At Mid-Cities we end every service with a time of ministry at the front of the sanctuary. Pastors, elders, group leaders, and other mature believers stand at the front and pray for whoever comes forward while others are dismissed. On occasion, we invite people to come forward to pray for specific things – healing, spiritual gifts, reconciliation, etc. This morning we prayed for people to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In general, the baptism of the Spirit is the release of power in the life of a believer for greater intimacy with the Father and for the release and empowerment of spiritual gifts. As I prayed for people to receive a fresh filling of the Spirit this morning, I realized that I was judging what was happening by sight rather than by faith. Paul corrects this human tendency when he says, “We live by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor.5:7).

Many of us fall into the trap of judging what is happening in the spiritual realm by what we see happening in the physical realm. It’s not that the spiritual realm does not manifest in the physical realm because it often does – but not always and maybe less than we think. For instance, how many of us have prayed for healing for two or three minutes (I know… it seemed longer), and when we saw no improvement we walked away believing that God did not answer our prayer. As soon as we had that thought, our faith for healing dissipated.

We judged the effectiveness of our prayer by what we did not see in the natural rather than by the promises of God in the spiritual realm. Interestingly, I have heard ministers with very effective healing ministries say that 50% of the people they pray for are not healed immediately but that the healing manifests 48 to 72 hours later.  Since that is true, we should continue to have faith for healing simply because we have asked according to the promises of God. How often have we quit praying for a healing, a salvation, provision, or a mate simply because we haven’t seen anything in the natural realm that looks like what we imagined God’s answer to our prayer would look like.

Naaman is the classic example. You remember he was the commander of the army of Aram. We are told that he was a great man but he had leprosy.   His Jewish servant girl told him of Elisha and promised that the prophet of her God could heal her master. Naaman took his servants and wealth and departed to meet this prophet and pay him for a word or a prayer of healing. When he arrived at Elisha’s house, Elisha sent his servant out to tell Naaman to go dip in the Jordan River seven times and he would be healed. Instead of rushing off to the river, the text tells us, “But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy” (2 Kings 5:11). Finally, his servants convinced him to go dip in the Jordan and after he had done so, his leprosy was totally cured. Because he didn’t see what he expected in the natural realm, he nearly missed what God had provided in the spiritual realm.

As I was praying for people to receive the baptism of the Spirit this morning, I realized I was looking for manifestations of the Spirit – heat, electricity, people going weak in the knees, or spontaneously beginning to speak in tongues. The people I prayed for did not report any of those experiences and yet my faith should declare that they did receive a filling of the Spirit because God promises that he will not withhold his Spirit from those who ask (Lk.11:13). The upgrade will eventually manifest in the natural because the Spirit impacts the natural but, like healing, it may manifest in a process rather than as an immediate event.

One writer, whose name I can’t recall, explained that when a gift of healing is manifested, a process of healing is released that may take hours or days to fully manifest. The gift of miracles is seen when a sick or disabled person receives their healing immediately. If we are not careful, we will quickly loose faith for the process of healing if healing does not manifest as a miracle.

Whether we are praying for healing, salvation, provision, direction, or revival we must maintain faith based on the promises of God rather than clear manifestations of answered prayer in the natural. God is often working in the spiritual realm, marshaling everything needed for the answered prayer and when it is released the answer comes quickly and powerfully, but until that moment it will not be apparent in the natural. So…keep the faith. When we believe God more than we believe our eyes, our eyes will eventually see much more than we ever anticipated. Blessings in Him.

Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Lk.12:32-34).

In the context of describing God’s care and the uselessness of worry to his disciples, Jesus speaks the verses quoted above. He said that the Father had been pleased to give the kingdom to his followers. In the same way, the Father has been pleased to give the kingdom to us.   Many believers think of the kingdom as future. For them, the kingdom and the blessings of the kingdom are experienced only after the funeral or in the millennium when Jesus establishes his kingdom on the earth. The verb tenses Jesus used, however, were past tense. The Father had already given the kingdom and it was part of Christ’s rationale for a decision not to worry about how they would live.

