I'm continuing from yesterday - a discussion on four types of prophetic prayer. Yesterday, we talked about asking prayer - talking to God. today I conclude with the 3 other forms of prophetic prayer - talking about God; talking for God and talking as God.
2. Talk About God – remember what He
has done; declare what He is doing and going to do
This is like a testimony (Rev. 19:10 – the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy) “testimony” in
Heb. Means to do again – when
testimony is spoken it comes with a covenant/power from God to repeat the
miracle – atmosphere to bring change (Bill Johnson)
Testifying releases and activates the promises of God
* Psalm 98
Remembers what He has done
1 O sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things; His
right hand and His holy arm have wrought salvation for Him.
2 The Lord has made known His salvation; His righteousness has He openly
shown in the sight of the nations.
3 He has [earnestly] remembered His mercy and loving-kindness, His truth and His faithfulness toward the house of Israel; all the ends of
the earth have witnessed the salvation of our God.
Declares what we are to do as a
result
4 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth and sing for
joy, yes, sing praises!
5 Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, with the lyre and the voice of
melody.
6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the
King, the Lord!
7 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it, the world, and those who dwell
in it!
8 Let the rivers clap their hands; together let the hills sing for joy
Declares what the Lord is going to do
9 Before the Lord, for He is coming to judge [and rule] the earth; with
righteousness will He judge [and rule] the world, and the peoples with equity.
• 2Chron. 6
• 2Chron. 20 – Nine Attributes of God Remembered
v6 You are God – He is God
v6 You rule over all the Kingdoms – He is the ruler of all
v6 You have power and might in Your hand – no one can withstand You – He is
omnipotent
v7 You are our God – He is our personal God
v7 You have driven out our enemies before – He has
done this before
v7 You have promised us this land – He is a covenant-keeping God
v9 Your name is here – He is present wherever His name is
v9 You will hear and save us – He is a God of Salvation
v12 You will
judge our enemies
– He is The Judge of all
3. Talk For God – Declare and decree
what the Father has issued from the throne – on earth as it is
in heaven
In this type of prayer we come from the throne of God and act as
ambassadors – declaring what the Lord has decreed. We speak with the voice of
one who has authority from the Throne. We speak as those who listen watch and
wait in the presence of God (Prov. 8:34) Use the Word of God to speak into situations
with the authority He has given.
• Acts 3:6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and
walk.”
This prayer of Paul for the Ephesians moves from an asking prayer into a
declarative prayer:
• Eph. 1: 17-20 17 [For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into
mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him,
18 By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can
know and understand the hope to
which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints
(His set-apart ones),
19 And [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His
mighty strength,
20 Which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated
Him at His [own] right hand in the heavenly [places],
Also see Eph. 3:14-21; Phil. 1:9-11; Col. 1:9-12; Rom. 15:5-7, 13;
1Thess. 3:9-13; 2Thess. 1:11-12; 3:1-5
4. Talk As God -
Many examples of this type of prayer are found in the life of Jesus. It
would be easy to say that because He is God, He is able to pray in this
manner…but, when Jesus was on earth, He voluntarily set aside His divine powers
and walked among us as a human – to show us the way to live and pray. The
miracles He did were in obedience to the Father – just as we must pray in
obedience to the Father. The same power and authority that Jesus had in prayer
is ours. In other words: the preexistent Son of God voluntarily assumed a human
body and nature without ceasing to be fully God. He did not give up His deity,
but rather, He set aside the right to His glory and power in order to submit to
the will of the Father. This is known as:
Kenosis—comes from the Greek verb kenoo: to empty, Phil.2:7, and refers to
the manner in which Christ chose to restrict the use of His divine attributes
during His humiliation. This is sometimes called the Divine Emptying. Jesus voluntarily emptied Himself In Three Ways:
• He voluntarily accepted the limitations of
being a human being.
• He voluntarily allowed His glory to be hidden
from the people.
• He voluntarily gave up the independent use of
His relative attributes (all-knowing, all-powerful, everywhere present, etc.).
He exercised these supernatural attributes only by the will of God the father –
showing us the way to be true Sons of God.
a) He
left the glory of heaven, Jn. 17:5; 2 Cor. 8:9.
b) He
made Himself of no reputation, Phil. 2:7.
He did not lay aside His deity; rather He
abstained from using His complete divine powers. Thiessen says that his divine glory was veiled, but not
surrendered (Thiessen, p. 216).
c) He was
made in the likeness of men, Phil. 2:7, 8 (Jesus’ most common name for Himself
while on earth was, “Son of man”).
d) He
humbled Himself by submitting to all authority, Phil. 2:8.
e) He
suffered and died for all mankind, Phil. 2:8.
Jesus was as much
God—as if He had never been man.
Jesus was as much
man—as if He had never been God.
Jesus partook of human
nature
so that we might
become partakers of the divine nature
Jesus became human
without ceasing to be God
Here are some of the powerful
prayers and proclamations of Jesus:
• Matt. 14:25-29 And in the fourth watch [between 3:00—6:00 a.m.] of the night, Jesus
came to them, walking on the sea.
26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified
and said, It is a ghost! And they screamed out with fright.
27 But instantly He spoke to them, saying, Take courage! I Am! Stop being
afraid!
28 And Peter answered Him, Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on
the water.
29 He said, Come! So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water, and
he came toward Jesus.
• Matt. 8:2-3 And behold, a
leper came to Him, and bowed down to Him, saying, "Lord, if You are
willing, You can make me clean."
Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I
am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
• Mk. 7:31-37 Jesus healed a deaf and mute man by
putting his fingers in his ears and spitting, then touching his tongue. He then
prayed one word: Ephphatha – be opened.
• John 11:41-44 Then they took away the stone from
the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank
You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but
because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 Now when
He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!”
44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes,
and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let
him go.”
Prophetic Prayer Part 1: HERE
