“Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.” Hebrews 3:1 (NIV)

Tactical deception is a real thing, it is a military term, with an actual definition… “the misrepresentation of the state of the world to another individual, may allow cheaters to exploit conditional cooperation by tactically misrepresenting their past actions and/or current intentions.” Wow, sounds like what’s going on today! Another term for it is distraction! Right now, the enemy wants to keep us distracted from the real battle. We have been lied to, and sadly much of the nation, let alone huge portions of the church has bought into it! While Satan is engaging in the greatest assault on the church ever, much of the church is 1) distracted, 2) feeling hopeless and 3) even bickering with each other.

We don’t have time for this! The enemy is gloating, while the Father is grieving over His kids fighting and disbelieving. Enemy wants to turn us away from hope. Our authority comes from our hope. There are many, including leaders, who’s hope has been deferred (Proverbs 13:12). If you know of any personally, please pray for them! Hopeless leaders are prayerless leaders and as such, powerless leaders! Also, a bickering, angry, unforgiving church is powerless because of its impotence in prayer. God does not listen to the one who’s heart is filled with unforgiveness. And much prayer today is coming from a place of fear, reaction and consumed with worry. Pastor David Hernandez says; “Worry is the flesh’s powerless counterfeit for prayer!”

The enemy wants us to forsake prayer or make it powerless in this hour! Instead of listening to all the fake, censored news, spend more time with the Lord. Ask Him what He is doing and then focus on that. Cry out for those you know in the church who are angry, bitter and overwhelmed.

Right now, cast all your own worries, fears, doubts and cares upon Him. Our enemy goes about like a roaring lion seeking people to devour. The only ones he can devour are those who are wandering from Jesus. We are told to resist Him and stand firm in the faith (1 Peter 5:7-9). This is an hour when we must stand firm in what we believe. It is an hour of testing. And like all tests, there are results from it. There will be consequences for how we walk this season out. Those who remain full of faith will be rewarded and promoted. Don’t let the enemy distract you from prayer any more. Do whatever it takes to stay on your post as a watchman. Take some time to intentionally fix your eyes on Jesus, and then pray for other prayer people who you know that are struggling in this season.