There Are Times When We Must Declare War

Jack Hayford preached a sermon at Church on the Way in 1982. He chose Ephesians 6 for his scripture from which he described the armor of God, and how we were to embrace and wear that armor to ward off attacks of the enemy of our souls. I was 51, single, lonely and living in Los Angeles at that time. I owned a major part of a successful construction consulting engineering firm that was growing nicely. I had become a Christian in 1961.

Toward the end of the sermon, Pastor Jack advised there were times when the devil was out to steal our future and when that was the case, we had to more than put on the armor; we had to declare war on the devil, and refuse to surrender our future.

I played golf later that Sunday. I got to the club late in the afternoon and played alone. I got to the fourth hole and hit the ball well. I drove down the cart path and stopped where the cart path to the eighth tee intersected the path I was using.

I got out of the cart and looked around. No one was close by or about to come my way, so I took that moment to declare war on the devil. By then, I had decided that he was not going to steal any more of my future, and I challenged him at the top of my voice. No one heard me and when I was done, I got back in the cart and played on.

I got home that evening and instead of going across the street to my customary restaurant for supper, I got busy and never bothered to eat. I got up the next morning and felt checked about breakfast, settling for a cup of coffee.

I did not know much about spiritual warfare at that point in my life. Oh, I had heard about it, but somehow it was beyond my level of experience or interest. My two skipped meals lead to a third, a fourth and soon I knew I was fasting. My recollection is that I sort of fell into this fast; at least, I have no recollection of making a decision not to eat.

I went over to my friend’s home on Thursday. His name was Chuck Shoemake, and at that time he pastored the Canoga Park Foursquare church. His wife Ruby joined us, and we sat around their living room talking. Our custom to close one of my visits was to kneel around their coffee table and have a prayer.

I went home and read Isaiah 58 and learned what God’s chosen fast was about. I learned that it was a fast that could break yokes and oppression. I continued to fast until lunch on the 35^th day. I had been invited that day to a celebratory business lunch at an electrical contractor’s office. It featured a magnificent spread of my favorite deli foods, and as I looked at the array of choices, I sensed the Lord say “Go ahead and eat.” I did just that, and my fast ended.

I was not conscious of yokes snapping or fetters breaking during those 35 days. Nothing out of the ordinary seemed to happen. I did lose 42 pounds, and I got my clothes altered. I wore a business suit to work at that time in my life.

The fast ended in mid-March. That spring I attended a meeting where Dick Mills, a recognized Prophet in my denomination, spoke a word (Job 11:6) to me that said God would double my wisdom and that my business would double, no triple, no quadruple, and that I would not have to work harder than my current commitment. My firm did $3 million in fees in 1982 and $12 million in 1986.

One of my clients in the Bay Area (San Francisco) called me in May. He knew a lady that he wanted me to meet. I really wasn’t interested in meeting a 50 year old woman who lived 400 miles from my home, but I agreed to call her. We were married in January 1983, and will soon celebrate our 27th anniversary. We share an understanding of God and a common theology, we are holiness Pentecostals, and we have yet to seriously disagree about anything.

I enrolled at Fuller Theological Seminary in the fall of 1982 and graduated with a Masters in Theology in 1991. I was invited to be on the executive committee of the 1985 Billy Graham Southern California Crusade in 1983. The committee met often, I served as arrangements chairman, 580,000 attended, 37,000 made decisions for Christ, and I was asked to give my testimony one evening during the crusade. Those were exciting days.

In 1986 I sold my interest in the consulting firm I had started 22 years earlier, and joined the pastoral staff of Church on the Way. I was in charge of the radio television ministry, and made some significant business decisions that brought Jack Hayford to national Christian radio prominence. A year or so later my wife and I had the chance to move to Hawaii, and we did so.

We have been on the pastoral staff of New Hope Christian Fellowship since it started in the mid 90’s in Honolulu. New Hope and its satellites at 30,000 is the largest church in Hawaii. It is the largest or second largest church in Foursquare. Hawaii’s mega churches and its regular sized churches include 150,000 people, nearly ten percent of our population.

I serve on the church council, teach on the Holy Spirit at our Foursquare Bible College, minister to the tutus (those in our congregations over 75 years old), teach a men’s group, write for the Faith pages of both our statewide daily newspapers, minister healing and deliverance at New Hope’s monthly healing meeting. I also have been active as a contributing editor for The Pneuma Review.

I was appointed a charter member of Foursquare’s national church office investment committee in 1999, and I still serve on that committee today. I managed the restoration of Angelus Temple, Foursquare’s first and still its official home church in 2001 and 2002.

Now having experienced all that, you might expect me to often fast for long periods at regular intervals. My life changed so remarkably, and God took me places that I never imagined I would go after I declared war and fasted in 1982. Yet I did not fast like I did in 1982, and writing this article made me think about that. I realized that an Isaiah 58 fast was to overcome the devil, but it was not intended to manipulate or force God into action that was not part of his plans. If fasting could force God’s hand, then I would have power over God, and I do not want that. So beyond trying to begin each year with a ten day fast, my days of fasting warfare were seemingly behind me. I had been a spiritual soldier for a short season and now had become a civilian again, until …

I realized that the devil was here again and attacking our future. It was the week that the government took over Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. In that week, we lost a third of our savings, and I knew it was time to declare war anew.

I had taught and ministered to the tutus that Friday morning at our L.E.A.D. center and as they left the meeting, I knew that I was being challenged again. This time I went out into the parking lot, and quietly but firmly told the enemy of our souls that he would not steal my future, that we were at war, and that I would triumph. I took out my weapon which was an Isaiah 58 fast and with driven purpose, I did not eat for 26 days. As the fast began I asked the Lord how long I should go, and I felt him say to stop when I reached a certain weight. It took 26 days to reach that number.

This fast was different than the first. I was experienced this time; I had seen God change my life dramatically the first time I had done this. I was resolute, determined and expectant. I wanted to see a repeat of the wonders that I had experienced after the first fast, and I was not to be deterred. I didn’t feel a temptation to nosh even just a little bit; I was full force ahead with my head down for 26 days.

I am close to a fellow that does not know the Lord; we share some common interests, and he learned that I was on this fast. He could not see how my refusing to eat for a prolonged period could possibly add to the situations I was experiencing. I read him Isaiah 58, 2 Corinthians 10 and other related scriptures, but he remains a skeptic.

And so far, nothing has happened that could change his mind, but I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him against that day.

The Bible College course on the Holy Spirit that I teach was in session during the fast and only one of my 14 students had ever fasted before. They too watched and wondered. Now I wait to see the hand of the one to whom we owe all work on my behalf. Isaiah 64 says that our God is the only God that works for them who wait on Him.

Fasting is our weapon to overcome the devil, to turn our morning into dancing, to make His Shalom reality. Shalom is that wonderful state of affairs where everything flourishes, is wholesome and filled with delight. God intends that we live in that state, his kingdom where Shalom is common place. I invite you to declare war; there are times when you can do nothing but fight to protect and preserve that which is yours.

PR