Immediately after I submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, I became a victim of sleep paralysis and paranormal attacks. These encounters lasted from my senior year in high school through my sophomore year at university.
I reasonably tried everything to alleviate these issues. I utilized spiritual warfare prayers recommended by respected church leaders. Surprisingly, demons occasionally found a way to technically bypass those.
One day, I was watching Christian TV in my dorm room when I heard a pastor encourage the audience to make a practice of reciting the Lord’s Prayer. I had my doubts, because my church taught it was just a “model” prayer. And reciting it seemed too high church. (Boy, I was wrong!) However, nothing else worked up to this point, so I tried it.
That night, I had zero sleep disturbances! The next night? Same peace. I continue to recite it every day for over 30 years, and the sleep paralysis and night disturbances “coincidentally” ended.
Years later, I validated my outcome by experimenting with a Bible study group I led. Without divulging why, I gave all 35 students a homework assignment to recite the Lord’s Prayer before bedtime then share their experiences the following week.
To my surprise, 100% of them claimed to have 0 nightmares that whole week! After everyone departed that Bible study, an executive approached me. She looked both ways then admitted to suffering from night-terrors for over 20 years. She awoke every night from a nightmare of being covered (face and body) with insects! Mysteriously, the night terrors ended the first night she started reciting the Lord’s Prayer!
Of all the national and international correspondence I receive, guess what topic is most popular? You guessed right! My research and shared testimonies regarding the Lord’s Prayer.
I believe these testimonials are evidences of New Covenant benefits associated with the Lord's Prayer. To fully understand this, I’ll compose the next few blogs to explore:
1. Ancient-Jewish theology on prayer—including a popular Hebrew verse every modern Bible version translates incorrectly;
2. Early-Christian theology on prayer—including the Greek rendering of Jesus’ own words most modern churches get wrong; and
3. Biblical meaning along with precedent and practice.
You can get a head start by reading chapter 3 of my book "When Demons Surface"--along with all its amazing testimonies, including the fascinating one at the end.
Please share.
NEXT BLOGS:
Part 1 - Lord’s Prayer (Jewish Heritage)
[https://www.stevedabbs.org/post/part-1-the-lord-s-prayer-jewish-heritage]
Part 2 - Lord’s Prayer (Christian Heritage)
[https://www.stevedabbs.org/post/part-2-the-lord-s-prayer-christian-heritage]
Part 3 - Lord’s Prayer (Biblical Meaning)
[https://www.stevedabbs.org/post/part-3-the-lord-s-prayer-biblical-meaning]
