“Pastor, I don’t understand what is happening. Sometimes when I pray for people, I see answers. But some other times, nothing happens. What could be wrong?”

Alot could be wrong or could have gone wrong. But since it’s an issue with inconsistency in your results, then it most likely would be a challenge associated with the flesh. Your spiritual authority may be suffering limitations because of your fleshly desires or operations.

Satan may have lost his authority over us because we’ve received Christ, but he can still weaken our authority through the operations of our flesh. Satan is not the only enemy that God has, the flesh is also an enemy of God. While Jesus may have stripped Satan of his authority over man, the battle against the flesh continues.

This battle against the flesh is an old battle, it started with Adam and Eve, right in the Garden of Eden. Satan knew he couldn’t touch or afflict them because he had no legal right to, so he decided to use the power of the flesh against them. One of the ways by which he uses the weapon of the flesh is through temptations or deceptions. Temptation itself isn’t the weapon, flesh it. Temptation is just used to trigger the flesh. Once you yield your flesh to obey Satan’s temptation, then you’ve given him a legal ground to operate in your life. That’s how he tapped into the dominion of the first man. Flesh is powerful!

The operation of the flesh isn’t limited to the lust of the flesh or the lust of the eyes, it also includes the pride of life. Any thought that compels you to validate a fleshly desire or possibility is most likely a temptation. If Jesus had turned that stone to bread, although it would have seemed like a spiritual thing, but he would have been fulfilling the desire of his flesh. He didn’t have to prove that he was the son of God. If he had jumped over that cliff, the angel would have truly caught him, but doing that would have been purely flesh, and not spirituality. Adam and Eve already had supernatural intelligence, why did they need to eat the forbidden fruit to have knowledge of good and evil? Flesh! Unlike Adam, Jesus understood the works of the flesh, so he didn’t fall for it.

Think about it, there are some spiritual activities that we do just to prove ourselves. Some people engage in a fast and even pray every night for hours just to prove that they can also fast and pray. Anything you do to prove yourself is most likely sponsored by flesh. It may be a spiritual activity, but it’s still flesh.

Flesh will always contest your dominion. The disciples of Jesus were already getting prideful because demons were subject to them in the name of Jesus, but Jesus was quick to caution them that they should not rejoice because demons are subject to them, rather they should rejoice because their names were written in heavenly places. I sense it was this same pride which had gotten into them that limited their authority when a man brought a lunatic child to them for deliverance. Let’s see how scriptures put it:

Matthew 17:
14 And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying
15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.
16 And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.
17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.
18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.
19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

Did you see that? They had encountered more complicated cases than that, but for reasons they didn’t understand, they couldn’t cure that lunatic child. And when they asked Jesus, his response was that although it’s an issue with their faith, but their faith may have been altered by their flesh. This article will be too long to elucidate further, but that’s what he meant when he said “this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting”.

One of the things that fasting and prayer does is that it weakens the operations and desires of the flesh. You can’t desire to steal or fornicate while fasting, and that’s because your body can only be hungry for food. If at all you’d be tempted, the only thing you’d be tempted with is food. Once the devil can get you to eat, every other temptation can flow easily. An anointed Christian who doesn’t fast regularly will easily develop pride, and pride is of the flesh. Fasting is how we keep our flesh in check and maintain humility before God.

After Jesus was baptized, the Spirit drove him into the wilderness to be tempted. The tempter delayed his coming, hoping that Jesus Christ would have given in to flesh. But not Jesus, the bible says he fasted forty days and nights. The Spirit didn’t drive Jesus to the wilderness to fast, it drove him there to be tempted, you have to understand that. Jesus would have fallen cheaply if he didn’t subdue his flesh through fasting and prayer.

This is a word of caution to Christians, ministers especially, just because Satan isn’t tempting you now doesn’t mean you’re too powerful, he’s just given you room to feed your flesh. If he delayed his mission to tempt Jesus for forty days, then you can be sure that he’s coming to tempt you. However, just like Jesus, you can overcome him if you practice a fasted life.

As I conclude, when your spiritual authority doesn’t answer as it used to, go on a quick retreat to deal with flesh. Satan may be using your fleshly lusts against you.

I hope this has brought enlightenment to someone.

Remain ever blessed, in Jesus precious name!

#EmekaAnslem
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