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THE PRAYER OF AUTHORITY

Scripture Reading: Matt. 18:18-19; Mark 11:23-24; Eph. 1:20-22; 2:6; 6:12-13, 18-19

The Bible contains a most lofty and spiritual prayer. But few people pray this prayer, and few pay attention to it. What is this prayer? It is the “prayer of authority.” We know that there are prayers of praise, prayers of thanksgiving, supplicating prayers, and begging prayers. But few of us know that there is a prayer of authority. A prayer of authority is a commanding prayer. This is the most crucial and most spiritual prayer in the Bible. This kind of prayer is a sign of authority and a declaration of authority.

Brothers and sisters, if you want to be a man of prayer, you have to learn to pray with authority. This kind of prayer is described by the Lord in Matthew 18:18. “Whatever you bind on the earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on the earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” In this verse, there is a prayer that is called a binding prayer and a prayer that is called a loosing prayer. The move in heaven is dependent on the move on earth. Heaven listens to the earth and obeys the command of the earth. Whatever the earth binds will be bound in heaven, and whatever the earth looses will be loosed in heaven. The earth does not pray; it binds and looses. This is to pray with authority.

Isaiah 45:11 has the phrase, “Command Me.” How can we command God? This appears too presumptuous. But this is God’s own word. We cannot give excuse to the flesh, but this shows us a commanding prayer, a prayer in the form of an order. As far as God is concerned, we can order Him, and we can command Him. Everyone who endeavors to learn to pray must learn this kind of prayer.

We can consider the story in Exodus 14. When Moses brought the Israelites out of Egypt to the Red Sea, trouble arose. Before them was the Red Sea, and behind them were the armies of the Egyptians. They were caught between two perils. When the Israelites saw the Egyptians approaching, they were afraid. On the one hand, they implored the Lord. On the other hand, they murmured against Moses. What did Moses do? From God’s answer, we know that Moses was pleading. God said to Moses, “Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: but lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea” (vv. 15-16). The rod which God gave Moses was a symbol of His authority. He was telling Moses that he could pray with authority; there was no need to cry out to Him. Once there was the commanding prayer, He would carry out the work. Moses was learning, and he eventually learned, to pray with authority, that is, to pray the commanding prayer.

At what point did this kind of commanding prayer begin for Christians?

This kind of prayer began from the time the Lord ascended to the heavenlies. Ascension is very much related to our Christian life. How are these two things related? Ascension makes us victorious. The death of Christ dealt with the old creation in Adam, while resurrection brought us into the new creation. Ascension secured a new position for us before Satan; it is not a new position before God. A new position before God was secured through the Lord’s resurrection, while a new position before Satan was secured through the Lord’s ascension. Ephesians 1:20-22 says that when Christ ascended, God caused Him to sit at His right hand and made Him “far above all rule and authority and power and lordship and every name that is named not only in this age but also in that which is to come.” Furthermore, God “subjected all things under His feet.” When Christ ascended, He opened up a way through “the air” to the heavenlies. From that day on, His church has been able to go from the earth to the heavenlies. We know that spiritual enemies dwell in “the air.” But today Christ has ascended to the heavenlies. A way from the earth to the heavenlies is now opened. This way was originally blocked by Satan. Now Christ has opened up a way to the heavenlies and has transcended far above all rule and authority and power and lordship and every name that is named not only in this age but also in that which is to come. This is Christ’s position today. In other words, God has put Satan and his subjects under Christ’s feet; all things are under His feet.

There is a difference between the meaning of ascension and the meaning of death and resurrection. Death and resurrection are for redemption, while ascension is for warfare; it is to execute what death and resurrection have accomplished. Ascension makes it possible to manifest the new position. Thank the Lord that Ephesians 2:6 tells us that God has “raised us up together with Him and seated us together with Him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.” Brothers and sisters, have we seen what God has done for us? In chapter one Christ ascended to be far above all rule and authority and power and lordship and every name that is named not only in this age but also in that which is to come. In chapter two we are seated with Him in the heavenlies. This means that the church also has transcended far above all rule and authority and power and lordship and every name that is named not only in this age but also in that which is to come. Thank God that this is a fact. Just as Christ transcended over all things, the church has also transcended over all things. Just as the Lord transcended over all spiritual enemies, the church has also transcended over all spiritual enemies. Just as all spiritual enemies have been overcome by the ascension of the Lord, the church has also overcome them by being joined to Christ in His ascension. Hence, all the spiritual enemies are under the feet of the church.

