As the Church we can utter a Prayer with Authority by being one with God’s Will

In Mark 11:20-24 the Lord taught us to pray in a very particular way, a prayer not directed toward God but toward “this mountain”; the church can have a prayer with authority by having full faith, being without doubt, and being clear that what we do is according to God’s will.

In order for a prayer to be answered it doesn’t merely have to be fervent, from the bottom of our heart, and with our whole being open to the Lord; even more, our prayer needs to be according to God’s will.

Prayer is not a means for us to convince God to do what we want to do; rather, prayer is the way for us to agree with God and His will, the way for us to cooperate with Him for His will to be done on earth.

This is why the Lord said in Mark 11:24 that, if we believe with all our heart that what we prayed for is according to God’s will, we believe that we have received what we have asked for.

The Lord in a sense entrusts Himself with all He is and all He can done to us and our prayer; if we pray according to God’s will, if we on earth utter God’s will in prayer, He will do it.

But if we pray and do not have the assurance that we are one with God’s will, if we pray and do not know what the will of God according to His economy is, we may not have the things that we are praying for.

Our prayer shouldn’t be in hope that the heavens would do something; we need to pray and have the assurance that what we prayed for, we have already received.

How can we have such a boldness to believe that we have received the very thing we pray for?

The key is knowing the will of God and praying according to God’s will.

We may ask God for something a million times, but if what we ask is not according to the will of God, we will not obtain what we asked for. But if we pray and ask for His will and His present move in His economy, then we can have prayer without any doubt in our heart.

This really shows us that much of what we call prayer is not really prayer; of course, there are many kinds of prayer, and we can utter various kinds of prayers based on our current condition, our needs, our feelings, etc.

But what God will absolutely fulfill and what He will completely accomplish is His will, and when we utter His will, He will carry it out.

If we have a certain need, for example, we need to join ourselves to God’s will and pray for that need according to God’s will; then, He will have a way to carry out His will and answer our prayer.

Uttering a Prayer with Authority to Exercise God’s Authority to Deal with Problems and Remove them

The prayer that the Lord speaks of in Mark 11:20-24 is a prayer with authority; it is the issuing of a command, for we are told not to ask God to remove the mountain but to speak to the mountain to move and be cast into the sea.

This kind of prayer is not directed to God but toward this mountain – just as the Lord didn’t ask God to do something but His prayer was directed to the fig tree, and it withered.

We have an example of this in Zech. 4:7, “Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubabel you will become a plain, and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of Grace, grace to it!”

The word here is not spoken to God to remove the mountain; it is directed toward the mountain to become a plain, for the mountain was frustrating Zerubabel from carrying out God’s work of building.

The mountain was therefore removed not by what we normally call prayer but by a command that was issued to the mountain.

This is a prayer of authority; a prayer with authority doesn’t ask God or beg Him to do something for us but rather it exercises God’s authority and applies God’s authority to deal with problems and things that need to be removed (Matt. 21:21).

The prayer with authority is an extraordinary kind of prayer; when there’s an extraordinary situation and need, we need to pray such extraordinary prayers.

God has commissioned us to command what He has commanded and give orders to what He has given orders to (Matt. 17:20).

The Lord once told us that whatever we bind on earth has already been bound in heaven, and what we lose on earth has already been loosed in heaven.

Why should we bind on earth something that has already been bound in heaven, and why should we lose on earth what has already been loosed in heaven?

If God bound it and loosed it, why do we need to pray for it? And when we pray, why do we need to directly bind and lose, and not ask God to bind and lose?

This may be puzzling to many, but this is what the prayer with authority is; we don’t ask God to do this or that, but we pray directly toward something (especially toward the enemy and his works) to bind and lose, and God will do it.

God entrusted us His authority to bind and lose on earth what has been bound and loosed in heaven; we don’t say “God, please bind Satan,” but rather, “Satan, we bind you!”

When many hear such a prayer and are young in the church life, they may be quite surprised; the more we go on with the Lord, the more we know God’s economy and His eternal will, the more we can stand in the Body and exercise God’s authority to pray prayers of authority to bind Satan and lose those whom he has taken captive.

We need to realize the position given to us as the church and be one with the Lord to execute His will on earth by praying with authority to remove any obstacle and frustration to God’s economy.

The Lord Jesus Himself did this when He was tempted by the devil; He didn’t say, Father, remove Satan from Me! Rather, He said, Go away, Satan!

A prayer with authority is one in which we tell things that are frustrating us from fulfilling the will of God according to His economy to go away.

Lord Jesus, teach us to pray prayers of authority to release Your will on earth and bind the enemy and all his works. Thank You for commissioning us to command what You have commanded and give others to what You have given orders to. We stand one with You on earth, Lord, and we are one with the Body to exercise Your authority and pray prayers of authority to bind and lose on earth what has been bound and loosed in the heavens. Amen, Lord, we do not agree with the enemy’s frustrations and obstacles to Your economy; we do not agree with his blinding work and his lies! We agree with Your will to be done and with Your kingdom to come!

