**Note: This post refers mostly to how we should approach praying for others--especially if they are in need of healing, miracles, deliverance, or release from opposing spirits. These instances are the main times when we should command. Asking God for something is not wrong of sinful if it is done in faith. We should all ask God for things everyday! But there is a definite time to accept the power of God and tailor our prayers in accordance with the fullness of His will.**
Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
John 11:38-44
We need to realize that Jesus is our Master and Lord, as well as our role model. The works He did, we can do, too. And so it follows that the ways He walked in, we should walk in, also. We should talk like He talked, pray like He prayed, and think like He thought--all on the way to loving like He loved. So let's look at how He prayed, and aspire to do the same!
HOW DID JESUS PRAY?
We can learn through the Word that most of Jesus' prayers for miracles were short and to the point. Jesus did not repeatedly ask or beg the Father to move His hand. He simply spoke out of assurance and commanded the change. In the instance with Lazarus above, Jesus says one of His most interesting prayers. He actually prayed more than a couple sentences for this miracle, but not for His sake or for the Father's! He only did so for the sake of the understanding of those listening! He didn't say a long prayer just to go on and on. He never incorporated cop-outs into His prayers. Whenever Jesus prayed, His words were only a means to an end--that end being a manifestation of the Father's will. And that manifestation always came quickly!
ASK OR COMMAND?
So let's say we are in a situation where someone needs and is seeking a healing from the Lord. What do we say? What do we ask God for? Many times, people make the mistake of begging and begging God for something, something that He is much more eager to do than they are! People sometimes ask God for something--they ask Him to carry out a promise--as if God otherwise was not so into keeping His promises. I feel God wants us to command His true will, rather than ask Him if He might consider changing a situation that has been caused by the enemy.
COMMAND WITH EXPECTATION
We need to trust God enough to be in tune with Him. And then we can be in tune with Him enough to command! We command the will of God out of a place of knowing the will of God. We need to pray with enough faith and enough passion that the end of our prayer is the best part--because that's when we can see that the faithfulness of God has achieved the desired effect! That's how praying should be. We should know that just a few of our words is enough for God, in His goodness, to completely change things.
COMMAND IN THE SPIRIT, NOT THE FLESH
Now, there is a danger in our commanding if it is done in the flesh. Commanding away an affliction in Jesus' name is much, much different than trying to order God around. We need to stay in the Spirit to avoid presumption and pride. We need to be in the Spirit and operating in Christ's love whenever we pray and command on His behalf.
COMMAND UNDER THE APPROVAL OF GOD
So the solution to praying correctly is to pray in the Spirit--driven and under the influence of God's will. Realize that if we are in the Spirit, we may still ask God for the healing. We just ask Him before any corporate prayer begins--we ask Him on our own time, so that we can command when the time to see the manifestation comes. We may ask God beforehand, or we may just have the inner witness of the Holy Spirit. The important thing about commanding anything is this: we need to be driven and guided by God up until the point of prayer.
COMMAND WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD'S GOODNESS
When we command by the Spirit, guided by His love, that's when we become fully convinced of God's goodness. That's when we realize what we're up against--and it's not God! We realize that what we are commanding out is opposed to God. And we realize that His will is nothing other than a completed overcoming. We can realize victory, because Jesus has already won the victory. We can realize God's passion and longing for us to triumph. Most of all, when we're in the Spirit, we are so assured that God's will is healing and not sickness, joy and not depression, purity and not pain. We don't need to ask Him if things are any different! And we don't need to ask out of doubt, because God's truth comes in and moves us to decisive action. God wants to take us to a place of being moved to accomplish His true and perfect will.
"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will."
Romans 12:2
Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
John 11:38-44
We need to realize that Jesus is our Master and Lord, as well as our role model. The works He did, we can do, too. And so it follows that the ways He walked in, we should walk in, also. We should talk like He talked, pray like He prayed, and think like He thought--all on the way to loving like He loved. So let's look at how He prayed, and aspire to do the same!
HOW DID JESUS PRAY?
We can learn through the Word that most of Jesus' prayers for miracles were short and to the point. Jesus did not repeatedly ask or beg the Father to move His hand. He simply spoke out of assurance and commanded the change. In the instance with Lazarus above, Jesus says one of His most interesting prayers. He actually prayed more than a couple sentences for this miracle, but not for His sake or for the Father's! He only did so for the sake of the understanding of those listening! He didn't say a long prayer just to go on and on. He never incorporated cop-outs into His prayers. Whenever Jesus prayed, His words were only a means to an end--that end being a manifestation of the Father's will. And that manifestation always came quickly!
ASK OR COMMAND?
So let's say we are in a situation where someone needs and is seeking a healing from the Lord. What do we say? What do we ask God for? Many times, people make the mistake of begging and begging God for something, something that He is much more eager to do than they are! People sometimes ask God for something--they ask Him to carry out a promise--as if God otherwise was not so into keeping His promises. I feel God wants us to command His true will, rather than ask Him if He might consider changing a situation that has been caused by the enemy.
COMMAND WITH EXPECTATION
We need to trust God enough to be in tune with Him. And then we can be in tune with Him enough to command! We command the will of God out of a place of knowing the will of God. We need to pray with enough faith and enough passion that the end of our prayer is the best part--because that's when we can see that the faithfulness of God has achieved the desired effect! That's how praying should be. We should know that just a few of our words is enough for God, in His goodness, to completely change things.
COMMAND IN THE SPIRIT, NOT THE FLESH
Now, there is a danger in our commanding if it is done in the flesh. Commanding away an affliction in Jesus' name is much, much different than trying to order God around. We need to stay in the Spirit to avoid presumption and pride. We need to be in the Spirit and operating in Christ's love whenever we pray and command on His behalf.
COMMAND UNDER THE APPROVAL OF GOD
So the solution to praying correctly is to pray in the Spirit--driven and under the influence of God's will. Realize that if we are in the Spirit, we may still ask God for the healing. We just ask Him before any corporate prayer begins--we ask Him on our own time, so that we can command when the time to see the manifestation comes. We may ask God beforehand, or we may just have the inner witness of the Holy Spirit. The important thing about commanding anything is this: we need to be driven and guided by God up until the point of prayer.
COMMAND WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD'S GOODNESS
When we command by the Spirit, guided by His love, that's when we become fully convinced of God's goodness. That's when we realize what we're up against--and it's not God! We realize that what we are commanding out is opposed to God. And we realize that His will is nothing other than a completed overcoming. We can realize victory, because Jesus has already won the victory. We can realize God's passion and longing for us to triumph. Most of all, when we're in the Spirit, we are so assured that God's will is healing and not sickness, joy and not depression, purity and not pain. We don't need to ask Him if things are any different! And we don't need to ask out of doubt, because God's truth comes in and moves us to decisive action. God wants to take us to a place of being moved to accomplish His true and perfect will.
"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will."
Romans 12:2
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