Prayer warrior Wesley Duwel, asks, “Are you longing for power in prayer, the ability to get urgent and needed answers? Do you feel deeply tested at times by unexplained delay and answers to your prayers? Are you longing for the secret to answered prayer?” He continues,
Prevailing prayer is prayer that obtains the answer sought. It overcomes delay, opposition, and unfavorable circumstances…. Do you really know how to prevail in prayer, how to obtain difficult answers that you have long needed or desired? Is your prayer list effective in bringing blessing to others? Are you satisfied with the answers you are receiving?
God wants your prayer life to be filled with petitions and intercessions for others and for the advance of His Kingdom. He wants answers to such prayer to become your thrilling and frequent experience. God wants answers to your prayers to be frequent and blessed. He wants you to prove repeatedly the mighty power of prayer in your own experience. He wants you to become not only a prayer veteran but also a constant victor in situations where the answers bring great glory to God and great consternation and defeat to Satan.
This episode takes a fresh look at how prayer fits into our calling to be followers of Jesus.
When considering our mission from Jesus it is always helpful to begin with our creation calling given to mankind in Genesis 1:28. Because God is a creative king, he designed his image-bearers to be creative kings and queens over a kingdom called “Earth.” God deliberately left his creation of earth incomplete so his image bearers could reflect his own creative nature and complete it. This incomplete nature of Kingdom Earth is revealed in God’s command to finish the creation. Genesis 1:28: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.” Although we might assume that God ended his creative development of earth on day six, he wasn’t finished. He left creation incomplete, assigning to Adam, Eve, and their posterity a second stage of creation. Humankind is now assigned the task of generating life by reproducing so that the earth is filled and of subduing the earth, which means using our creativity as God’s image bearers to develop the potential that God built into creation. In other words, Adam and Eve were not placed in a garden with refrigerators, Tesla’s, Rembrandts, or iPhones. God could have done so. But instead, he deliberately left creation unfinished because he wants his image bearers to have a role in completing it.
There is a parallel with Christ’s new creation. Just as God left the earth undeveloped, but with potential waiting to be accessed by humans, much of Christ’s redemptive power for the new creation is waiting for us to access. Just as God did not create the world with iPhones already invented, God’s new creation does NOT begin with Christ-followers and their world already perfected. God could transform Christians into complete holiness, eliminate sin’s influence from our culture and overthrow the curse upon earth because of Adam’s sin in an instant. In fact, that is our great hope. He will do that when Christ returns. But he has left incomplete the process of new creation of the world, which was begun by Christ at the cross so that Christ-followers can take part in it.
When I was a young Christian I reasoned, “If God is all good, he is already doing all the good possible in the world, so why pray?” But the truth about Christ’s work to redeem humanity is that God has deliberately chosen NOT to do everything he can do. He is waiting for Christ followers to access that power, mostly through prayer. Bluntly stated, in many cases, God will act to spread righteousness into the culture, our own, or our loved ones’ hearts if we ask. He will NOT act if we don’t. God has sovereignly chosen this arrangement.
Notice that the Great Commission begins with Jesus’ statement that all authority has been given to him. What can this mean? God the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity already had all authority in heaven and on earth. Jesus is referring here to his role as the last Adam. He has regained what Adam lost—the throne of Kingdom Earth. The back of Satan, sin, and death, who had usurped that throne, has been broken. But those enemies still exist in Kingdom Earth resisting the rule of King Jesus and his righteousness.
During our current period of church history, God has given us, in Christ, the spiritual resources to defeat the kingdom of darkness to spread the rule of Christ over every sphere of life. We are the ones now called to access the future power of the resurrection to renew all things—and bring that power to bear in our current era as we seek to spread Christ’s kingdom of restoration, and wholeness over earth. Christ has ascended. He has taken back Adam’s throne and through Christ’s resurrection power, we are to restore the earth to righteousness. Matthew 29:17-20. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Notice that the Great Commission begins with Jesus’ statement that all authority has been given to him. What can this mean? God the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity already had all authority in heaven and on earth. Jesus is referring here to his role as the last Adam. He has regained what Adam lost—the throne of Kingdom Earth. The back of Satan, sin, and death, who had usurped that throne, has been broken. But those enemies still exist in Kingdom Earth resisting the rule of King Jesus and his righteousness.
