How to Pray When You Are Under Spiritual Attack
Jul 03, 2026Summary
Have you ever wondered how to pray when you are under spiritual attack? When a terrifying crisis hits your home or your family, a casual, generic prayer simply isn't enough. If your mind feels numb or you feel like your prayers are just bouncing off the ceiling, this episode is exactly what you need.
In this episode of the Arise Women of God podcast, host Tamara K. Anderson tackles active, authoritative prayer warfare. We look at 2 Chronicles 20 and the exact 3-step emergency prayer formula used by King Jehoshaphat when facing an impossible military siege. Discover how to shift a giant-sized problem into a God-sized solution by admitting your weakness and locking your eyes on the Lord!
Tamara also shares a powerful teaching on the legal authority of Jesus Christ—why the adversary doesn't back down because you are a perfect mother, but because he must respect the uniform of the Captain you stand behind. Learn the tactical necessity of speaking prayers out loud (just like Jesus did in the wilderness) to issue an audible eviction notice to the enemy. Tamara concludes with a raw, personal testimony of trench warfare while battling a teenager’s pornography addiction. Tune in to learn how to draw an unyielding prayer circle around your family and win the battle today!
Episode Takeaways
- The Jehoshaphat Formula (2 Chronicles 20): When you are under a massive attack, use this 3-step script: 1. Acknowledge God's past power. 2. Humbly admit your weakness ("I don't know how to solve this"). 3. Lock your eyes on the Lord. This shifts a giant-sized problem into a God-sized solution!
- Wear the Captain's Uniform: You do not have to be a perfect parent to cast out the devil. As Dr. Tony Evans notes, the enemy doesn't back down because he respects your voice; he backs down because he legally recognizes the uniform of Jesus Christ.
- The Power of Audible Prayer: When you are under a suffocating attack, silent prayers can easily get scrambled by intrusive thoughts. Just as Jesus audibly spoke scripture in the wilderness to cast Satan out, you must open your mouth and issue an audible eviction notice to the enemy in your home.
- Trench Warfare Testimony: God rarely drops an instant, magical fix for a heavy crisis (like your teen’s pornography addiction). Instead, victory requires profound humility, casting out the adversary, and taking the step-by-step actions God prompts you to take (like finding a Christian recovery program).
Free Resource
Ready to learn the exact legal language to cast out the adversary and bring light into your home? Get our free A Mother's Spiritual Defense Guide: 6 Empowering Steps to Fortify Home & Family downloadable PDF here: https://www.womenwarriorsoflight.com/A-Mothers-Spiritual-Defense-Guide
Reflection Questions
- Look at the Jehoshaphat formula. Are you currently trying to solve a "giant-sized problem" on your own instead of humbly admitting your weakness to God?
- When you are feeling anxious or attacked, do you keep your prayers internal, or do you boldly speak the name of Jesus Christ out loud to clear the atmosphere?
- What is one specific area of your child’s life where you can actively draw a "prayer circle" of angelic protection today?
Host
Tamara K. Anderson @tamarakanderson
Transcript
Tamara K Anderson
00:00:00.400 - 00:10:12.360
Hey my friend, have you ever wondered how to pray when you are under spiritual attack because a terrifying crisis is at your home or your family? And when you go to pray, your mind feels perhaps so numb or so heavy that it feels like your prayers are just bouncing off the ceiling?
Ooh, this is hard and heavy, my friend. And I know what it feels like when a casual generic prayer just simply isn't enough. Well, stay tuned.
You are in the right place and by the end of today's episode you'll know the exact three step emergency prayer formula from the Old Testament, the legal power of praying audibly, and how to draw an unyielding prayer circle around your child or your family's soul. Stay tuned. Ordinary Women Extraordinary Faith When God calls, we say yes. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Arise Women of God podcast.
I am your host Tamara K. Anderson and I'm so excited to be with you today as we tackle stepping into active, authoritative prayer warfare. We're going to talk about how to draw on those powers of heaven today and we're breaking it down into three critical pillars.
First, the Jehoshaphat three step formula.
How a king facing an impossible military siege laid out the exact spec spiritual blueprint and prayer to shift from a giant sized problem to a God sized solution.
Number two, the audible eviction order, why silent prayers can easily be hijacked by internal racing thoughts and the tactical necessity of sometimes speaking prayers aloud. Third, I'm going to share my trench warfare testimony.
I'm going to let you peek at a time in my life when the battle was real and one of my teens was struggling with a heavy addiction and how God mapped out our step by step step rescue plan.
All right, let's dive straight into 2nd Chronicles 20 where we find King Jehoshaphat facing a massive triple alliance army that had completely surrounded his kingdom of Judah. King Jehoshaphat was terrified, but he didn't bark down panic driven orders.
Instead he stood before his people, his congregation and delivered a perfect three part structural prayer that every mother should memorize. Lets read his exact words from the Scriptures in 2 Chronicles chapter 20. Starting in verse 6, step one is to acknowledge God's past power.
Jehoshaphat cries out O Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen and thine hand? Is there not power and might so that none is able to withstand thee? Wow. That is power and humility in prayer.
