Foundations of Prayer
Simply put, intercession is taking hold of God’s will and refusing to let go until His will comes to pass. As intercessors, we need this spiritual grit factor—tenaciously holding on to the promises of God in prayer until we see His will accomplished. To this end, we need to be reminded of three important foundations of prayer. These will prepare us for the deeper places God wants to take us in intercession.
1. You need to ask.
John Wesley once said, “It seems like God is limited by our prayer life—that He can do nothing for humanity unless someone asks Him.” This may seem backwards, but it’s true. Because of the fall, Satan became the god of this world. God had given Adam and Eve authority over the earth, but they gave their authority to Satan when they sinned (see Gen. 1:26-27, Ps. 8:6, Luke 4:6, 2 Cor. 4:3-4, 1 John 5:19). This means God is not running everything in this world; He does not have everything under His control.
Because of this, Jesus came as the second Adam. Through His death, burial and resurrection, He triumphed over Satan. Then He gave the authority He won back to His church and told us to establish it on the earth in His name (see Matt. 28:18-20). For God to do what He wants to do, we have to enact the authority Jesus won for us in prayer. Prayer is the open door God needs to release His will on earth (see Matt. 7:7-8, 11; 18:19; John 14:13, 15:16, 16:23). We have not because we ask not (see James 4:2).
2. He hears you when you pray.
Proverbs 15:29 tells us, “The Lord … hears the prayer of the righteous.” We are the righteous because we are new creations in Christ. We have become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (see 2 Cor. 5:21). Because of this, we can say with the apostle John, “This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (1 John 5:14). We must not lose hope in prayer. When we pray, we must engage our faith, holding firmly to the truth that God hears us when we pray.
3. He answers you.
God promises that when we call out to Him, not only will He hear us, but He will answer us (see Jer. 33:3). “So if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have whatever we asked of Him” (1 John 5:15). When we pray, we will never get God’s voicemail or a busy signal. He is always available, always eager to engage with us in conversation. The key to laying hold to God’s answers in prayer is found in James 1:6, which tells us that we must pray in faith, not doubt. When we pray in faith, God will answer us.
Listen to the latest episode of The Purpose Project with Margie Fleurant on Charisma Podcast Network, titled Prayer for the Salvation of Friends and Family, where Margie shares principles and Bible verses to empower you as you pray for your loved ones.{eoa}
