I just finished watching the documentary, “An Unconventional War,” put out
by the Sentinel Group, about the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda, which reigned with terror for decades in this region. Although the gruesome details of this story are familiar to many, this film documented the lesser known account of how prayer and spiritual warfare brought down the Satanic powers backing this rebel group.
Much of it was difficult to watch. I was tempted to
turn it off several times, but the victory of the praying church, spearheaded by
the parents of abducted children, was worth waiting for. At the time the
documentary was filmed (2005), Joseph Kony and the LRA had abducted 25,000 children,
turning them into sex slaves and killers, sometimes forcing them to kill or
mutilate their own family members. Eighty percent of the region’s population
had been displaced because of the terror.
Amidst all of the horrific stories, one particular interview
stood out in dramatic relief. It was an interview with a mother whose teen daughter
had been abducted from her preparatory school. She related how not long after
the abduction, she had gotten word that her daughter had been impregnated by
one of the soldiers. The mother expectedly was heartbroken, but also bitter
with anger against the injustice done to her child. As a Christian, she prayed
fervently for her daughter to be delivered, but one night while crying out to
God, she heard Him tell her that if she was going to pray while full of
bitterness, she might as well not pray. It wasn't doing any good.
I knew that was a true principle from the word of God (Mark
11:25), and yet I recoiled as she told the story. “God,” I almost shouted. “It’s
only natural for her to feel this way! How can you tell her to not be bitter?”
And then the Holy Spirit’s thoughts came to me: “Of course,
that is the natural way to feel, but it's impossible to fight spiritual battles with
natural weapons. To live in bitterness is to play right into the enemy’s hands
and render you powerless. Only forgiveness and love give you the upper hand.”
This woman did forgive, get the upper hand over the enemy,
and became a leader in the powerful prayer movement in Uganda.
As I pondered my own life of prayer, I had to admit that
many times I harbored rancor in my heart, or at the least strong disdain, when
praying for my country. The corruption, dishonesty and political
maneuverings that I see make it easy for me to be disgusted with our elected (and
unelected) representatives. There has been so much bias in the media, it’s hard
to believe anything presented there without a good measure of cynicism.
Nonetheless, God’s word commands me to pray for my rulers
and those in authority (1 Timothy 2:1-2). This women’s interview – and the
Bible -- tell me that I need to get my heart right first if I want my prayers
to be effective. Our country is in tremendous need of prayer. The evil that terrorized
Uganda may be more blatant than what I see in the United States, but evil is of all types is going on relentlessly here , only cloaked in darkness. Our prayers have to be
just as relentless -- and effective -- to bring light to the darkness, so that the darkness has to flee.