In this section, Jesus describes kingdom economics. First of all, he reminds us that the kingdom has been given to us. That means that all the resources of the kingdom are available to us. As children of God and citizens of heaven, we have access to the storerooms of the kingdom – especially when we are on the King’s business and are trusting in him to provide.

Jesus counsels us to sell our possessions and give to the poor. That echoes his challenge to the rich young ruler who was moral and religious but who valued his possessions on earth more than those in heaven. He doesn’t say to sell all of our possessions but seems to be counseling us to sell much of what we have and give it away, especially the excess. This is a persistent theme throughout the gospels. When he sent out the twelve to preach, heal, and deliver he told them to take no money and nothing but the bare essentials. The lesson to be learned was that God would provide. Jesus taught us to pray each day for daily bread. Again, he seems to imply that in the kingdom, we don’t need to store up excess for the future but to use it for kingdom purposes today with faith that our Heavenly Father will provide what we need from the vaults of heaven each day.

Jesus goes on to instruct us to provide purses for ourselves (wallets) that will not wear out and a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted. We have a hand in providing this provision. I believe this teaching can include laying up rewards in heaven for eternal life, but in the context of not worrying about what we will eat, drink, or wear in this world he is talking about an account we can draw on now in this world. Jesus seems to be saying that as we freely give away what he has already given us, more resources will be placed in our account. The more we depend on the Father for provision rather than our own resources, the more goes into our account in heaven now. Biblically, it is hard for a rich man to enter heaven because the very nature of his riches tends to make him self-sufficient rather than Christ-sufficient.

It seems that from heaven’s perspective, a wise man will give enough to kingdom purposes that his situation will always force him to stay focused on God and his resources. That seems to create an “open heaven” for the children of God and his supernatural provision. Most of us have thrilled at stories of people on the brink of financial catastrophe who get the mysterious, anonymous check in the mail for exactly the amount they needed. Many of us would love to have that experience because we sense how faith building it would be. If we were honest, most of us would like to get the supernatural check so that we don’t have to dip into our savings or retirement. However, miracles typically occur only in the context of desperation or a practiced dependence on God. We’re not talking about desperation or dependence because we blew our paycheck in Vegas, but because we have used our resources for the kingdom of God or because we simply encountered a crisis that was out of our control.

In this passage, Jesus simply reminds us that there is no need to worry if we are faithfully serving the Father and are about our Father’s business. The kingdom has been given to us and the more we give away what God has been giving to us, the more he will funnel into our accounts so that we can give that away as well. I believe the principle goes beyond finances and includes our expenditure of time, energy, and gifts as well. What we give generously to God is rolled back into our account with interest so that we can draw on that account now. If we hold back a significant surplus for ourselves, we may not see the miracles we desire because we won’t need the miracles. Not only that, but after a while we may come to believe that we don’t even need God all that much.

Jesus gives wise counsel at the end of this text. Our heart will be focused on the place where we place our treasure. If a man has all his wealth in the stock market, he will check those stocks multiple times a day because his heart is there. If we want our hearts to be focused on God, then our treasure must be in his keeping not our own.

This passage challenges me and, perhaps, challenges you. Kingdom economics (kingdomnomics) stands the wisdom of the world on its head. But if we want to see the supernatural move of God in our lives, it may simply be a matter of economics.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. (Rom.8:26-27).

This may or may not be a familiar verse to you but it is an incredibly important verse for every believer. In the first place, Paul acknowledges what most of us already know. There are times when we simply need help from the Spirit of God. He helps us in our weakness, our inability, or in our own lack of capacity to face a circumstance. There will be times when we simply don’t have what it takes in our own strength to overcome a temptation, understand a dilemma, or even know how to pray about an issue. When we get to such places, the Holy Spirit comes alongside and helps. Notice that “help” doesn’t mean that he does it for us, but rather he yokes up with us so that we can face a situation together. Believe me, he is pulling most of the weight.