The Church can utter a Prayer with Authority by having Full Faith and being one with God’s Will

How can the church can have such a prayer with authority, a prayer in which the church commands God to do something or the church commands the mountain to move and be cast into the sea?

The church can have such a prayer with authority by having full faith, being without doubt, and being clear that what we do is fully according to God’s will (Matt. 6:10; 18:19-20).

This requires that we know what is the will of God and that we are fully assured that it is God’s will, so we pray God’s will and He will do it.

For example, there may be an election coming up in your country, and it is very important who will be the next president.

But how do we pray for the election? Do we pray that this person or that person would win, because they have certain promises to do this and that thing?

For us to pray prayer of authority, we need to know what the will of God is; this means we shouldn’t focus on a person, we shouldn’t pray for this or that person, but pray for the will of God to be done.

Our prayers need to be focused on the will of God; in prayer, we agree, God, Your will be done!

We don’t know who exactly will the next person in the office, but we direct our prayers to the will of God, and we have the assurance that, if the church prays, the Lord will be sovereign over who ends up occupying that office.

We pray for the will of God to be done and for the person whom He needs at this time for His economy to be elected.

But it is so easy for us to pray natural prayers; we may like this person or that person better, so we pray for this person while others pray for that person – yet neither one of us is praying for God’s will.

Instead of praying for our preference, we should direct our prayers towards God’s economy; as 1 Kings 8:48 says, we should pray toward the holy land, toward the holy city, and toward the holy temple, and God will fulfill our prayer.

We need to pray toward Christ (the land), the church (the temple) and the kingdom (the city) and the New Jerusalem; then our prayer with authority will be aimed at God’s economy and His will.

God’s will is to regenerate believers to become members of His Body, He wants them in the proper, up-to-standard, up-to-date church life, and He wants to spread this church life and all the divine truths of the Lord’s recovery all over the earth.

And at the end of this age, the Lord wants in particular to gain His overcomers.

The world situation today has something to do with the end of this age; we can’t tell how it connects, but it is not an accident to be going through the pandemic we’re going through at the moment, and it is not at random that the social and political events take place as they happen.

God wants to gain His overcomers; He needs His dispensational instrument that will end this age.

God wants to raise up among the churches the overcomers who live in the reality of the Body of Christ in this age, those who will become the prepared bride of Christ in this age, and who will return with Christ to be the corporate warrior to defeat Satan in this age.

This is the prayer we should pray at the end of this age; to pray with authority is to pray for the raising up of the overcomers, to pray for the dispensational instrument that will accomplish God’s economy at this time.

So when we pray for something, when there’s a need that rises up and we pray, we need to pray toward God’s economy, His interest on earth, and utter the prayer of authority by being full of faith and uttering God’s will in prayer.

For example, if someone becomes ill, we may pray in a natural way out of our natural affection that the Lord would heal this one.

We can’t say that this is wrong, but the Lord may want that person to pass through a particular suffering, and for us to pray to alleviate that suffering, we could be actually praying contrary to God’s will. Oh Lord!

We have a lot to learn in this matter of prayer and especially in the matter of praying with authority.

The prayer with authority is the prayer of the overcomers; those who pray such a prayer are the overcomers, the warrior in this age as seen in Eph. 6.

They pray in the way of spiritual warfare, and their prayer is from heavens downward to the earth; it is a prayer in ascension.

In Isa. 45:11 the Lord told us, Command Me concerning the works of My hands… – If we have the absolute assurance of God’s will and His economy, even God listens to our command.

Lord Jesus, we want to know Your will and pray Your will according to Your economy so that we may have full faith, having no doubt, that You will fulfill our prayer. Amen, Lord, may the church pray such a prayer with authority for the carrying out of God’s will on earth. May our prayer not focus on this person or that situation but on God’s economy, God’s will. Amen, Lord, gain Your overcomers; gain Your dispensational instrument who will be one with You to end this age and bring in the age of the kingdom! Gain those who live in the reality of the Body of Christ in this age and who will become the prepared bride of Christ! Produce us as Your overcomers, Lord, and gain so many who are brought to maturity to be Your overcoming ones in this age!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Mark Raabe for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 22, “The Prayer Ministry of the Church,” ch. 4, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, A Timely Word Concerning the World Situation and the Lord’s Recovery (2020 Memorial Day Conference), week 4, Praying Persistently with God as Our Faith.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Pray to touch the throne of God / By the hand of living faith; / Exercise authority / Over all the pow’r of death. / Pray to touch the throne of God, / Pray to shake the evil pow’r; / Pray with kingship on the throne, / Pray with Christ this very hour. (Hymns #783)
  – Teach us to pray and use Thy rod / In strong, prevailing prayer, / Beneath Thy blood to shake the earth / And powers of the air. / By prayer and faith, O may we learn / To labor, Lord, with Thee, / To know the victory is ours / And Thine authority. (Hymns #767)
  – Raise up some to meet Your need, some Nazarites, / Prophets, priests, and judges, and men of prayer, / Speaking forth Your word, with Your authority, / A photo of Your heart for Your move. (Song on, In this godless age)