Step number two is to humbly admit your weakness. Look at verse 12. O our God, wilt thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us.
Don't you feel like that as a mom sometimes? It's heavy and it's big. Step number three is to lock your eyes on the Lord. He finishes verse 12 with this stunning anchor.
Neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon thee. This is your dead simple, low bandwidth emergency script.
When you are under spiritual siege, first you declare who God is and what he has already done for you and your loved ones. Second, you look directly at the father and say, I don't know how to solve this problem. It is too big for me.
Third, you declare, I don't know what the medical or the spiritual solution is, but my eyes are locked entirely on you and I know you know the solution. This is true faith. Shifting this giant sized problem into a God sized solution, because with God, nothing is impossible.
Now, if you are sitting there on the floor of your bedroom right now thinking, tamara, I can't pray with that kind of authority because I lost my cool today or because my parenting hasn't been perfect in any way, shape or form. I want you to listen to this quote by Dr. Tony Evans.
He says, spiritual warfare prayer is simply wrapping your situation in the name and authority of Jesus Christ. The devil doesn't back down because he respects your voice. He backs down because he recognizes the uniform of the captain you stand behind.
Oh, that instantly shatters imposter syndrome. You don't have to be perfect to cast out the devil. Your prayer warfare doesn't work because you've had a perfect parenting day.
They work because of the holiness, the bloodshed and the legal authority of Jesus Christ. You are wearing his uniform and the adversary is legally bound to respect his name. The second key strategy is learning how to deliver the prayer.
There are many times I'd say silent prayers in my mind when I can't verbally speak them out loud. But when Jesus was launched into intense spiritual combat in the wilderness in Matthew chapter four, he didn't keep his prayers internal.
When Satan targeted his identity, Jesus didn't just think good thoughts, he opened his mouth and spoke biblical truth and declared, it is written. It is written.
Until he finally issued an eviction notice in Matthew chapter 4, verse 10, saying, get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. And the text says, the devil left him. And then angels came and ministered unto him.
My dear sister, my dear friend, when you're under a heavy, suffocating attack. Sometimes your silent prayers can get scrambled with intrusive thoughts.
And at those times, I invite you to open your mouth and pray aloud in your kitchen, in your car, over your child's bed. The adversary cannot read your mind, but he is legally forced when he hears your audible voice command in the name of Jesus to get the hints.
Mark Batterson, the author of the Circle Maker, beautifully says this. Our prayers outlive us. When you draw a prayer circle around your children, you are claiming territory that our enemy has illegally seized.
Don't pray at your problems. Pray through the promises of God. This is spiritual mapping.
You have the right to walk into your children's room while they are sleeping, or stand over their computers and smartphones and draw a literal prayer circle of angelic protection around that boundary, claiming that territory back from the devil that he has illegally stolen from your family. All right, my friends, let's finish this off with my personal testimony of spiritual trench warfare.
Years ago, I found myself completely brokenhearted and overwhelmed when one of my children hit their teenage years. And then we discovered that they were in an agonizing battle against pornography. That was a heavy shock. And at first I didn't even know what to say.
But then I went and I drew a line and I said, I am on your side. The adversary here is the devil, and I am going to fight with you, and I'm going to fight for you.
My prayers during that season were completely stripped of all the fluff. They were full of raw humility and absolute reliance on the Lord. Just like King Jehoshaphat.
Sometimes my husband and I would kneel side by side on our bedroom floor, crying out, God, we need you. Our child needs you. This problem is way too big for us. We've never done anything like this before. Please guide our next step.
And day by day, week by week and month by month, the Lord answered our prayers.
He didn't drop a magical instant fix from heaven, but he did guide us as we searched to find a Christian addiction recovery program for teens struggling with a pornography challenge.
This program was an absolute lifeline for our team and an answer to our prayers as we met other parents who were struggling to help their teens through the exact same problem. The keys to our victory were simple but unyielding.
Profound humility, complete reliance on God, a willingness to learn about whatever the challenge is, following every quiet prompting, connecting to experts, casting out the adversary, and teaching our child to cast out the adversary as well and to call down angels in moments when the temptation seems particularly hard and heavy. Jesus Christ is indeed mighty to save of that I bear my witness. Oh my friend, you do not have to be a perfect parent to be a guardian of your home.
The moment you drop your control, put on the uniform of Christ and execute a focused, audible prayer over your family. The power of Heaven respond to your call. You are a woman warrior of light and your general has never lost a battle.
To help you systematically implement the Jehoshaphat formula, learn the exact legal language of binding and loosing, and build a strategic defense script for your family's heaviest days, we want to give you our A Mother's Spiritual Defense Guide 6 Empowering Steps to Fortify Home and Family and it's free at the link below. When you download this booklet, turn directly to step number four, Cast out and calm down, where you'll find the exact prayer you can use.
Use even screenshot it to save it on your phone for those heavy days when you need to cast out the adversary in the name of Jesus Christ and bring in light. So my friend, stand firm. Stand with Christ. He will bless you and help you and until next time, may you arise. Do it God's way. God Strong.
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