In the context of needing a breakthrough in one of life’s dilemmas such as a martial crisis, a healing, a release from an addiction, or a financial crisis, sometimes we need help. I really like what Dutch Sheets has to say about such a moment in his “must-read” book, Intercessory Prayer. “Have you ever felt an inability in your prayer life to produce results? Have you ever come up against a “mountain” you couldn’t move? … The Lord says in this verse that one of the reasons we have this “inability to produce results” is because we don’t always know how to “pray as we should.” The word “should” here is a very important word. Dei is primarily a legal term meaning ‘that which is necessary, right or proper in the nature of a case; what one must do: that which is legally binding for someone.’ For example, Luke 18:1 tells us, ‘Men ought always to pray and never faint’ (KJV, emphasis added). The verse does not mean, ‘It would be a good idea to pray.’ It is declaring – ‘It is absolutely necessary-binding upon you-that you pray.’”

As you delve into this text, it suggests that we don’t always know what to pray for or how to pray to get the breakthrough we need or that someone else needs. Sometimes, we see the symptoms of a problem but we can’t discern the root-cause, which is really what we need to pray about. For instance, we may be praying for God to set someone free from an addiction but the addiction is the symptom, not the cause. The cause may be a deep sense of shame from a molestation experience as a child. Unless the shame is healed, the person will just find another addiction with which to medicate his or her pain. Maybe a person doesn’t need another job as much as he or she needs a work ethic so that they don’t keep finding themselves unemployed. Maybe we keep asking God to provide a spouse for a single friend when we should be praying for the spiritual growth of our friend so that he or she wouldn’t mess up any marriage God has arranged. In many cases, our prayers may be sincere but may not be on target.

The word “should” or “ought” also suggests that some legality may be an issue in the spiritual realm. Until that is dealt with or revealed by prayer, the enemy may still have a right to oppress the one for whom we are praying. We may not know what the legality is but the Spirit does. There may be curses connected to the sins of the person’s fathers that have come down from generation to generation or word curses that have been spoken over the individual. Maybe there was occult involvement as a child that the person has dismissed as trivial or doesn’t remember (Ouija boards, fortune telling, etc.).   That involvement may still give the enemy a place until these things are confessed, repented of, and renounced. These kinds of legalities operate in the spiritual realm and because we may be unaware of them, our prayers don’t touch them. At other times we are asked to pray for people but are given very little or no information about the prayer need. In all these cases, we don’t know how to pray as we should. What then? Ah…enter the Holy Spirit!!!

As we lift up people and circumstances we can simply ask the Spirit to show us what we need to pray about. A few months ago, a believer I’ll call Emily came into my office. She was suffering from an undefined sickness that was making her weaker and weaker. As we visited, she mentioned a sister who lived in another state who was in a Lesbian relationship with an older woman. Emily explained that she had met her sister’s significant other and that her sister’s friend seemed to feel very threatened by Emily. Through the Spirit, I sensed that the “friend” was a highly controlling woman who was, indeed, threatened by Emily’s influence in her sister’s life. Through some occult involvement she had placed a curse on Emily. When the curse was broken in the name of Jesus, Emily was set free and quickly regained her health. The “spiritual legality” had been taken care of.

At other times, we can yoke ourselves together with the Spirit and pray in the Spirit or in our prayer language (tongues), knowing that the Spirit is praying exactly the right things in the right ways through us. If we have prayed for months without breakthrough, we may simply be missing the target. Remember that the Spirit of God is ready and willing to show us how to pray (a Spirit of wisdom and revelation (Eph. 1:17) or to pray with us as we continue to seek a breakthrough. Don’t leave him out of the equation for he is very willing and very able to help us in our inabilities!

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!’ ” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.” Luke 18:1-8

This is not a welcome parable for most of us but a needed parable. It is a parable about enduring in prayer even when we don’t see God working in response to our cries. Jesus begins by encouraging his followers to always pray and never give up. He wouldn’t have told them the parable if there were not times when we are greatly tempted give up on God and lay aside a prayer and a hope rather than continuing until we see God’s answer.

