Day 19: Prayer for Our Entering into the Prayer of the Body of Christ with the Full Realization of What Christ Has Obtained<\/p>\n\t
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\u2014His lordship and headship\u2014touching the authority of Christ to claim what He has obtained and apply it to the situation\u2014Eph. 1:22; Acts 12:5, 12.<\/p>\n
Eph. 1:22\u2014And He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church.<\/i><\/p>\n
Acts 12:5, 12\u2014So then Peter was kept in the prison; but prayer was being made fervently by the church to God concerning him.<\/i> 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.<\/i><\/p>\n
The fourth main point\u2026is 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\u2026This 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.<\/p>\n
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, \u201cLord, this brother is in a poor condition. Lord, be merciful to him. Do something with him. Work within his spirit?\u2019 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, \u201cLord, 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.\u201d We can pray in this same way for a sinner: \u201cLord, Your lordship must be exercised over this person. Lord, I claim this.\u201d We need to realize the difference between the general way of prayer and this second way of prayer.<\/p>\n
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<\/i>; instead, you may use the pronoun we<\/i>, praying, \u201cLord, 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.\u201d 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,<\/i> vol. 1, \u201cPrayer on the Ground of Christ\u2019s Ascension,\u201d pp. 162-163)<\/p>\n
\u00a9 Living Stream Ministry. Used by permission.<\/em><\/p>\n\t Day 20: Praying the Prayer of Authority\u2014Praying Downward<\/p>\n\t 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\u2019s commands should be accomplished\u2014Eph. 6:18-19; Isa. 45:11.<\/p>\n Eph. 6:18-19\u2014By 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.<\/i><\/p>\n Isa. 45:11\u2014Thus 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.<\/i><\/p>\n Ephesians 6:18-19 says, \u201cBy 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.\u201d 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\u2019s commands should be accomplished. If we pray for a realization of God\u2019s will and a decision concerning it, we should not say, \u201cGod, I ask You to accomplish this.\u201d Rather, we should say, \u201cGod, You have to do this. You have to accomplish this. No matter what happens, You must fulfill this work.\u201d This is a commanding prayer, a prayer with authority\u2026.<\/p>\n 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, \u201cChrist is in the heavenlies, and we are also in the heavenlies,\u201d and hold on to our position in the heavenlies, we will overcome. Hence, it is a big thing to stand in the right position.<\/p>\n 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<\/i>, vol. 22, \u201cThe Prayer Ministry of the Church,\u201d pp. 194-195)<\/p>\n \u00a9 Living Stream Ministry. Used by permission.<\/em><\/p>\n\t Day 21: Praying the Prayer of Authority\u2014\u201cSpeak to the Mountain\u201d<\/p>\n\t Pray that the saints would be full of faith, praying according to God\u2019s will, becoming the overcomers who learn to \u201cspeak to the mountain\u201d that is blocking the way\u2014exercising God\u2019s authority to deal with all the things that block us from going on in the spiritual pathway\u2014Mark 11:22b, 23-24; Matt. 4:10a, 11a.<\/p>\n Mark 11:22b, 23-24\u2014Have 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.<\/i><\/p>\n Matt. 4:10a, 11a\u2014Then Jesus said to him, Go away, Satan!…Then the devil left Him.<\/i><\/p>\n 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 \u201cfor this reason.\u201d \u201cFor this reason\u201d 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, \u201cGod, please move the mountain and cast it into the sea.\u201d What does it say? It says, \u201cWhoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and cast into the sea.\u201d According to our concept, what should a prayer be like? We think that when we pray to God, we have to say, \u201cGod, please move this mountain and cast it into the sea.\u201d 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, \u201cBe taken up and cast into the sea.\u201d 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\u2019s 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\u2026<\/p>\n All we have to do is issue a word of command to the mountain: \u201cBe taken up and cast into the sea.\u201d 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\u2019s authority to the problem or by saying, \u201cI command you in the name of my Lord to go away\u201d or \u201cI cannot tolerate this thing to remain with me anymore.\u201d 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, \u201cGo away.\u201d We can say to sickness, \u201cGo away. I will rise up by the resurrection life of the Lord.\u201d This word is not spoken to God but directly to the mountain. \u201cBe taken up and cast into the sea.\u201d This is a prayer with authority. (CWWN<\/i>, vol. 22, \u201cThe Prayer Ministry of the Church,\u201d pp. 195-196)<\/p>\n \u00a9 Living Stream Ministry. Used by permission.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":193,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-478","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n