Why Pray
- Even though God is all-powerful, it doesn't mean that He will automatically do what is best for us, for the world, for everybody without anyone having to pray and ask Him for such things. From the very beginning, God has chosen to limit Himself, concerning the affairs of earth, to working through human beings and not independently of them.
- It was Christ's sacrifice on the Cross that redeemed us to God and broke the authority of Satan over us. God wants to release the work of Christ through our prayers.
Protection and Prayer
- It is wrong to believe that nothing can happen to a Christian that is not allowed by God. Sometimes, bad or unfortunate things can befall a Christian because of his own fault or lacking. All promises of God are attached to conditions which involve responsibility on our part and can only be received by us when we fulfill the conditions and responsibilities that He has set on us. For example, it is not God's will when we fall sick because we eat poorly, don't exercise and abuse our bodies in other ways.
- Protection is not automatically ours just because we are Christians. We must do things to secure it, one of which is building boundaries of protection for ourselves and others through prayer.
- Consistency is a key when it comes to prayer for protection. It must be a lifestyle, not a once in awhile activity. Many believers' prayer lives are too sporadic to build solid walls of protection.
Spiritual Warfare for the lost
- There is a warfare necessary at times in our intercession although in this war, we are not trying to defeat the devil. He is already defeated. What we do is merely to release and enforce what Christ did.
- What Christ actually did when he defeated Satan:-
- Jesus did not come to get back any power, nor to remove any power from Satan. He came to regain the authority Adam lost to the serpent and break his headship over the earth.
- Satan still has all the inherent powers and abilities he has always had. What he lost was the right (authority) to use his power on those who make Jesus Lord.
This is why we are still involved in spiritual warfare with Satan notwithstanding that Christ has already defeated Satan on the cross.
- 2 Cor 4:3,4 tells us that there is a veil or covering over the minds of unbelievers put there by Satan that blinds them from clearly seeing the light of the gospel. They don't see it because they can't see it. To be able to see the light, they must have an unveiling – a revelation. Repentance is a new understanding that comes from God through an unveiling (revelation). Pray therefore specifically for the veils to be lifted off the eyes of the unbelievers so that they can see and understand the truth of the gospel.
- Satan has a stronghold within unbelievers from which he can blind them. This stronghold has three major components:
- a person's logic or mindset - anything that causes a person to think a certain way. This means that unbelievers don't hear what we are saying, they hear what we are saying plus what they already believe.
Intercession to be applied: Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the logic or mindset of the person (thought patterns, opinions on religion, materialism, fear etc) whom you are praying for and when He does, call them by name and tear them down, for eg. "In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I am destroying you, stronghold of … ".
- a person's pride in wanting to exalt himself to a place of equality with God.
Intercession to be applied: Pray to cast down anything that would exalt itself against the knowledge of God, specifically pride and rebellion.
- the spontaneous thoughts and temptations Satan uses to assault the unbelievers, as well as the schemes and plans he uses to keep them in darkness.
Intercession to be applied: Pray to bind all wicked thoughts and lies Satan would try to place in the person's mind.
Why Perseverance in Prayers Necessary
- Is it necessary because sometimes we need to talk God into things? No, because we don't persist against God. Is it because God is using the waiting period to teach us? At times it may be, but then if this is the reason we shouldn't need to pray for the same thing again and again. Once and then a waiting in faith would be adequate. Is the delay due to the fact that God has his own timing for an answer to the prayer? If so, then again, asking once and waiting in faith should be sufficient.
- Our prayers do more than just motivate God to action. They actually release the power of the Holy Spirit from us to accomplish things. This power is measurable and there can be cumulative amounts of it. Different amounts of God's power are needed to accomplish certain things.
- Usually it is not just a matter of asking God to do something, but rather a matter of releasing enough power in the spirit to get the job done. After asking, we tend to sit back and wait on God when He is often waiting on us. We have failed to understand that there are prayers which do more than just ask Him. Sometimes, when it appears God has finally "gotten round to it" or when we think something just suddenly happened, the truth is that enough power has finally been released through prayer to accomplish it.
Prophetic Action and Prophetic Words/Declaration as forms of Intercession
- Examples of prophetic action that precede God doing something are (i) Moses stretching forth his rod over the Red Sea to part the sea; (ii) Moses holding up the rod of authority on the hill while Israel was doing battle below; and (iii) Moses striking the rock with his rod and water coming out.
- An example of prophetic words that precede God doing something is when Jeremiah prophesied and said, "Therefore hear, O nations… Hear, O earth."
- Prophetic action or declaration is something said or done in the natural realm at the direction of God that prepares the way for Him to move in the spiritual realm, which then consequently effects change in the natural realm. Basically, God says to do or say something. We obey. Our words or actions releases the power of God into situations.
Being on the Alert in Prayer
- God's plan is to warn or alert us to Satan's tactics. We must be alert – remain watchful – or we won't pick up on God's attempts to warn us of Satan's attacks and plans.
If we are not alert and watchful, if we are ignorant of Satan's schemes, he will take advantage of our ignorance which can destroy us.
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