The struggle is titanic. Whenever I think of how hard it is to press ahead towards greater godliness in my own heart, the lives of those I most pray for or the culture, I remember Paul’s sober words in Ephesians 6:10. 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. That is why Paul goes on to tell us that we must put on the spiritual armor and pick up the spiritual weapons of Christ. And that reality—that the battle is taking place every moment is why the action that Paul most calls us to engage in is PRAYER. Paul continues his discussion of spiritual warfare, “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me” (Eph 6:18). In this church age resurrection power is available for Christians to access to transform the world. But to access it, we must PRAY. Paul wants the Ephesian Christians to grasp their power right now to advance Christ’s kingdom.
I pray that you may know… what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all (Eph 1:18-23).
The reason Paul goes on to tell the Ephesians that the way to access such power is through prayer, may have come from Paul’s understanding of Psalm 2 for this current age of the church. In verses 1-6, the Psalmist describes a conversation between rebellious humans and God the Father.
Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain. The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.
Here, the Father speaks of Jesus’ ascension. Then God the Father describes a decree—an agreement made between Him and the Son. Verse 7 says, “I will tell of the decree The Lord (FATHER) said to me (SON), ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.’” Notice how the Messianic kingdom triumphs over God’s enemies. The Father promises the ascended, Anointed One, “ASK of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession,” (v. 8). As Christ-followers join Christ in ASKING that his kingdom would advance, the Father promises to enforce resurrection power over evil and spiritual darkness.
But if we do not ask, he will not act, not because he can’t but because he has chosen to assigned Christ-followers a real role in spreading righteousness and wholeness in the power of Jesus over the earth he loves. After a lifetime of experiencing this reality, missionary Wesley Duewel testifies: "Prevailing prayer is God’s ordained means for extending his Kingdom, for defeating Satan and his empire of darkness and evil, and for fulfilling God’s eternal plan and bringing into effect his good will on Earth. It is God’s means of covering the earth with his blessings. Prevailing prayer is God’s priority strategy for our age."
JESUS' TEACHING ABOUT HOW TO PRAY
There was one characteristic of Jesus’ earthly life that seems to have been most striking to his disciples—those who knew him best, for Scripture records just one thing the disciples asked Jesus to teach them about. It wasn’t how to heal, cast out demons, or still the seas. It wasn’t how to counsel more effectively or how to forgive. The one thing they asked Jesus to teach them about was how to pray. Getting alone to pray was something that John the Baptizer was known for too. In Luke 11:1, we read, Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”
The background for this request is enlightening. Jesus had already taught them how to pray in the Sermon on the Mount, two years earlier in his ministry. Since then, they had been sent out by Jesus with instructions Proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the leper cast out demons (Matt 10:7-8.) They had returned from one of their missions saying, “Lord even the demons are subject to us in your name.” Yet, afterwards, on a separate occasion, the disciples had been unable to cast out a demon. They must have been intrigued by Jesus’ explanation: This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer. (Mark 10:29). Jesus clearly teaches that Satan cannot stand against PRAYER.
In response to his disciples’ request, “teach us to pray,” in Luke 11, Jesus gave six principles for effective prayer. They are the same 6 principles given in Matt 6:9-13 in the Sermon on the Mount, popularly known as The Lord’s Prayer. This teaching is not intended as a rote prayer to be recited in church liturgies; rather it is a prayer pattern that covers the six most foundational truths about prayer, a kind of skeleton that needs to be clothed with specifics of our situation. We know that Jesus did not intend this “How to” model primarily to be recited, because in the two verses immediately before the Lord’s Prayer Jesus said, When you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. False religions commonly employ the mindless repetition of rote, “sacred” prayer phrases, substituting a kind of self-hypnotism for prayer. The prayer methodology Jesus teaches could not be more different. Let’s dig into these the first three prayer principles from the pattern of Matt 6:9-13.