We have to pay attention to Ephesians 1, 2, and 6. Chapter one shows us the position of Christ. Chapter two shows us the church’s position in Christ. Chapter six shows us what the church should do after it has acquired its position in Christ. Chapter one is on Christ in the heavenlies. Chapter two is on the church being in the heavenlies together with Christ. Chapter six is on spiritual warfare. God has made the church sit together with Christ in the heavenlies. But the church does not sit there forever; God also causes it to stand. Hence, chapter two mentions sitting, while chapter six mentions standing; we stand in our position in the heavenlies. “For our wrestling is…against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies.…and having done all, to stand” (Eph. 6:12-13). Our warfare is against the demons. Hence, it is a spiritual warfare.

Ephesians 6:18-19 says, “By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints, and for me.” This is a prayer concerning spiritual warfare. This kind of prayer is different from ordinary prayer. Ordinary prayer is directed from earth to heaven. But the prayer here is not from earth to heaven; it begins from a heavenly position and goes from heaven to earth. A prayer with authority has heaven as its starting point and the earth as its destination. In other words, a prayer with authority is prayed from heaven to earth. Everyone who knows how to pray knows what it is to pray upward and what it is to pray downward. If a man has never learned the prayer that prays downward, he has never learned to pray with authority. In the spiritual warfare, the kind of prayer that prays downward is very important. What is a prayer that prays downward? It is to stand in the position that Christ has given us in the heavenlies, to command Satan with authority and reject all his works, and to proclaim with authority that all God’s commands should be accomplished. If we pray for a realization of God’s will and a decision concerning it, we should not say, “God, I ask You to accomplish this.” Rather, we should say, “God, You have to do this. You have to accomplish this. No matter what happens, You must fulfill this work.” This is a commanding prayer, a prayer with authority.

The meaning of the word amen is not “so be it” or “may it be so,” but “it will be so” and “it will surely come to pass.” When you pray and I say amen, I am saying that things will turn out according to the way you pray. Events must transpire this way, and your prayer will be answered. This is a commanding prayer, a prayer of command that issues from faith. We can say this because we have a heavenly standing. We were brought to our heavenly standing when Christ ascended to the heavenlies. As soon as Christ ascended to the heavenlies, we were there also. This is like saying that as soon as Christ died and resurrected, we died and resurrected. Brothers and sisters, we must see the heavenly position of the church. Satan begins his work by trying to take away our position in the heavenlies. The heavenly position is a position of victory. As long as we stand in that position, we have victory. If Satan succeeds in dragging us down from the heavenlies, we will be defeated. Victory is standing continuously in the heavenly position of victory. Satan will tell us that we are on earth. If we agree with him that we are on earth, we will be defeated. Satan will try to frustrate us by our defeat and make us think that we are indeed on earth. But if we stand up and declare, “Christ is in the heavenlies, and we are also in the heavenlies,” and hold on to our position in the heavenlies, we will overcome. Hence, it is a big thing to stand in the right position.

A prayer with authority has the position of being in the heavenlies as its basis. Since the church is in the heavenlies with Christ, it can pray with authority.

What is praying with authority? Simply put, it is praying the prayer of Mark 11. In order to be clear about this truth, we should consider verses 23-24 carefully. Verse 24 begins with the words “for this reason.” “For this reason” means that this sentence is a continuation of what has gone before. This means that verse 24 is joined to verse 23. Verse 24 mentions prayer. This proves that verse 23 must also concern prayer. The strange thing is that verse 23 does not sound like an ordinary prayer. The Lord did not tell us to pray, “God, please move the mountain and cast it into the sea.” What does it say? It says, “Whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and cast into the sea.” According to our concept, what should a prayer be like? We think that when we pray to God, we have to say, “God, please move this mountain and cast it into the sea.” But the Lord said something else. He did not tell us to speak to God; He told us to turn to the mountain and to speak to the mountain. The speaking is not toward God but directly toward the mountain, telling it to be cast into the sea. Since the Lord was afraid that we would not consider this to be a prayer, He pointed out in the following verse that it is a prayer. This prayer is not directed toward God, but it is a prayer. It is a speaking directed toward the mountain that says, “Be taken up and cast into the sea.” Yet this is also a prayer. This is a prayer with authority. A prayer with authority does not ask God to do something. Rather, it exercises God’s authority and applies this authority to deal with problems and things that ought to be removed. Every overcomer has to learn to pray this kind of prayer. Every overcomer has to learn to speak to the mountain.

