Satan’s wormy deceits are rarely little more than efforts to get us to believe the same ol’ thing: that we are autonomous. He wants us to believe we aren’t accountable to anyone but ourselves, that we are the only sovereign over our soul.

And prayer is the great intrusion upon Satan’s self-sovereignty campaign. It’s one way to whip the Worm.

Here’s how it works.

ANNOUNCING HIS GLORY

Although it can’t properly be called “proclamation,” prayer does preach. It announces to our souls and to the cosmos that God is the only Sovereign in the universe. He alone lives in total self-sufficiency and independence. He is not served by human hands as if He needed anything, but He gives life and breath to all things. He created all things and sustains all things, thus He is able to provide all things.

He alone is the sovereign God of all, so we announce His all-knowing, almighty character by bowing down to pray.

RENOUNCING OUR GREATNESS

Prayer not only announces, it also renounces. It is the ordinary work of renouncing our own self-sovereignty project. We are weak, needy, and utterly helpless to change any of the spiritual conditions we face. Great knowledge and power is beyond our grasp. The treasures of wisdom and knowledge are not in us, nor is unimpeachable goodness or justice.

So we pray to renounce any purported ability to govern or rule our lives.

THE GREAT INTRUDERS

I long to see a generation of pastors come to be known as The Great Intruders, brothers who storm the gates of hell each day in their prayer closets. Our daily intrusions on the Dark Kingdom prepare us to skillfully marshal the Lord’s army each Lord’s Day for that week’s offensive assault on the Worm’s castle.

Will you join me today and intrude upon the Dragon’s designs?