1. ADOPTION: vs 9 Our Father in heaven. The ENVIRONEMNT for Prayer. Prayer, as Jesus taught it, begins by remembering that those who belong to Christ don’t need a Rosary, a prayer wheel, prayer beads or pre-written words to be recited to draw near to God; prayer is coming to our heavenly Father, who loves us more than we can know. We are able to draw near because of our justification, i.e. Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us, turning away the just wrath of God the Judge. Instead, he declares us righteous. But salvation doesn’t end there; it is followed by adoption. As J.I. Packer observes,
Justification is a forensic idea, conceived in terms of law and viewing God as judge…But contrast this now with adoption. Adoption is a family idea, conceived in terms of love and viewing God as father. In adoption, God takes us into his family and fellowship, and establishes us as His children and heirs. Closeness, generosity, and affection are at the heart of the relationship. To be right with God the judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the father is a greater thing.
Because of our adoption, we pray to our heavenly FATHER:
- Who runs to us, like the prodigal’s father with arms wide open whenever we turn towards him,
- Who desires to bless us even more than we desire to be blessed,
- Whose ambition for us transcends our imagination,
- Who delights in his children, finding great pleasure in our presence
2. ADORATION: vs 9 continues, Hallowed be your name. The MOTIVATION for Prayer. Notice that it is also the first request in the pattern Jesus gave us. May your name be honored. May you be glorified. May your name be held in high esteem by the whole world. This desire for God to be glorified was the focus of Jesus’ entire life (John 17:4). No wonder he taught his followers to begin their prayer, “May your name be glorified.” We were created to glorify God. The chief end of man, says the Westminster Shorter Catechism, is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. On the surface this may seem selfish of God; but I believe that whatever most glorifies God will ultimately most benefit us.
Not only are we made for God’s glory, but the deepest longings of our heart are satisfied by loving our Lord WITH A HEART THAT WANTS MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE TO SEE HIS NAME HELD IN HIGH ESTEEM BY EVERY BEING IN THE UNIVERSE. This petition points to the motivation for our requests in prayer. Lloyd Jones in his classic work, The Sermon on the Mount observes that this petition is rooted in “a burning desire that the whole world may bow before God in adoration, in reverence, in praise, in worship, in honor, and in thanksgiving” (The Sermon on the Mount) What are some practical ways this desire can express itself in prayer?
- Take a moment early in your prayer to express words of adoration to the Lord. This petition reminds us that our life purpose is to honor God, so why not honor him at the beginning of your prayer by choosing an attribute of his that his been especially meaningful lately, and praising him for it.
- Appeal to God’s honor and reputation in your requests, following Abraham’s and Moses’ example. In Genesis 18, Abraham secured the safety of Lot by reaffirming that God would not slay the righteous with the wicked. Moses, in Deut 9:28, urges God not to destroy the wicked Israelites appealing to God’s reputation—lest the land from which you brought us say, “Because Yahweh was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them.”
The more our prayers are rooted in ADORATION—our desire to see the name and reputation of God honored, the more power they possess.
3. ADVANCING the kingdom: vs 10 May your kingdom come. The PURPOSE of prayer. “The focus of our praying,” says Jesus, “is the advance of his kingdom of righteousness over earth.” Even in Jesus’ day, there was confusion over the term kingdom of God. Jesus was NOT saying that one of the six pillars of daily prayer is asking Jesus every day to come back to earth soon! Rather, Jesus explains what “May your kingdom come” means in the next phrase. Verse 10 continues, May your will to be done ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.” In heaven, there is no sin; righteousness reigns. The kingdom coming refers to the advance of Christ’s kingdom of righteousness over earth. The more that happens, THE MORE THE KINGDOM OF EARTH WILL BE LIKE THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. That is what it means to pray for God’s kingdom to come—that God’s righteousness from heaven will spread over the earth. As we saw last week, this is what Jesus is talking about a few verses later, when in verse 33 he commands, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” It is to SEEK the rule of King Jesus and his righteousness over our heart loyalties and our heart attitudes. It is recovering Adam’s call to develop the potential of the earth while seeking the restoration of rightness—fixing everything broken by sin in every sphere of our lives.