We have many weaknesses, such as temper, evil thoughts, or physical illnesses. If we plead with God concerning these problems, it seems that there is not much result. However, if we apply God’s authority to the situation and speak to the mountain, these problems will go away. What is the meaning of the word “mountain” in this verse? A mountain is a problem that stands in front of us. A mountain is something that blocks the way and stops us from going on. If we see a mountain, what do we do? When many people encounter a mountain in their life or in their work, they pray to God to remove the mountain. But God tells us to speak to the mountain ourselves. All we have to do is issue a word of command to the mountain: “Be taken up and cast into the sea.” There is a great difference between asking God to remove the mountain and commanding the mountain to be removed. It is one thing to go to God and ask Him to do something. It is another thing to directly command the mountain to be cast away. We often overlook this kind of commanding prayer. Seldom do we pray by applying God’s authority to the problem or by saying, “I command you in the name of my Lord to go away” or “I cannot tolerate this thing to remain with me anymore.” A prayer with authority is one in which we tell the things that are frustrating us to go away. We can say to our temper, “Go away.” We can say to sickness, “Go away. I will rise up by the resurrection life of the Lord.” This word is not spoken to God but directly to the mountain. “Be taken up and cast into the sea.” This is a prayer with authority.

How can the church have such a prayer with authority? It is by the church having full faith, being without doubt and being clear that what we do is fully according to God’s will. Whenever we are not clear about God’s will, we do not have faith. Therefore, before we do anything, we have to be clear whether what we are about to do is according to God’s will. If it is not God’s will, we cannot have faith toward it. If we are not sure that something is God’s will, we will not be sure that it can be accomplished. In order to not have any doubt about its accomplishment, we must first have no doubt concerning it being God’s will. When we speak carelessly to the mountain, there are no results, because we do not know God’s will. But if we have no doubts and are clear about God’s will, we can speak boldly to the mountain, “Be taken up and cast into the sea,” and the thing will be done. God has commissioned us to be those who issue the command. We command what God has commanded, and we give orders to what God has given orders to. This is a prayer with authority. A prayer with authority is not asking God directly. Rather, it is dealing with problems by directly applying God’s authority. All of us have mountains. Of course, these mountains are not the same in size. Our mountain may be this or it may be that. But whatever is blocking us from going on in the spiritual pathway, we can command to go away. This is to pray with authority.

Prayer with authority has much to do with the overcomers. If a Christian does not know this, he cannot be an overcomer. We have to remember that God and the Lord Jesus are on the throne, while the enemy is under the throne. Only prayer can activate the power of God. Nothing can activate God’s power except prayer. This is why prayer is indispensable. If one does not pray, he cannot be an overcomer. Only after one knows to pray with authority will he know what prayer is. The most important work of the overcomers is to bring the authority of the throne to earth. Today there is a throne, the throne of God. This throne is ruling, and it is far above everything. In order to have a share in this authority, one must pray. Hence, prayer is very necessary. Those who can move the throne can move everything. We must see that Christ’s ascension has made Him far above all things, and we must see that all things are under His feet. For this reason, we can rule over all things with the authority of the throne. All of us have to learn to pray with authority.

How do we practice praying with authority? Let me mention some small things. Suppose a brother has done something wrong, and you want to exhort him. The problem is that you are afraid he will not listen to you. You feel somewhat unsure because you do not know whether he will listen to you. You are afraid that the matter may not be simple to deal with. However, if you pray with authority, you will know how to rule over the situation. You can pray, “Lord, I cannot go to that brother. Please send him to me.” From your position on the throne, you can cause him to move. Soon he will come to you personally and tell you, “Brother, I am not clear about a certain matter. Please tell me what to do.” Then it will be easy for you to say something to him. This is to pray with authority. You do not do anything according to your strength; you do it by first going through the throne. To pray with authority is not to ask against God’s will. It is to know how a thing ought to be done and inform God of what one knows. When that happens, God accomplishes the work.

A prayer with authority rules not only over man but over the weather as well. Müller once had such an experience. He was on his way to Quebec on a ship, and a thick fog came. He told the captain of the ship, “Captain, Saturday afternoon I have to arrive at Quebec.” The captain said, “That is impossible.” Müller responded, “If your ship cannot take me there on time, God has other ways to take me there.” He knelt down and made a very simple prayer. Then he told the captain, “Captain, open the door and see how the fog has cleared.” By the time the captain stood up, the fog was cleared away. He was able to be in Quebec as scheduled. This is to pray with authority.

If God is to have a group of overcomers, there must be warfare in prayer. Not only must we war with Satan when we ourselves encounter problems, but also we must rule through the throne when problems arise in our environment. A man cannot be an overcomer on the one hand and fail to be a warrior in prayer on the other hand. If a man wants to be an overcomer, he has to learn to pray with authority.

