Some Thoughts on Prayer by Jim Veitch

We Pray with Authority

Both Matthew and Mark record Jesus giving the commission to His disciples to go out and spread the Gospel “to all the world”. In Matthew’s version, Jesus says “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. You (my addition) go therefore and make disciples of all nations...” (Matt 28:18). The Father gave all His authority to the Son. Then the Son gave this authority to His disciples. So, according to this authority, as it states in Jn 17:20–23, we are to pray like “those who will believe in Me through their word”. We, therefore, have the authority from Jesus to pray in His name.

We Pray with Down Not Up

What does this mean? We not only have authority to pray in Jesus’ name, but we are “raised together and made to sit in heavenly places in Him” (Eph 2:6). When we pray, we do not come in an attitude of servitude, looking up to heaven for God to answer our prayer. Instead, we come in a position as the children of God, looking down from heavenly places on the problem we are addressing in prayer and praying with authority.

Speak to the Mountain

As an example of faith in (Mk 11:23), Jesus did not tell the disciples to pray for the mountain to be removed, He said to “speak to the mountain”. When we pray for a problem, we speak directly to it in faith. Also, Jesus did not pray for Lazarus to be raised from the dead. He said: “Lazarus, come forth!”

Words Which Weaken the Prayer

A widespread trait is the use of the word ‘just’ in prayer. “Lord, we just want to thank you... Or “Lord, just heal our brother...” The term ‘just’ has negative undertones; “we just made it”, “I just wanted to say” etc. Putting ‘just’ into a prayer undermines the authority Jesus has given us.

Pray with Thanksgiving

When writing to the Philippians, Paul told them to make their requests “by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving”. It is always good to thank God for His many blessings He bestows on us as well as coming to Him with our requests.

Praying for What We Already Have

If you listen to how people pray, you may hear them asking for what is theirs already.

·       We pray “O Lord, be with me at this time.” However, yet Jesus said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb 13:5).

·       We ask God for peace in our heart. Yet Jesus said, “My peace I give unto you” (Jn 14:27). Nowhere in Scripture does He say that He would take it away again.

·       We ask God for His wisdom in some situation. Yet, Scripture declares that Jesus “became to us wisdom from God...” (1 Cor 1:30). So, we need to remember that, “we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:16).

We should know what we have in Christ and live in that assurance.

Praying in Tongues

It is sometimes the case that we do not know what to pray in some circumstances. The gift of tongues is then a powerful tool for us to use. When I pray in tongues, my spirit is in communication with the Holy Spirit even though my understanding is not involved (1 Cor 14:14). God knows what is happening and through the Holy Spirit can intervene, either to show us how to pray of sometimes to move and solve the case.