Leah Grace For years, my favorite book series has been *Wars of the Realm by Chuck Black.
This YA fiction series is about a young man named Drew who can see into the spiritual realm yet doesn’t understand what’s going on. As he observes the battles that angels & demons are fighting and how that impacts people’s decisions, he’s left confused, afraid, and questioning his own sanity. He ends up being born again, understanding what he’s been seeing, and being greatly used by God to help people & intercede in prayer.
I recently binged that series again and found something very interesting:
There was always fighting in the spiritual realm, but the battles went in favor of the angels whenever the Christians would pray.
One of the characters, Sydney, was a Christian. When she would pray, Drew noticed blue light all around her that angered & weakened the demons, but empowered & encouraged the angels. She was a powerful warrior in a battle that she couldn’t even see. Her prayers altered the outcome of the spiritual battles, which directly influenced what happened on earth.
Now, I recognize that this is a fiction book full of speculations and ideas that aren’t clearly stated in the Bible. But in reading it, I was reminded of the truth in God’s word.
Ephesians 6:12 says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
The spiritual realm is just as real as the natural realm. There is a whole world in existence that we cannot see, hear, taste, smell, or feel. That is where angels, demons, and every spiritual force does battle & work.
I was recently praying about some areas where I felt I needed breakthrough & wisdom. Yet after I prayed, it seemed like nothing was happening—on the contrary, I felt worse. Immediately, the temptation to fear & doubt came against me. It seemed like my prayers were getting me nowhere.
As I sought the Lord on this & continued to pray, I was reminded of the books I’d been reading. The Christians prayed, God worked in the spirit realm, and things changed for the better.
James tells us the same thing, that the effective prayer of a righteous person can accomplish much (James 5:16).
I was so encouraged when I remembered this! I hadn’t seen immediate results. I didn’t get some great revelation or an incredible feeling of peace. I didn’t see or feel anything change. More importantly, I was reminded that no matter what we see, God is fighting for us! We can trust that He is working behind the scenes and our prayers are doing something.
My friend, please hear this: you may be going through dark times, troubled, confused, afraid. Maybe it seems like you’ve been praying but nothing is happening. Maybe you’re starting to give up and give in to despair and God just feels distant and uninvolved.
Let me tell you something. Even if things feel impossible, hopeless, and you feel defeated, it’s only because you don’t see what God is seeing.
God wants His will done on earth as it is in heaven! He is constantly moving in the spiritual realm so that He can change things in the natural realm.
Just because we do not see doesn’t mean that God isn’t working. On the contrary, if we could see the power of prayer & what is happening in the spirit realm, we would be infused with hope and confidence!
We need to continue praying! We need to continue believing that God, who began a good work, will be faithful to complete it.
Hold up your shield of faith. Having done all, stand firm. The prayer of a righteous person has much power.
Let’s stay in faith & pray! God is doing incredible things, we just don’t see them yet.
*Just a note that even though I love the Wars of the Realm series, there is a good bit of violence & some descriptions I don’t love so I usually skim over those parts. All in all, I think it’s a really good series but I can’t totally vouch for every part of it! (Let me know if you’d be interested in an “official” book review for each book of this series!)