How often have we prayed for something and when we haven’t seen the result we imagined in a few days, a few weeks, or a few months we stop praying and go on to something else or simply decide that our prayer is not in God’s will? That scenario is especially true when we don’t perceive any progress in the thing we are praying for. This “unperceived progress” comes up most often when we are praying for salvations, healings, reconciliation in relationships, or for a turn around in our nation. We pray, we cry, we fast, and yet we see the relationship, the nation, or a loved one’s health not only not improving but continuing to decline. What do we do with that? Often we simply decide that what we are praying for is not God’s will or that there is something wrong with us so he will not answer our prayer and we give up. Yet Jesus says that we should never give up but keep on praying.

One thing scripture reveals is that God’s promises are certain but his timetable rarely matches our own. For instance, Abraham was given a clear promise by God himself that he would father a child with is wife Sarah. The promise came when Abraham and Sarah were already at an age in which childbearing was highly unlikely. I’m guessing that Abraham was expecting a son before he got too old to enjoy him…say 18-24 months from the time of the promise. Time passed. Abraham was probably diligent in doing his part. Nothing happened. Undoubtedly, Abraham was praying with faith and thanking God for the promise while asking for the promise to be fulfilled right away. Time passed – not months but years.

As each year passed, the likelihood of the promise being fulfilled seemed to diminish as Abraham and Sarah continued to age. In response to their deteriorating circumstances, they decided to do the human thing and take matters into their own hands by putting a little spin on the promise. They determined to have a son through Hagar, Sarah’s servant. It would be Abraham’s son and technically Sara’s son as well since the child of the servant would technically belong to the master or the mistress.   Ishmael was born from that union but God rejected him because he was the not he child of promise. Eventually, the child of promise was born but he was born 25 years after the original promise. The more years passed the more God’s promise seemed impossible – but once again we discover that nothing is impossible with God.

The greatest promises and the most profound prayers seem to take years for their fulfillment. Sometimes, something as easy as a word from God takes weeks of prayer and fasting. There are probably lots of reasons – appointed times, demonic resistance (Dan.10), character development, free will issues, etc. but we may never know exactly why an answer to some prayers take so long. The point Jesus was making is that if the desire is still in our heart and the prayer is based on a promise of God, keep praying and never give up.

As he concluded the “parable of the persistent widow,” Jesus declared that God will not keep putting off his children who cry out to him day and night but will see that they get justice and quickly. If quickly, then why worry about endurance and persistence in prayer? The Greek construction of the sentence doesn’t mean that the prayers will be answered in short order but in the fullness of time, everything will come together and fall into place in an amazingly compressed period of time. But until that appointed time comes, we must continue to pray and to pray with faith believing that God makes good on his promises although every appearance seems to cry out that no answer will ever come.

Some who are reading this blog undoubtedly have given up on answered prayer for something once precious to your heart. Others have simply laid a desire aside rather than deal with the perception that nothing has changed. But so often, God is storing up your answer and when he releases your answer you will be amazed how quickly everything falls into place. Don’t give up. The biblical record is that some prayers and promises take years to answer. Some prophetic words take years to transpire. But the promise is sure as long as our prayers persist. Always pray and never give up.

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.             Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (Eph.6:13-18)

This will be my last word on this key passage from Ephesians 6 for a while but I wanted to look at the last and greatest weapon in God’s arsenal – prayer. After listing truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation and the word of God as weapons and armor with which to do battle in the spiritual realm, Paul calls on us to pray – not only to pray but to pray in the Spirit. So what does it mean to pray in the Spirit?

Paul gives us an indication of what this means in his letter to the church at Corinth. In his discussion of spiritual gifts he says, “So also you, since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church. Therefore let one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. What is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also. Otherwise if you bless in the spirit only, how will the one who fills the place of the ungifted say the “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying” (1 Cor. 14:12-16). In this context, Paul is clearly giving direction on the practice of praying in tongues – a spiritual language given by the Spirit that even our own minds don’t understand unless God gives us a gift of interpretation as well. Paul speaks about praying out loud in a tongue to give a blessing and calls that blessing “in the spirit” or “in the Spirit” depending on your understanding of the context.