The church can rule over Hades when it prays with authority. Since Christ has transcended over everything and He is the Head of the church, the church can rule over the demons and everything that belongs to Satan. If the church did not have the authority to rule over the demons and if the Lord had not given this authority to the church, the church could not even survive on earth. The church is able to survive on earth because it has the authority to rule over every satanic thing. Every spiritual man knows that he can deal with the evil spirits with his prayer. We can cast out demons in the name of the Lord, and we can restrain the secret activities of the evil spirits. Satan is very crafty. Not only will he possess man’s body with evil spirits, but he will engage in many secret activities. Sometimes he works in man’s mind and injects many undesirable thoughts, such as suspicion, fear, disbelief, discouragement, or unfounded and distorted ideas, into man’s mind. Through these he deceives and fools man. Sometimes he steals man’s word, turning it into a different kind of thought and injecting it into another person’s mind. In this way he achieves his goal of causing misunderstanding and stirring up storms. Hence, we have to subdue all the activities of the evil spirits by means of prayer. In our meeting, prayer, or conversation, we must first pray, “Lord, chase away all the evil spirits and do not allow them to do anything here.” It is a fact that all the evil spirits are under the feet of the church. If the church exercises authority to pray, it will indeed see the evil spirits being subjected under its feet. This kind of prayer with authority is unlike ordinary begging; it is a command that is based on authority. A prayer with authority is a commanding prayer. It proclaims, “Lord, I will,” “Lord, I will not,” “Lord, I want this,” “Lord, I do not want this,” “Lord, I am determined to have this, and I will not allow that to happen,” or “Lord, I only want Your will to be done. I do not want anything else.” When we exercise authority this way, we will feel that our prayer has hit our target. If more people rise up to pray this way, many problems in the church will easily be solved. We should exercise dominion through prayer and manage everything in the church through prayer.

We have to see that Christ has ascended. If Christ had not ascended, there would be no way for us to turn. Christ is the Head over all things, and all things are under Him. Christ is the Head of all things to the church. He is the Head of all things on behalf of the church. Since He is the Head of all things on behalf of the church, all things are necessarily under the church. This is something that we have to pay particular attention to.

A prayer with authority has two aspects. One is to bind, and the other is to loose. What is bound on earth will be bound in heaven, and what is loosed on earth will be loosed in heaven. Matthew 18:18 tells us that whatever the earth does, heaven will also do. In verse 19 there is the matter of prayer. Therefore, binding is done through prayer, and loosing is also done through prayer. Both binding prayer and loosing prayer are prayers of authority. Ordinary prayers are prayers that ask God to bind and loose. Prayers with authority are those in which we bind and loose by exercising authority. God binds because the church has bound, and God looses because the church has loosed. God has given this authority to the church. When the church exercises this authority to speak something, God does it.

First let us consider binding prayer. Many people and many things ought to be bound. One brother is very talkative and needs to be bound. You can go to God and pray, “God, do not allow this brother to speak that much. Bind him, Lord, and do not allow him to act this way.” When you bind him this way, God in heaven will bind him and stop his speaking. Sometimes someone may interrupt your prayer or your reading of the Word; it may be your wife, husband, children, or friends who are constantly causing the interruption. You can exercise binding prayer against such people. You can say to God, “God, bind this one and do not allow him to interrupt what I am doing.” Some brothers speak inappropriate words, but we also have to bind those who quote inappropriate verses and call inappropriate hymns. Such persons should be bound. You may say, “Lord, so-and-so is always causing trouble. Do not allow him to do the same thing again.” When you bind in this way, you will see God binding him also. Sometimes people disrupt the peace of the meeting; they may disrupt it through their speaking, crying, or movement in and out of the meeting. You encounter such things frequently. Moreover, it seems that it is always the same ones who are being disruptive. You have to bind such people and things. You may say, “God, we see that these are the ones who are always disrupting the meetings. Bind them and do not allow them to cause any disturbance.” You will find that as soon as two or three bind on earth, God will bind in heaven. Not only do you have to bind many interruptions, but you also have to bind many works of the demons. Every time you preach the gospel or testify to someone, the demons work within man’s mind to speak many things to him and give him many opposing thoughts. At such times, the church has to bind the evil spirits, stop their speaking, and forbid their work. You may say, “Lord, bind all the works of the evil spirits.” If you bind on earth, the matter will be bound in heaven. Many things need to be bound. Many things in our personal life, in the church, in our daily lives, and in our work need to be bound.

