmer, a missionaries prayer and a farmer’s prayer are similar. When a farmer or missionary prays, his prayers may sound something like this:
“Father, please grant that I will know how best to plant these seeds.
Help me to find and prepare the best soil for these seeds.
Please help me develop ever improving ways to plant, nurture and harvest these seeds.
Please grant that my farm will be protected from destruction by nature or by the enemy.
Please give me the strength to work hard to provide for my family.”
But this is not the most effective way for a warrior to pray.
A warrior’s prayer will need to focus more on fighting than on growing and being protected.
“Father, please grant that I will see the enemy in time to win the war.
Please help me to observe and understand the fighting techniques of the enemy.
Help me to develop techniques and weapons sufficiently effective to win my battles.
Please help me to work hard to train…to become stronger, faster and more precise with my skills.
Please help me to be strong, precise and fast so I can protect my family.
And help me to always remember, so that I will be filled with motivation and courage, why I am fighting.”
With just a little change to the wording, an excellent prayer for modern day warriors can be developed:
“Father, please grant me an increase in the Spirit of Discernment, so I will recognize Satanic attacks in time to win each battle.
Father, please help me to observe, discern and understand the attacks and fighting methods Satan will try on my mind, heart and spirit.
Help me to discover and develop techniques and weapons (actions, words, thoughts, feelings and chemical switches) sufficiently effective to win the battles that come my way.
Please fill me with the desire to work hard to train…to become stronger, faster and more precise with these techniques and weapons…sufficient to win the battles.
Please help me to remember why I am fighting and why I am training so hard…so I will be filled with the motivation and courage necessary to protect my life, my (future) wife, my (future) children and our freedom!”
I encourage all who are being attacked by the modern day Satanic warfare technique, known as sexual addiction (or any other issue for that matter) to print off a copy of this prayer and include it in your daily prayers for at least 21 days in a row…and watch what will happen to your heart and mind as you gain all that you need to win this war!
Your servant,
Maurice W. Harker, CMHC
Director of Life Changing Services
To learn more about addiction fighting principles, get your free ebook: “Like Dragons Did They Fight” for [CLICK HERE]
If you or a loved one have a pornography challenge and need to be trained, visit Sons of Helaman for young men and Men of Moroni for Men.