Jude instructs us, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God” (Jude 20). John tells us that he was “in the Spirit” on the Lord’s day when he received the book of Revelation (Rev. 1:10). This idea of praying in the Spirit as a spiritual weapon suggests that we should be praying in tongues as well as praying by direction of the Holy Spirit. Paul encourages us when he says, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express” (Rom.8:26). I believe the Spirit intercedes or prays for us even when we are unaware but also when we engage with Him as we pray in tongues. Jude tells us that as we pray in the Holy Spirit there is something about the process that builds us up and strengthens us spiritually.

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul states that he would pray both with the spirit (tongues) and with the understanding, which is our typical way of praying, and in this passage he seems to encourage both in the life of every believer. However, the overall theme of his statements in Ephesians 6 is to pray every kind of prayer and to persist in prayer not only for our own needs but also for all the saints.

As a weapon, our prayers not only activate the power of heaven but they also direct the power of heaven. Without our prayers, little power is appropriated and little power is directed. The early church was a praying church. The leaders ministered in prayer, the people met often to pray and fast, and when they did the power of heaven shook the earth. The church grew and when Rome crumbled into dust the church still stood. Above all else we must pray for that is the ultimate weapon in spiritual warfare. So pray in all kinds of ways about all kinds of things but keep on praying until hell bows the knee to Jesus in the lives of individuals and nations. Be blessed and please be in prayer of our nation and the Lord’s churches in this nation.

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.             Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (Eph.6:13-18)

Paul finishes his description of the panoply of God by commanding us to take up the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. We cannot overstate the power of the word of the Lord. God himself declares through the prophet Isaiah, “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isa.55:10-11). The writer of Hebrews declares that “the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Heb.4:12). John also speaks of this power in his vision of Jesus recorded in the book of Revelation. He says, “The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations” (Rev.19:14-15). Remember that the spoken word of God created the universe and that Jesus himself is called the Word (John 1:1). The Word (Jesus) has all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, this sword of the Spirit is very powerful.

A sword is both defensive and offensive in nature. The word of God is said to be alive, powerful, penetrating, and capable of taking down nations. It is the sword of the Spirit, a weapon infused with power by the Spirit of God. Defensively the sword is used to block and deflect attacks by the enemy. As we have seen all through Paul’s discussion of spiritual weapons, the word of God and the truth of God disarm the enemy whose primary weapons are lies, accusations, and distortions of God’s word and character. To declare God’s truth in the face of Satanic deception blocks his attempts to draw us out of the ranks and extinguishes the doubt and condemnation he has fired at us. Jesus himself, as a man, used the word of God against the very presence of Satan in the Wilderness Temptation. Satan would tempt and Jesus would declare the word over the strategy. Satan attempted three volleys and after Jesus answered his volleys three times with God’s truth, the enemy gave up and departed – at least for a season.

Offensively, the word of God broadcasts truth and when it has settled in hearts it sets people free. At another level, the word of God declared over situations releases the power of God into that situation. In his sovereignty, God has determined to do his work on the earth through his people. Often, God does nothing until his people ask or until his people declare his promises over a person or a situation. In the first chapter of Jeremiah, God tells the prophet, “Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant” (Jer.1:9-10).

As you read the rest of Jeremiah you see that Jeremiah did those things by declaring God’s word over nations and kings. As he said in Isaiah 55, when God’s word goes forth it fulfills its purpose whether from his lips or from ours. When we declare the word of God over a situation, we release God to direct the power of heaven into that situation to make his word come to pass.

Typically, that does not happen overnight, although on occasion it does. It often comes to pass immediately when God’s word of healing is declared over a person. It seems to take longer when declaring faith over a person for salvation or revival over a nation but the word of God can launch angels on missions and take great patches of territory from the enemy.

Again we discover that to declare the word or use it as a weapon we must know the word. To declare it skillfully we must know the ways and the heart of God that lies behind the word.  But as we learn those things we learn how to wield the sword of the Spirit with great power. So be quick to take up the word of God and use it to defend and to take ground, to push back the enemy and to expose his schemes, to uproot his lies and sow God’s transforming words in hearts. It is a divine weapon that is essential and powerful when facing the enemy.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.  Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. (Eph.6:10-13)

In this section of scripture and others, Paul paints a picture of unseen spiritual warfare that is going on all around us. A legitimate question is whether or not we play a role in that warfare or if God is simply orchestrating things in the spiritual realm that we have no particular part in.