The reason so many Christians today mistakenly think that praying for Christ’s kingdom to come means asking daily for him to come back is that they have been erroneously taught that the coming of the kingdom of God in the NT is primarily future. To the contrary, the NT teaches that the kingdom of God comes in two stages. Jesus has already inaugurated that kingdom but will return to consummate it. He has defeated the usurpers of Adam’s kingdom. The proof that Satan, sin and death are defeated is Jesus’ resurrection—the curse for Adam’s sin—death and the decay of the physical world—has been ultimately broken. Jesus is the firstborn of the new creation. His ascension means he has taken back the throne of this world. Paul prays that the Ephesian Christians will be able to grasp their power right now to advance Christ’s kingdom.
Although Jesus is king RIGHT NOW, during this church age, he allows his kingly authority to be resisted. As mentioned, he has decisively broken the backs of Satan, sin, and death, and taken back Adam’s throne. But these enemies remain during this church age—in a sense conducting guerilla warfare against efforts to advance Christ’s kingdom in Christ’s ascension power. They can only be driven out and overcome in the power of Christ by fighting with the spiritual weapons he gives us. That is why prayer is our greatest weapon. To pray, “May your kingdom come” is to ask God to bring our own heart loyalties and attitudes into submission to the King. It is to request Christ’s power to share the gospel and for his power to enable others to surrender to Christ’s kingship. It is to seek Christ’s power to undergird our efforts to bring about rightness, wholeness in every sphere where we have influence, as we try to implement Christ’s agenda of righteousness.
Most of us see prayer to be primarily a request fpr spmething we or another needs, e.g. help, comfort, healing--perhaps summarized "asking for our daily bread." This is legitimate, and we will further consider this component of prayer next week. But, when Jesus taught his disciples how to pray in Matthew 6, he did not start there. After calling them to be motivated by passion to see God’s name honored, (May your name be hallowed), Jesus called them first to the battlefield to fight, (May your kingdom come and your righteousness prevail on earth as it prevails in heaven), asking, “Father, in the name of Jesus, I ask that you bind Satan (Mark 3:27) and establish your righteousness in this sphere of Kingdom Earth.”
Before getting around to our daily bread, Jesus tells us to ask for the spread of his kingdom of righteousness and restoration over the earth. That makes sense when we realize that later, in the chapter (v.33), Jesus tells us that our lifetime preoccupation is to be the spread of his kingdom of righteousness over the earth. That effort is opposed every step of the way by our adversary, Satan, and his kingdom of darkness. We must therefore FIGHT to fulfill our mission. We tend to see prayer as a request to the quartermaster for provisions. But Jesus starts by telling us prayer is more like lighting up a target with our laser and requesting the CO to give permission to the drone operator to take it out with a hellfire missile. Prayer is firing our weapon against our enemy, Satan.
With my Check 6 brothers we’ve seen spiritual hell-fire missiles:
- Burst the chains that kept three of our wayward children that kept them from Jesus (after 20 years of praying).
- Breakdown ingrained eating habits to overcome weight issues
- Breakdown whatever barriers prevented pregnancy as God opened a daughter’s her womb after 10 years of praying.
- Breakdown barriers that have built up in marriage.
- Breakdown our own self-indulgence strengthening each other with self-control.
- Open hearts to generously support the Fellowship of Chrisian Athletes ministry in Northern Va, even when the budget unexpectedly jumped 25 K to take advantage of new opportunities.
- Blast open the opportunity to build FCA huddles at specific schools in Fairfax County, providing the specific male, female, and student leaders needed.
- Break the bonds from slavery to sin at FCA Fields of Faith events when students prayed to commit their lives to Jesus.
As I close our study I cannot help but think of Jame’s statement: You do not have because you do not ask (James 2:4b).
For Further Prayerful Thought.
- What do you think of the argument that there is a parallel between God’s decision to leave the creation incomplete for his image-bearers to complete, and his new creation for Christ-followers to complete? Where does this analogy seem to fit and break down?
- How do you think the promise of God the Father to God the Son, “Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage, the ends of the earth your possession” should impact our thinking about spreading Christ’s kingdom of righteousness over earth.
- What stood out most about the three prayer principles that Jesus explained?
