 Prayer
(Authoritative)
"Authoritative prayer" has a significant place in the
New Covenant ministry of healing and deliverance. Since we know very little about this
kind of prayer we must pray for revelation and understanding. Once we receive an accurate
revelation of God's will in this matter we may issue "the command of authority".
Before we begin let us take one Old Testament type as our
example. EXO14:15 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to Me? [ this
is prayer] Tell the sons of Israel to go forward. [16] "And as for you, lift up your
staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall
go through the midst of the sea on dry land. [ this is authority]
The rod represents God's authority that He put into Moses' hand.
There is a time to pray and there is also a time not to pray but to use the authority that
God has put into our hand and go forward. When we get into the prayer syndrome it is easy
to continue to pray but not use the authority of Jesus Name to speak the commandment and
then go forward. Until God spoke to Moses how was Moses supposed to know that God wanted
him to use his rod and go forward? Because he couldn't go to the right or the left and
Pharaoh's army was behind and God had said He was taking them to the Land of Canaan. The
only way to Canaan was to go forward. If we are careful to interpret God's Word accurately
and we understand where God is taking us we will be able to issue the command of authority
with confidence. Christ has ascended "far above" all rule, authority, power, and
dominion and every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one to come.
Our revelation must be "the rest of the story" and that is that God has included
us in Christ by resurrection and raised us up and seated us with Him "far
Above". If we had the revelation of that we would never doubt our authority over the
kingdom of darkness and over all the power of the enemy. We must see that our authority
originates at the throne of God in the authority that God has given Jesus Christ over both
heaven and earth and even those under the earth. He said "all authority was given to
Him". That means that no other real authority remains effective. If Christ was given
"all authority" that also means that the only authority that we may use is His
authority. We can have no personal authority because "all authority" was given
to Jesus. However, He has transferred His authority to His church, which is His body on
earth. Then why do we call exercising Christ's authority on this earth "the prayer of
authority"? MARK 11:22] And Jesus answered saying to them, "Have faith in God.
[23] "Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, `Be taken up and cast into
the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to
happen, it shall be granted him. { this is commanding with authority} [24] "Therefore
I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them,
and they shall be granted you. { this prayer in the same context} [25] "And whenever
you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father also
who is in heaven may forgive you your transgressions. From this we learn that ministering
His authority requires a certain characteristic of Christian virtue and right standing
with God to make it effective. This part requires the prayer of forgiveness. Our faith is
first vertical toward God who has declared and encourages this ministry. Next our faith is
focused upon the commandment we speak and our absolute confidence it will happen just like
we commanded. Since man has no power to move the mountain it is clear that this
"ministry" must be a cooperation between God and man and God is the one Who must
provide the power. By now we should all know the difference between praying that God would
somehow move this mountain and man exercising Christ's delegated authority and issue the
command for the mountain to move. Prayer is speaking to God while authority is speaking
directly to the mountain. The command example is " Be taken up and be cast into the
sea". God is not asked for anything so this is not a prayer of request but a prayer
of authority issued as a commandment. The point we are making is this: Prayer of authority
is not asking God to do anything but it is using God's authority to directly deal with
this issue on earth . The reason is because God has given man the dominion upon this earth
to rule over it for God. Asking God to override man's dominion on earth is against
creation and would circumvent God's eternal purpose. Asking God to override Man's free
will is the same realm and God will not do it. What then is a practical application of
this truth since we don't often have a mountain that needs moving? Suppose we are sick and
this sickness is debilitating us. Should we begin to pray and ask God to heal us? Should
we call for a prayer meeting for the saints to intercede for us? According to this example
we should do neither! We should use the authority that God has given us and speak directly
to this sickness and command it to leave our body! Then we should believe what we said had
already happened and stand to our feet and go about our business. Of course if we hold
unforgiveness against anyone, we need to get that right first. According to our thesis we
need to believe exactly what God said in His word is true and will be effective for us and
then act upon it. Reading what certain ministers have said about healing in our day is not
a great faith builder. For most ministers the prayer of commandment never really existed
or passed away with the "last" apostle. I am not discounting the prayer that
ascends up to the throne of God and then returns to earth as an answer from the throne.
This is certainly valid but too many times we are "praying as usual" when we
should be exercising the authority God gave us and commanding the situation directly.
Derek Prince in his book on prayer relates several instances where the weather was
controlled by the authority of believing prayer. We all know of the several testimonies of
Bob Metzger in controlling the weather and commanding the storms. God is certainly raising
up a group of overcomers who will experientially overcome. Some of their experience will
involve this prayer of authority. If we consider the multitudes of evil angels and nasty
demons that inhabit this earth we may wonder how the church is even going to survive let
alone complete God's purpose for the earth and preach the Kingdom in every nation. If God
didn't give us a valid authority over these evil forces we would be overcome very quickly.
The scriptures declare that Jesus has given us this authority over ALL the power of the
enemy. Now we must believe that and act upon that revealed truth. We have to get the
"buts" and maybes" out of our vocabularies and begin to believe and confess
what God says. We have to ignore "the experts" and believe God's word! Our
asking and whining before God is not a prayer meeting. Our discussing the problems is a
"ministry of unbelief" and lack of confidence in the authority God has given us.
Not only do we have authority to cast out demons in the Name of Jesus we also have the
authority to "contain and limit their work and activities". All the power of the
enemy includes everything the enemy does. If all the enemies have been put into subjection
under our feet then our part is to enforce this victory upon this earth, at least in this
area that God has made our responsibility. Many of the hassles and problems within the
church and church divisions could be avoided if we learned how to pray in the realms of
our authority.
|