To begin with, let’s go back to Daniel 10, which we referenced in the last blog. Daniel prayed. An angel was sent. War broke out in the spiritual realm. Even an archangel got involved in the ongoing battle. It all began when Daniel prayed and continued to pray. I believe Daniel’s persistence in prayer for twenty-one days is what prompted God to release Michael to go to the aid of the first angel. If he had stopped praying, he may never have realized the answer he needed. There is resistance in the spiritual realm to our prayers being answered.

In 2 Kings 6, we see Elisha surrounded by the armies of Aram and trapped in the small town of Dothan. His servant panics when he sees the army encamped around the town. However, Elisha, who knew he was a hunted man, must have prayed daily for protection and when his servant alerted him he was essentially unconcerned. “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike these people with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked” (2 Kings 6:16-18). Our prayers put the armies of heaven into play to fight against the enemy as he comes against the people or the will of God. It may be one angel or a company of angels but much more is going on in the spiritual realm on our behalf than we can imagine.

When we command demons to relinquish their hold on another human-being, angels are there to enforce our commands as we represent the commander of the armies of heaven and command in his authority. In one sense, angels were created to minister to us (Heb.1:14) but in many cases they minister with us. While John was receiving the vision we call the Book of Revelation, he was so overcome by the presence of a great angel that he forgot himself and almost worshipped the angel who corrected him immediately. “At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus” (Rev.19:10). As fellow servants, we and the angels both are sometimes involved in accomplishing the will of God on the earth – we labor in the seen realm while they labor in the unseen realm on the same heavenly mission.

What we fail to realize is that we live and operate in both the natural and the spiritual realm as those who are already seated in heavenly places, who already possess eternal life spiritually, and whose prayers, commands, and declarations set the armies and the Spirit of God into motion. John Wesley said, “God does nothing except in response to believing prayer.” But when we pray in alignment with God’s will, our prayers shake the heavenlies. God intends to rule the earth through his people. Spiritual warfare is just that – letting God push back the dominion of darkness through us as we pray, command, declare his word over situations, share the gospel, and do as Jesus would do – healing the sick, casting out demons, cleansing the lepers and even raising the dead. In doing so, we join Jesus in destroying the works of the devil (1 Jn.3:8).

The real work and the real enemy lie in the spiritual realm. We cannot conquer forces in the spiritual realm with weapons of the world but only with divine weapons that launch the power and authority of Jesus into hearts and into situations. If we are going to be angry, offended, or resentful those emotions should be directed toward Satan not toward the people he manipulates. Couples who fight, should start fighting the devil, not one another. Even when we stand against a force consumed by evil such as ISIS, we must remember that there are spiritual realities behind the movement that must be defeated through prayer, fasting, and other divine weapons or after ISIS that spirit will simply raise up another group filled with violence and hatred.

The church is focused too much on this world and approaches too many issues with weapons of the world rather than weapons that wield spiritual power. State-of-the-art buildings, celebrity guests, political clout, light shows, smoke machines, sports programs, and coffee bars are not wrong in themselves but these are weapons and tools used even by Vegas casinos. Holiness, prayer, love, authority, and the declared Word of God are the weapons that will win the world and the day for our struggle is not against flesh and blood. That is not only true for the church as a whole but for us as individuals as well.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. (Rom.8:26-27)

This is one of the great promises and revelations of the New Testament and another indicator of how much God is for us. How often do we feel orphaned in this world when life seems to be caving in on us – when a marriage is collapsing, when children have opted for a destructive road, or when we are sitting in a dark hospital room waiting for the inevitable loss of someone we love? And yet, we are never alone, never abandoned, and God is working powerfully on our behalf even when we are unaware. “For he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’  So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me” (Heb.13:5-6)?

There is no greater expression of his commitment to his children than the cross and his Spirit living in us. Paul tells us that in our worst moments, not only is Jesus interceding for us but his Spirit is interceding as well. He is interceding for us even when we don’t know how to pray or are too weary to pray. God is aware of our inherent weakness, even if we are not, and he has supplied a friend, a counselor, a comforter, and a go-between for us. The word translated as “intercede” means to plead, petition or appeal. It also carries the idea of arranging a meeting between two parties.

