Day 19: Prayer for Our Entering into the Prayer of the Body of Christ with the Full Realization of What Christ Has Obtained
Pray that the saints would learn to pray not just the prayers of individual believers but the prayer of the church as the Body of Christ with the full realization of what the Lord has obtained—His lordship and headship—touching the authority of Christ to claim what He has obtained and apply it to the situation—Eph. 1:22; Acts 12:5, 12.
Eph. 1:22—And He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church.
Acts 12:5, 12—So then Peter was kept in the prison; but prayer was being made fervently by the church to God concerning him. 12 And when he became aware of this, [Peter] went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, who was surnamed Mark, where there was a considerable number assembled together and praying.
The fourth main point…is the prayer of the church as the Body of Christ. This kind of prayer is not the prayer of individual believers but the prayer of the church as the Body of Christ…This is prayer that is based on the fact that we have the position and authority of Christ. In this kind of prayer we do not beg the Lord to do something for us. Instead, we claim what the Lord has obtained and attained. However, to pray in this way, we must have some realization of what the Lord has obtained and attained. Christ has obtained the lordship and the headship; He is the Lord, the Head over all things. The lordship and the headship are the most important aspects of what the Lord has obtained.
Once we realize what the Lord has obtained, we need to apply it. Actually, it is very simple to exercise the lordship and the headship of Christ. Suppose you meet a brother who is in a poor condition. When you meet him, you may sense that his condition and position are not right with the Lord. As a result, you may become burdened to pray for him. In this situation there are two ways you can pray. One way is the general way, the way taken by most believers when praying for others. In this general way you may go to the Lord and tell Him, “Lord, this brother is in a poor condition. Lord, be merciful to him. Do something with him. Work within his spirit?’ This is the general way to pray for someone. However, there is another way to pray. This way is very special and may seem strange to us. It is not an ordinary way of praying; rather, it is an extraordinary way. In this way of prayer you are bold with the Lord. You may go to the Lord and say, “Lord, here is a brother who is still not under Your headship. I do not agree with this. I do not go along with this kind of situation. Lord, I am standing up to proclaim Your lordship and to claim it over this situation.” We can pray in this same way for a sinner: “Lord, Your lordship must be exercised over this person. Lord, I claim this.” We need to realize the difference between the general way of prayer and this second way of prayer.
In this second way of prayer we touch the authority of Christ. We must see, however, that we can never pray in this way by ourselves. This does not mean that we must always physically gather together with a few other brothers. Physically, you may be praying in your room by yourself, but spiritually, you are one with the Body. When you are alone in your room, sometimes you may choose not to use the pronoun I; instead, you may use the pronoun we, praying, “Lord, we do not go along with the present situation. As Your Body, we take the ground of Your ascension and claim Your lordship over the present situation.” This is a different kind of prayer. This is not prayer that begs the Lord to do something for you; this is prayer that claims what the Lord has obtained. (CWWL, 1963, vol. 1, “Prayer on the Ground of Christ’s Ascension,” pp. 162-163)
© Living Stream Ministry. Used by permission.
Day 20: Praying the Prayer of Authority—Praying Downward
Pray that all the saints, as the church, would learn to pray the prayers of authority, the downward prayers that begin from a heavenly position of victory and go from heaven to earth, standing in the position that Christ has given us in the heavenlies, commanding Satan with authority, rejecting all his works, and proclaiming with authority that all God’s commands should be accomplished—Eph. 6:18-19; Isa. 45:11.
Eph. 6:18-19—By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints, and for me.
Isa. 45:11—Thus says Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel and the One who formed him, Ask Me about the things to come concerning My sons, and concerning the work of My hands, command Me.
Ephesians 6:18-19 says, “By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints, and for me.” This is a prayer concerning spiritual warfare. This kind of prayer is different from ordinary prayer. Ordinary prayer is directed from earth to heaven. But the prayer here is not from earth to heaven; it begins from a heavenly position and goes from heaven to earth. A prayer with authority has heaven as its starting point and the earth as its destination. In other words, a prayer with authority is prayed from heaven to earth. Everyone who knows how to pray knows what it is to pray upward and what it is to pray downward. If a man has never learned the prayer that prays downward, he has never learned to pray with authority. In the spiritual warfare, the kind of prayer that prays downward is very important. What is a prayer that prays downward? It is to stand in the position that Christ has given us in the heavenlies, to command Satan with authority and reject all his works, and to proclaim with authority that all God’s commands should be accomplished. If we pray for a realization of God’s will and a decision concerning it, we should not say, “God, I ask You to accomplish this.” Rather, we should say, “God, You have to do this. You have to accomplish this. No matter what happens, You must fulfill this work.” This is a commanding prayer, a prayer with authority….
