“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Paul, Ephesians 6:12 NIV “The church of Christ is the church militant. We are engaged in spiritual conflict and need to be equipped for this task. To be sure, the conflict is like no other form of battle and the weapons quite different from any other weapons. We must re- imagine our notions of warfare. Yet the analogy is valid. It would be a pity if embarrassment at the military language or misplaced political correctness were to deprive us of the challenge.” Nigel Goring Wright, A of the Dark Side: Putting the Power of Evil in Its Place (pg.180) “One is hard-pressed to find any culture, prior to or contemporary with our own, that does not assume something like this [spiritual warfare] perspective. From a cross-cultural perspective, the insight that the cosmos is teeming with spiritual beings whose behavior can and does benefit or harm us is simply common sense. It is Westerners who are the oddballs for thinking that the only free agents who influence other people and things are humans.” Greg Boyd, At War: The Bible & Spiritual Conflict “If we modern Westerners cannot “see” what nearly everyone else outside the little oasis of Western rationalism the last several centuries has seen, then perhaps there is something amiss with our way of seeing. It is just possible that the intensely materialistic and rationalistic orientation of the Enlightenment has blinded us to certain otherwise obvious realities. It is just possible that our chronocentrism—our tendency to assume that the worldview we hold at the present time is the ultimate true worldview—is preventing us from seeing significant features of reality.” Greg Boyd, God At War “The Devil is not a peripheral concept that can easily be discarded without doing violence to the essence of . He stands at the center of the teaching that the Kingdom of God is at war with, and is now at last defeating, the Kingdom of the Devil.” Jeffrey Burton Russell, The Devil: Perceptions of Evil From Antiquity to Primitive Christianity “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” 1 John 3:8b NIV “In the face of doubts and disenchantment we need a vision of spiritual resistance and struggle that energizes our faith in the face of pain and suffering. To save our faith we must embrace spiritual warfare.”

Richard Beck, professor of psychology at Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas The Blueprint Worldview

• “Everything happens for a reason.” • God is in control (i.e. caused or allowed it) • God is “above” time (e.g. watching the parade) • God knows the future as if it's all settled • God is immutable or doesn't change • God's “will” is about discovering the way to go • Evil happens because of our own sin, faithlessness, or because God wanted it The Warfare Worldview

• The world is mysteriously complex • War of the wills (divine, angelic and human) • Every good and perfect gift is from God • Since God always looks like Jesus... evil (pain, death, violence, etc.) is never God's will • God has entered into time and accommodates himself to the free will decisions of creation • God sees/knows the future as settled certainties and unsettled possibilities (Master Chess-Player) Presuppositions That Impact Prayer Life

Our view of these will impact our prayer life: 1. Nature of time & the universe (e.g. determinism or free will / blueprint theology or warfare worldview—a real battle of wills!) 2. God’s sovereignty, character & image (e.g. Zeus / Cosmic Santa Claus or “Abba” Father / Jesus— the “image of the invisible God”) 3. God’s foreknowledge (e.g. all is settled & final or future is to some degree open—God sees possibilities, we actualize reality/future) “My conviction is that many Christians do not pray as passionately as they could because they don’t see how it could make any significant difference. They pray, but they often do so out of sheer obedience and without the sense of urgency that Scripture consistently attaches to prayer.” Greg Boyd, God of the Possible (pg.95) Daniel 10:1-14 NIV 1 In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a revelation was given to Daniel (who was called Belteshazzar). Its message was true and it concerned a great war. The understanding of the message came to him in a vision. 2 At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. 3 I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over. 4 On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris, 5 I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. 6 His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude. 7 I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; those who were with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves. 8 So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision; I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale and I was helpless. 9 Then I heard him speaking, and as I listened to him, I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the ground. 10 A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. 11 He said, “Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling. 12 Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. 13 But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.14 Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.” Listen or watch sermons @ granthamchurch.org Subscribe to the Grantham Church Podcast on iTunes