Preserve my life from the enemy, from the secret counsel of evil doers.

Psalm 64 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Prayer for Deliverance from Secret Enemies.

Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint;
Preserve my life from dread of the enemy.
² Hide me from the secret counsel of evildoers,
From the tumult of those who do iniquity,
³ Who have sharpened their tongue like a sword.
They aimed bitter speech as their arrow,
⁴ To shoot from concealment at the blameless;
Suddenly they shoot at him, and do not fear.
⁵ They hold fast to themselves an evil purpose;
They talk of laying snares secretly;
They say, “Who can see them?”
⁶ They devise injustices, saying,
“We are ready with a well-conceived plot”;
For the inward thought and the heart of a man are deep.

⁷ But God will shoot at them with an arrow;
Suddenly they will be wounded.
⁸ So they will make him stumble;
Their own tongue is against them;
All who see them will shake the head.
⁹ Then all men will fear,
And they will declare the work of God,
And will consider what He has done.
¹⁰ The righteous man will be glad in the Lord and will take refuge in Him;
And all the upright in heart will glory.

“Preserve my life from dread of the enemy.  Hide me from the secret counsel of evildoers” As believers we need to recognize that we really have but one enemy. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.(Ephesians 6:12) These principalities, powers, rulers, spiritual host of wickedness are all in the devils employ. One of the devils greatest tactics or weapons against us is to have people believe that he doesn’t exist, that he is just a fairy tale made up in the minds of people. Jesus says: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. (John 10:10) If the devil were not real Jesus would not have warned us of him.

What though is the secret counsel of evil doers? Keeping in mind that we battle not with flesh and blood, we need to recognize that it is not people that we are engaged in battle with. The secret counsel though can include the words that are spoken against us by both those who wish us harm and also by those who carelessly speak against us. There is power in what is spoken. Proverbs 18:21 says: Death and life are in the power of the tongue. The negative words of others spoken over and into our lives can be powerful, particularly word spoken against believers by other believers. Jesus says: … I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 19"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven."

We may be able to fight our own battles in the natural, physical realm, but like the psalmist we need to enlist God to fight our battles against the secret counsel, the unseen and unheard attacks against us.  The psalmist says: They aimed bitter speech as their arrow, ⁴ To shoot from concealment at the blameless; Suddenly they shoot at him, and do not fear. ⁵ They hold fast to themselves an evil purpose; They talk of laying snares secretly; They say, “Who can see them?” Who can see them? God can. He will fight for us. “ But God will shoot at them with an arrow;
Suddenly they will be wounded.”

Let’s look again at the passage from Ephesians 6, which describes both who or what we battle and how we are to engage in that battle.

10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12For 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. 13Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit,

As we engage in this battle we have the full armor of God. We gird our loins with truth, the truth of God to combat the lies and the words spoken against us. We have the breastplate of righteousness to protect our heart. It is the righteousness of Christ, not our own righteousness which keeps are heart pure and safe. We shod our feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. We walk confidently in His peace knowing: The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.(Romans 16:20) We take up the shield of faith, faith in Christ alone, in His blood and the victory He has already won. We extinguish the arrows of the negative words spoken over us through faith in Christ. We take the helmet of salvation to protect our mind, knowing that because we are in Christ nothing can harm us.  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me (Psalm 23:4)  Having salvation in Christ, even death is a mere shadow. It has no substance or power over us. Finally we take up the offensive with the sword of the Spirit, the word of God. God’s word is the final authority. Regardless of what anyone else has said we overcome the words of others with the word of God.

It is a spiritual battle we are engaged in, against spiritual forces. We are encouraged then to: petition pray at all times in the Spirit. “ Then all men will fear, And they will declare the work of God, And will consider what He has done.  The righteous man will be glad in the Lord and will take refuge in Him; And all the upright in heart will glory.

Thank You Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit. Amen.