The other kind of prayer is the loosing prayer. What do we loose? Some brothers are withdrawn and are afraid to open their mouths to testify or meet people in the meetings. We have to ask God to loose these brothers so that they can be freed from their bondage. Sometimes we should give them a few words of exhortation. But many times, we do not have to say anything; all we have to do is to go to the throne and let the throne take control of them. Many people ought to give up their jobs to serve the Lord. They are bound by their jobs or by other affairs. Some are bound by their families or by unbelieving wives. Some are bound by outward circumstances. There are all kinds of bondage. We can pray to the Lord to loose them so that they can be released to testify for the Lord. Brothers and sisters, do you see the need for prayers with authority? Do you realize how much prayers with authority should be offered up? Sometimes we have to loose money through our prayer. Satan can easily bind a man’s wallet tightly. At times we have to ask God to release the money so that God’s work will not suffer through the lack of money. We have to ask God to release us in many things. Furthermore, the truth also needs to be released. We have to tell the Lord all the time, “Lord, release Your truth.” Many truths are bound and cannot be released. Many truths have never been heard, and even when they are heard, they are not understood. Hence, we have to ask God to release His truth, so that His truth can run and His children can receive it. In many places the truth cannot break through, and in many places it is impossible for men to receive the truth. We have to ask God to release His truth and set free many churches that are in bondage so that many places which could not receive the truth will be able to receive it. In many places there is no way to pass on the truth. But the Lord has theway. When we pray with authority, the Lord will send the truth there. We have to remember that many things need to be released with prayers of authority.

We have to pay special attention to the binding prayer and loosing prayer. We have to bind many things, and we have to loose many things. We are not begging but binding and loosing with authority. May God be gracious to us so that all of us can learn to pray with authority. Not only do we have to learn to pray, we also have to learn to know the victory of Christ. We have to loose with the victory of Christ, and we have to bind with the victory of Christ. We have to bind all the things that are contrary to God’s will. To pray with authority is for heaven to rule on the earth; it is for the earth to exercise the heavenly authority. Every one of us is a man of heaven. As such, we have the authority of heaven. We are merely sojourning on earth today. Everyone who is called by the name of the Lord is His representative on earth. We are God’s messengers. We have His life, and we have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of the Son of His love. This is why we have the heavenly authority. Everywhere we go, we can exercise our heavenly authority. We can rule over the earth through heaven. May God be gracious to us. I hope that we can all be prayer warriors for the Lord and that we will all be overcomers through the authority of Christ so that Christ’s victory can be manifested.

Finally, there is a sober warning: we must submit ourselves to God’s authority. If we do not submit to God’s authority, we cannot pray with authority. Not only must we submit to God’s authority with respect to His position, but we also must submit to His authority in our daily living and in all practical matters. Unless we do this, we cannot pray with authority. There was a young brother who was once casting out a demon from a young girl. The demon told the girl to undress herself. The brother commanded the demon with authority, saying, “I command you in the name of Jesus not to undress yourself.” The demon immediately said, “All right. If you do not allow me to undress, I will not do it.” If the young brother was not victorious in his living, he would have been defeated before the demon. In that case, not only would the demon have ignored his command, but it would have exposed his sins. Brothers and sisters, we know that the whole creation was originally under man’s dominion. But the creation is disobedient to man today because man will not obey God’s word. The lion slew the man of God because he did not obey God’s word (1 Kings 13:20-25). Daniel was not hurt by the lions when he was thrown into the lions’ den, because he was innocent before God and he had done no harm before the king. This is why God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouth (Dan. 6:22). A poisonous snake could not hurt the hand of God’s faithful servant Paul (Acts 28:3-6), yet worms could kill the proud Herod (12:23). Brothers and sisters, if we submit to God’s authority, the demons will be afraid of us and submit to our authority.

The Bible shows us the relationship between prayer, fasting, and authority. Prayer indicates that we seek after God, while fasting indicates that we deny our self. The first right God gave to man was the right to eat. The first thing God gave to Adam was food. To fast is to renounce one’s lawful right. Many Christians only fast but do not deny themselves. In such a case, their fasting cannot be considered fasting. The Pharisees fasted on the one hand and extorted on the other hand (Matt. 23:25). If they were really fasting, they should have returned what they had extorted from others. Prayer is to seek for God, while fasting is to deny the self. We have to seek God and deny the self at the same time. When our pursuit of God and our denial of self is joined and mingled together, immediately there is faith. When we have faith, we have the authority to command the demons to go away. Brothers and sisters, if we seek after God but do not deny our self, we do not have faith, and we do not have authority. But if we seek after God and deny our self, immediately we will have faith and authority and be able to utter prayers of faith and authority. Brothers and sisters, the most important prayers and the most spiritual prayers are prayers of authority.