Praying As A Body

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Jesus says, "agree on earth as touching anything". Really think about this prayer! When the body of Christ is united, focused and knowledgeable of God's will on a matter, and they are quite sure that what they petition Him for is not against His will or spiritual law, then they will not waver or doubt the outcome. They know He will give them the victory! Prayer then is voicing your desire and standing on God's side. You side with your Father in other words. When the body of Christ unites to pray and then stands immovable on God's will, earth shattering changes can come about.

A common error made concerning prayer is that you may treat prayer as an outlet for whining about or expressing your personal needs only. You see you must grasp that prayer is really the asking of God to fulfill His need. God's plan is not letting you achieve your own desires and personal whims through prayer, but rather it is God's plan to accomplish His purposes through the prayer of His family. Please understand, I'm not saying you should never ask God to meet your personal needs. He is your total provider. I'm just stating you need to understand the principles of prayer so they can be answered. An example: You are in dire need. You should ask yourself, "does God want me to learn something from my lack? Is it His desire to meet my need?" If you get no direct answer, then just pray that God's will is done in your circumstance. The question is no longer will your need be met, but whether God's will is done. Don't make your need the priority. Put God's will first. Your prayer now or today will not be much different than before, except you are now looking for the Father's will concerning this particular personal matter of yours to be done, and not for your need to be supplied. It's a new thought pattern. Think of it this way: You know God supplies the needs of His family as the head of His household, so why not pray that His desire to meet your need be accomplished? See the difference?

There are two kinds of prayer. There is first the prayer out of your need, or prayer for what you perceive needs the Lord's help, but secondly there is prayer that is initiated by God. He will show you His need to intercede for a person or a situation through word of knowledge, a vision or whatever means God conveys His thoughts to you. This is prophetic prayer. The request is made through your spirit man. This kind of prayer holds much power but many times invokes much warfare. It's spirit against spirits, light against darkness, good against evil. The enemy may physically attack also, or set an attack in place to block the answer to your prayer. Can you quietly wait like Daniel, who waited 21 days for the answer to his prayer?

A secret to good prayer is praying more than once, and perhaps praying at least three times to the Lord on a matter. The number 3 in the Bible is symbolic of emphasis.

Again in II Corinthians:

I'm not saying that you should only pray a thing three times, but I am suggesting that you pray till the burden is lifted and you feel a breakthrough. It usually takes at least three times, or in a group of three people to get the victory. When you pray, those involved are you and those praying with you, the Lord and the enemy. There are two opposing forces and each claiming supremacy. God in the end already has the victory however, you know that for sure. Nevertheless, in this age, before the millennial Kingdom reign, Satan usurps power to oppose the Lord's work, His family and Kingdom interests. Remember, as children of God, His sacred seed, what we gain through victorious prayer means the enemy suffers that degree of loss. The amount of gain we receive, is the amount of God's will that has been done. And the amount of God's will that is accomplished, determines the amount Satan suffers. In other words, our gain is his loss. Satan will therefore do everything and anything to frustrate, afflict and stop us. I'm trying to give you a better mental picture of the real battle that is going on. You see, you are very much a part of that battle, whether you want to be or not. This is why you must continue to pray for the breakthrough. If you stop, the enemy will surely defeat God's will from being performed in your life. You can only consider your prayer to be really successful if it caused Satan to lose and God to gain and be glorified. You should always look for and expect the enemy's defeat and loss when you pray.

Satan will weaken our bodies and will incite people to persecute us. The enemy will work overtime through your personal environment, causing hardships and dangers. He will majorly cause division among God's family, or cut off your material supplies, sometimes even to near starvation. He oppresses your spirit, causes depression, restlessness or injects irrational fear. He will heap problems on you to overtire you, and take away sleep to wear you out. He may even drop unclean or confused thoughts into your mind to divert you from your objective. Satan is also very capable of appearing as an angel of light through some person to deceive you and cause you to lose your place in the Kingdom. Once saved always saved is a lie. Satan knows this and does his best to bring you to defeat through sin.

But what if we don't overcome and give up? We will be blotted out. Unfortunately many blame the wrong source behind their problems. As warriors, you must recognize the attack and who is behind it, keeping Ephesians 6:12 in mind.

Granted, the above do operate through people, but you should recognize the real enemy, the spirits in them. You cannot be lukewarm here. Your attitude must be hostile, no longer willing to subject yourselves to the enemy's oppression. He has no right to harass you or your Kingdom family, yet he does. Warriors hear me: Be watchful and on guard against the enemy. Especially when you pray and do warfare, beware!

1. Satan will attack your trust in the Lord. He will try to make you feel unworthy, unable, and destroy your heart to pray or praise.
2. He attacks your body, even your thoughts, nerves, strength and puts tiredness on you. When you are tired, you don't feel like praying.
3. He attacks your appointed time of prayer and study. He may even introduce something you like well enough to skip prayer altogether. This is very common.
4. The enemy can cause a heavy veil or barrier between you and the Lord so you feel you cannot make good contact.
5. Satan would like to push you so far into darkness that you see no need for prayer. He will draw your attention to people or anything will hinder your prayer life. You must watch, be alert, and pray that you are not tempted.
6. Satan's favorite trick, when you are trying your very best to walk correctly as a man or woman of God, is to cause a real problem and he is a master at pushing the right buttons. Then he will drop thoughts in your mind, suggesting that either God or His people are to blame.

If you see the attack, rise up soldier of God, get mad, put the blame where it belongs, resist the devil and he will flee. If you are passive or just patiently endure his attacks, he will just keep coming. Get angry! If you do not sin in your anger, and you loudly resist him with the sword of truth, he will flee from the Word of God and you will win.

This you know is the will of God.

Next week's blast will share thoughts on warfare prayer.