The Holy Spirit then, like Jesus, is constantly presenting our needs before the Father. He is not presenting our needs in some clinical, dispassionate way but is actually pleading on our behalf. I believe the Spirit does so even when we are not praying or not even thinking about praying but I also believes he engages with is when we pray – especially when we pray in tongues.

The idea of praying in tongues has been a source of controversy in churches for a hundred years but more and more believers are receiving and exercising the gift of a spiritual language. Paul discusses the idea of praying in tongues extensively in 1 Corinthians 12-14 and Jude also references this form of prayer when he says, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life” (Jude 20-21). The original text allows for the idea that praying in the Spirit builds us up in our faith or strengthens us spiritually in areas where we need to be strengthened even if we are unaware of our spiritual shortfall.

I think the question often becomes, what value is there in praying in the Spirit (praying in tongues, exercising my prayer language) if I can’t understand what I am praying? The value is in trusting the Spirit to offer up my real needs and my greatest needs through expressions to the Father that I can’t even understand. The idea of praying in a spiritual or prayer language that I don’t understand also relinquishes control to the Spirit and teaches me to trust who I cannot control which is a big need in most of us.

Secondly, when I pray in the Spirit, I release the Spirit to pray for what I need rather than what I want. I release the Spirit to0 pray in ways that are perfectly consistent with God’s will. For instance, if I’m single I may be asking for God to medicate an emptiness in me by bringing me a spouse when the real need is to heal the emptiness so that I don’t place unrealistic demands on a spouse when that prayer is answered. I may be fervently praying for God to change someone in my life when the real need is for my own heart to be changed. You get the drift.

The great blessing of the Spirit praying for me – with or without my involvement – is the perfect prayer being offered up for the perfect need. Without my participation, the Spirit will pray for my essential needs just as God will typically meet by basic needs even if my prayer life is weak. To go beyond the basics and to experience all the power and transformation in my life that Jesus provides, I need to engage God in a great deal of prayer and participate with the Spirit by praying in tongues. I know people involved in world-changing ministries who pray in the Spirit at least an hour a day in addition to the prayers they offer with their understanding. Paul instructs us to do both (see 1 Cor.14:15).

There is great comfort in knowing how much God has provided for our salvation and our victories in this life. Later in this chapter, Paul cries out, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” The Spirit’s ministry in your life is the very power of God in you waiting to be released by your faith and willingness to fight the battles that come your way. Be blessed in Him today and trust that the Holy Spirit is interceding for you even now!

Partnering with the King

After a long time, in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.”    So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria. (1 Kings 18:1-2) And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. “Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant. And he went up and looked. “There is nothing there,” he said. Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.” The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’ ” Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. (1 Kings 18:41-45).

This section from 1 Kings is one of the most interesting in all of the Bible. In the middle of the account above, Elijah challenged the prophets of Bail to a showdown on top of Mt. Carmel. He built an altar, placed sacrificial animals on it, and challenged the false prophets to call on their God to consume the sacrifice with fire. They prayed, screamed, danced and cut themselves all day but no response came from their god. Toward the end of the day, Elijah poured huge amounts of water on the sacrifice along with the wood and stones of the altar and called on Jehovah. Immediately, fire came down from heaven consuming not only the sacrificial animals but also the entire altar. Elijah then had the false prophets of Bail executed.

Bookending the demise of the prophets of Bail is the account of the great drought. As punishment on Israel because of her wicked leaders, God had given Elijah a prophetic word to speak in the presence of Ahab. “Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word” (1 Kings 17:1). Then, three years later, just before the Mt. Carmel showdown, God told Elijah that rain was coming. Interestingly, after the showdown, Elijah climbed to the top of Mt. Carmel again and began to pray for rain which God had already declared was coming. Why would he do that? Wasn’t God’s word good enough for him?