Brothers and sisters, we must see the heavenly position of the church. Satan begins his work by trying to take away our position in the heavenlies. The heavenly position is a position of victory. As long as we stand in that position, we have victory. If Satan succeeds in dragging us down from the heavenlies, we will be defeated. Victory is standing continuously in the heavenly position of victory. Satan will tell us that we are on earth. If we agree with him that we are on earth, we will be defeated. Satan will try to frustrate us by our defeat and make us think that we are indeed on earth. But if we stand up and declare, “Christ is in the heavenlies, and we are also in the heavenlies,” and hold on to our position in the heavenlies, we will overcome. Hence, it is a big thing to stand in the right position.
A prayer with authority has the position of being in the heavenlies as its basis. Since the church is in the heavenlies with Christ, it can pray with authority. (CWWN, vol. 22, “The Prayer Ministry of the Church,” pp. 194-195)
© Living Stream Ministry. Used by permission.
Day 21: Praying the Prayer of Authority—“Speak to the Mountain”
Pray that the saints would be full of faith, praying according to God’s will, becoming the overcomers who learn to “speak to the mountain” that is blocking the way—exercising God’s authority to deal with all the things that block us from going on in the spiritual pathway—Mark 11:22b, 23-24; Matt. 4:10a, 11a.
Mark 11:22b, 23-24—Have faith in God. Truly I say to you that 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 happens, he will have it. For this reason I say to you, All things that you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and you will have them.
Matt. 4:10a, 11a—Then Jesus said to him, Go away, Satan!...Then the devil left Him.
What is praying with authority? Simply put, it is praying the prayer of Mark 11. In order to be clear about this truth, we should consider verses 23-24 carefully. Verse 24 begins with the words “for this reason.” “For this reason” means that this sentence is a continuation of what has gone before. This means that verse 24 is joined to verse 23. Verse 24 mentions prayer. This proves that verse 23 must also concern prayer. The strange thing is that verse 23 does not sound like an ordinary prayer. The Lord did not tell us to pray, “God, please move the mountain and cast it into the sea.” What does it say? It says, “Whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and cast into the sea.” According to our concept, what should a prayer be like? We think that when we pray to God, we have to say, “God, please move this mountain and cast it into the sea.” But the Lord said something else. He did not tell us to speak to God; He told us to turn to the mountain and to speak to the mountain. The speaking is not toward God but directly toward the mountain, telling it to be cast into the sea. Since the Lord was afraid that we would not consider this to be a prayer, He pointed out in the following verse that it is a prayer. This prayer is not directed toward God, but it is a prayer. It is a speaking directed toward the mountain that says, “Be taken up and cast into the sea.” Yet this is also a prayer. This is a prayer with authority. A prayer with authority does not ask God to do something. Rather, it exercises God’s authority and applies this authority to deal with problems and things that ought to be removed. Every overcomer has to learn to pray this kind of prayer. Every overcomer has to learn to speak to the mountain…
All we have to do is issue a word of command to the mountain: “Be taken up and cast into the sea.” There is a great difference between asking God to remove the mountain and commanding the mountain to be removed. It is one thing to go to God and ask Him to do something. It is another thing to directly command the mountain to be cast away. We often overlook this kind of commanding prayer. Seldom do we pray by applying God’s authority to the problem or by saying, “I command you in the name of my Lord to go away” or “I cannot tolerate this thing to remain with me anymore.” A prayer with authority is one in which we tell the things that are frustrating us to go away. We can say to our temper, “Go away.” We can say to sickness, “Go away. I will rise up by the resurrection life of the Lord.” This word is not spoken to God but directly to the mountain. “Be taken up and cast into the sea.” This is a prayer with authority. (CWWN, vol. 22, “The Prayer Ministry of the Church,” pp. 195-196)
© Living Stream Ministry. Used by permission.