Only By Prayer

Sometimes, an acute tragedy exposes a deeper sickness in society. Nationally, this is what we’re seeing. The question is no longer whether we can have a conversation but whether we can even care about each other anymore. At the core, the deeper issue is whether we as a culture still possess the capacity for compassion.

Jesus said that in the last days, people’s hearts would grow cold. Paul warned in Romans 1 that when a culture rebels against God, He will eventually turn them over to become faithless, heartless, and ruthless. If you can be faithless, you can be heartless. If you can be heartless, you can be ruthless. Yet the greatest command to believers is still to love God and love others.

Good tactics adapt to every scenario.

To gain perspective, we look to Ephesians. Paul wrote to a church in a major metropolitan city and described their spiritual condition as dead. In Ephesians 2:2-3, he diagnosed societal corruption, individual sin, and spiritual darkness—multiple forces shaping the decay of a culture.

We see something similar in Mark 9. After a spiritual high on the mountain, Jesus and a few disciples returned to find chaos. A father had brought his son, tormented by an evil spirit that left him mute, seizing him, and throwing him to the ground. The disciples tried to cast it out, but couldn’t. The problem wasn’t just human—it was spiritual, stronger than they were.

Meanwhile, the boy lay suffering while the crowd argued. Jesus exposed their lack of faith, asked for the boy, and the father pleaded, “If you can do anything, have compassion on us.” He doubted both Jesus’ power and His compassion.

Jesus pressed back, “If I can?” The real question was whether the father believed in Jesus’ authority over spiritual darkness. The father responded honestly, “I believe; help my unbelief.” He believed in theory but struggled in practice.

Jesus then commanded the spirit to leave and never return. Authority doesn’t beg; it commands. The spirit convulsed and resisted, but it had no choice—Jesus set the boy free.

Later, the disciples asked why they failed. They had cast out demons before—why not this time? Jesus replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.” He introduced them to a new category: some battles can’t be won by technique, only by dependence on God.

So what do we do when we face real darkness? Ephesians 2:4-5 gives us hope: God is more powerful than any darkness in your life. Because of His great love, He has made us alive in Christ. Through the Cross, we have peace with God, and through Him, reconciliation with each other.

Our response must be supernatural. Ephesians 6 calls us to put on the armor of God, because our fight is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces of evil. Wrestling is close and personal. You’ve been rescued, but you’re still in the fight. When someone treats you with hate, don’t waste hate in return. See the enemy behind them. Picture an old battle—a rider charging on horseback. The rider controls the horse. The goal was to defeat the rider, not the horse. Satan is the rider; your enemy is the horse. We want the enemy of God defeated, but the person set free.

So pray. This kind of evil only comes out through prayer. Prayer is our tactic in every scenario.

Here are some scriptures to pray:

• Ephesians 4:1–3, 25–32

• 2 Timothy 2:21–26; 3:1–17

• Romans 12:9–21

• James 3:13–18

• 1 Peter 3:8–18

• Colossians 3:1–17