Magnificent Prayer #63
Magnificent Prayer #63
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.
Ephesians 6:18–19 KJV
Authoritative prayer begins in heaven and ends on earth. In short, authoritative prayer is a praying from heaven to earth.
All who know how to pray know what is meant by praying upward and what is meant by praying downward. If a person has never learned how to pray downward, he has yet to discover authoritative prayer. In spiritual warfare this kind of praying downward is exceedingly important.
What is praying downward? It is standing upon the heavenly position Christ has given us and using authority to resist all the works of Satan by commanding that whatever God has commanded must be done.
Suppose, for example, that we are praying for a particular matter. After we have seen what the will of God is and have really ascertained what God has ordered, we should then not pray: “Oh God, I ask You to do this thing”; on the contrary, we should pray: “God, You must do this thing, it must be done this way. God, this thing must so be accomplished.” This is commanding prayer—prayer of authority.
The meaning of “amen” is not “let it be so” but “thus shall it be.” When I say amen to your prayer I am affirming that thus shall the matter be, that what you pray shall so be accomplished. This is the prayer of command, which comes out of faith. The reason we may so pray is because we have the heavenly position. We are brought into this heavenly position when Christ ascends to heaven. As Christ is in heaven so we too are in heaven, just as when Christ died and was resurrected, we also died and were resurrected. We ought to see the heavenly position of the church. Satan commences his work by causing us if he can to lose our heavenly position. For the heavenly is the position of victory. As long as we stand in that position, we are victorious. But if by Satan we are dragged down from heaven, we are defeated.
WATCHMAN NEE
Pray About It: Because God has seated us with Christ in the heavenlies, we have great authority. By praying downward, rather than upward, it means that we are praying from that high position. We are able to exercise the authority we have as believers, rather than passively praying upward.
Regarding your present circumstances, instead of praying vaguely upward, today try using your authority as a Christian and pray downward. This should be our normal attitude in prayer, not a passing fad. To mature properly as an effective pray-er, we must learn to pray with authority. We must pray downward.
If we listen in the stillness till our hearts begin to respond to what He is thinking and feeling about the matter in question, whether it concerns ourselves or others, we can, from that moment, begin praying downwards from the Throne, instead of praying upwards from ourselves.
LILIAS TROTTER
From the book
