Chapter 1
What the Devil Doesn’t Want You to Know

The Prize Is Within reach

Why do we struggle so against the devil? Because he is the one blinding the lost to the truth of the gospel. The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ (2 Cor. 4:4). Yes, we struggle with the enemy in other areas, but none of these is as significant. Satan cannot snatch us away from the Savior’s hand, so our salvation is secure (see John 10:28). What the devil intends for evil, God uses for good, so the outcome of our trials and tribulations is bound to be positive (see Gen. 50:20; Rom. 8:28). Even in the areas where wehave willfully sinned, the Holy Spirit is actively at work, bringing us to repentance; and when we repent, the blood of Jesus graciously erases the marks of sin (see 1 Pet. 1:2).

On none of those fronts—salvation, tribulations and sanctification—can the devil harm the followers of Christ. So the primary purpose of our struggles against the devil is to open the eyes of the lost to the gospel: I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God (Acts 26:17,18, NIV). This is the only struggle where the devil has a fighting chance. So when I refer to the devil in this book, it will usually be in the context of his opposition to the fulfillment of the Great Commission. I do not believe there is a demon hiding behind every bush or hanging out on every street corner, but I do believe the Bible teaches that there are forces of wickedness and powers who rule over the darkness in our cities. Such are the strongholds we will address here, for this is a struggle that requires us to employ a powerful tool like prayer evangelism.
A decade has now passed since we began to teach and apply the principles of prayer evangelism to city-reaching efforts. During that time we have seen a few cities reached for Christ and their spiritual climate changed, at least for a season. We have also seen scores of cities begin to undergo the same process. This is excellent news. But we have not yet seen a steady stream of cities transformed, and this realization hurts. When the devil taunts us with statistics, usually in our moments of vulnerability, we are tempted to jump into the pool of self-pity. If this is where you are at, if your city has not been reached for Christ, don’t jump!

There is hope and plenty of it, as you will read in this book. Powerful changes are taking place in the Church and in our cities — changes beyond anything imaginable only a few years ago. These are not superficial changes but changes in paradigms. When considered one by one, the changes may not seem impressive; but when viewed as pieces of a puzzle that is fast coming together, the revolutionary implications come into clear focus: The Church can change the spiritual climate over the city. This rediscovery of biblical principles for reaching entire regions can ignite city-reaching thrusts, moving them forward and upward in exciting new ways. And as we learn how to transform the spiritual atmosphere over a region, the uplifting, cozy climate that characterizes many pastors’ prayer summits and intercessory gatherings can be spread throughout our cities.

The transformation of cities is no longer a distant hope but, rather, it is a fast-ap-proaching reality that can be yours once you grasp and activate the biblical principles involved. The heart of this hope lies in a series of paradigm shifts that have begun to take place in the Church in recent years—and a few others that are about to. A paradigm is a conceptual grid through which reality is perceived. A paradigm shift is a change in that grid that enables us to see reality in a different, often more effective way. Paradigm shifts are the hinges upon which the door to discoveries and scientific break-throughs is opened. For example, mankind had tried to achieve flight for thousands of years with no success. Our ancestors explored every imaginable way to make the human body fly like the birds of the air. Leonardo da Vinci even glued feathers to his body and, while perched on the banister of a second floor balcony, vigorously flapped his arms in a failed attempt to take off. Nothing worked until Wilbur and Orville Wright had a paradigm shift: They discovered that the key to flying lies in the shape of the wing. The Wright brothers found that wind rushing over a wing with a flat bottom and a curved top creates the physical dynamics required to lift a vehicle off the ground.1 Once the Wright brothers perceived reality in a different way, people began to fly, and the impossible became possible.

A paradigm shift also represents a transition in thinking that is irreversible. Like a cracking in the ice on a lake at the beginning of spring—once it happens, however miniscule the crack, the ice never will recover its old form but will continue cracking and breaking until the ice takes on a whole new form (water). This is why the paradigm shifts I describe in this book are so significant. The Church, already being affected by them, will never be the same. Granted, some of the new paradigms are not yet fully visible, as they are in their beginning stages; but like that first crack in the ice, they are irreversible and will only grow larger.

In the chapters that follow, I will identify and define 17 different paradigm shifts— some that have already begun to alter the landscape of the Church and our cities, others
that are on the horizon. At one time or another, most of these paradigms have been embraced or espoused by individuals in the Church. What is new today, however, is that these paradigms are fast becoming part of the Church’s life stream and are quietly changing its course. What I am describing is something like the onset of puberty. When our brains released hormones for the first time into our puerile bloodstreams, we did not know, much less understand, what was going on; but we were changed nonetheless. Voice, hair, skin, emotions, the way we related to the opposite sex—everything changed drastically. Something similar is happening to the Church today. The Church that is arising as a result of the new paradigms is stronger, healthier, mightier and more than capable of transforming our cities for Christ by changing their spiritual climate. That is what this book is all about. I fervently pray that as you read, you will be encouraged, strengthened and equipped for taking the gospel to your neighborhood, your city, your nation and beyond. Like Rocky’s manager, I say to you, “Get up, you blessed soldier! Get up! You may be down, but Satan is down, too, and the one who gets up first wins cities. Get up and claim the prize. Your city is waiting to be reached!”
Paradigm Shifts and Prophetic Acts Prophetic acts are found all through the Bible. God told Jeremiah to go to the potter’s house to watch a vessel be broken and re-formed as an object lesson of how God changes the natural through the supernatural (see Jer. 18:1-10). In another instance, a stone was tied to a book of prophecies and cast into the Euphrates River to illustrate God’s upcoming judgment against Babylon (see Jer. 51:60-64).

The institution of the Lord’s Supper was also a prophetic act. Jesus broke the bread and blessed the cup to symbolize not only His upcoming death but also the redemption
that would flow out of it. In the natural, betrayal (by Judas), abandonment (by the disciples) and forsakenness (by God) were prevailing factors in Christ’s death on the cross.
Through this prophetic act, however, Jesus built a bridge of faith into a new reality of redemption and reconciliation. Prophetic acts are important and powerful agents of change.
Usually a paradigm shift, in its early stages, insinuates itself through a prophetic act.