Of course it was. But this account once again reveals how God partners with his people to do his will on earth. Undoubtedly, God could have stopped the rain and released the rain whenever he wanted to without involving any human. But remember, God has determined to rule the earth and expand his kingdom through his people – his representatives. God did not stop the rain until his prophet declared the word of the Lord in front of Ahab. God would not begin the rain until his prophet prayed and released the rain through a prayer of faith. What an honor and what a responsibility.

God’s will was done after a man declared the word of the Lord over a situation and after a man prayed fervently for the thing God had already told him he was about to do. God holds much of his will in reserve until his people hear or sense his will and then declare it, command it, or pray it. In Elijah’s case, he apparently prayed seven times for God to release the rain. There will be times when we will have to pray earnestly and persistently for something that we know is God’s will. We know that God desires that all men should be saved. We already have his word on that but we may have to pray for a loved one for years before God’s will is manifested in that person’s life.

The honor is that the King partners with us in accomplishing his will. The responsibility is that we have to seek his will and then declare it, command it, or pray persistently for it. It may not happen if we do no do our part on this end even if it is something God desires. God has decided that we can release his will or stifle his will on the earth – not in all things, but in very many things. So…we need to ask his what he wants us to do to release his will and then do it. After all, much of what heaven wants to do is in our hands and in your hands.

So far in this short series about our identity in Christ we have highlighted the truth that in Christ you are a new creation, born again with the full potential of a new life and a new heart within you. In addition, every believer is a child of God, a priest, and a king on the earth placed here to rule as representatives of the Great King. With that position, you are royalty anointed with God’s Holy Spirit and by that Spirit you may exercise the authority of Christ to do everything Jesus did as Son of Man and more.

Since you are a man or woman of authority, it might be good to discuss how to exercise that authority on behalf of Jesus and the Kingdom of God. The key to understanding our authority and how to exercise it is found in remembering that God determined to partner with his children by ruling the earth through them. He could impose his will on the earth at anytime without involving us, but he has chosen not to do so. Jesus is our model.

The Father could have healed any sick person or infirm person at anytime or could have sent any demon on the run without any human involvement. However, he chose to do those things through Jesus. It was Jesus who laid hands on the sick. It was Jesus who commanded healing. It was Jesus who called Lazarus out of the tomb, and Jesus who commanded unclean spirits to leave. The Father exercised his authority through the Son and did so with the Son’s touch, his prayers, his commands, and his declarations.

In Jeremiah 1, we get a sense of how that works. “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord. Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now, I have put my words in your mouth.  See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant” (Jer.1:8-10). In Isaiah the Lord also declares, “So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it” (Isa.55:11).

What we discover is that God’s word fulfills it’s purpose whether is goes forth from his mouth or from one who represents him. It is still God’s word going forth. A study of Jeremiah makes it clear that the prophet uprooted and tore down kingdoms by declaring the word of God over those kingdoms, not by any power of his own. The same is true with us. We rule just as Jeremiah did. We rule by declaring God’s word over situations, over people, and over nations. They key is that we declare what we have heard from the Father either by a fresh word whispered by his Spirit or by his clear will and direction derived from his written word. We do so in commands and declarations. We also rule through prayer because our prayers coupled with the authority of our position, release heaven to move in powerful ways on the earth.

In the book or Revelation, we see that there are golden bowls or censors that are filled with the prayers of the saints (Rev.5:8).   Dutch Sheets points out that when those bowls have been filled sufficiently with our prayers then fire is added to the bowls and they are poured out on the earth with great power – thunder, lightening, and earthquakes. The idea is that when God’s saints have prayed into a situation with enough faith and perseverance, then the power of heaven is added to the prayers and heaven’s power breaks out on the earth. It seems that our prayers, our declarations, and our commands that release the word and will of God over situations and people also release and direct the power of God because he has chosen, to a great extent, to let us determine when and where he will work on the earth.

We rule by declaring his word over the earth just as Jeremiah did so that God’s will is done on the earth as it is in heaven. We are people of authority who partner with God to release the power of heaven over those things and people we care enough about to engage the enemy in war and assault him with the very words of God that come from our lips. You are a very powerful person in Christ and with your own lips often direct the artillery of heaven in the Kingdom’s war against the dominion of darkness. Pray more. Command more. Declare more.