I like Dutch Sheets' way of looking at intercessory prayer - enforcing Christ's victory on the cross.
Sheets says in his book Intercessory Prayer that when we pray for others, we are asking God to implement Christ's victory over Satan in the particular case we are praying about.
Sheets makes this point in an interesting way: "Our calling and function is not to replace God, but to release him."
"We don't deliver anyone, we don't reconcile anyone to God, we don't defeat the enemy. The work is already done."
Our job as intercessors is to "ask for the release and application of these things".
Jesus empowered us to be his representatives or ambassadors. It isn't our ability that is at issue, Sheets says, but Christ's - and Christ has already been victorious against the power of sin and death.
"Our challenge is not so much to liberate as to believe in the Liberator; to heal as to believe in the Healer."
When we intercede for someone, we meet with God and ask him to meet with someone else in all his power. We have been given "the ministry of reconciliation" between God and man - releasing the power of the resurrection into the lives of people.
Among the examples he gives, Sheets tells of a trip to Guatemala where he visited an elderly woman who had fallen and broken her ankle months before. The ankle had not healed and she was in great pain.
He began to pray but only managed to get out the word "Father" when he froze, was unable to speak, and began weeping. The power of the Holy Spirit entered the room, her foot began bouncing up and down, and she met the Spirit. She was healed.
Not only do we ask God to release his power, we are to enforce Christ's victory as we meet the powers of darkness, Sheets writes. He points to the apostle John's words in 1 John 3:8: "The Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil."
He mentioned that a friend of his faced a situation in Guatemala where a witch doctor had cursed a young woman because she refused to have sex with him. She was paralyzed from the neck down and couldn't speak. She had been in a wheelchair for six months when this friend of Sheets met her.
Sheets' friend whispered into her ear these words: "Satan, I break your hold over this young lady in the name of Jesus. I command you to loose your hold over her and let her go."
Nothing happened immediately. But a week later she was able to move her arms a little. The recovery continued for a month until she was completely healed.
This is a good reminder for me that Christ has defeated Satan and that my job is to ask God to apply that victory in the lives of the people I am praying for.
Sheets says in his book Intercessory Prayer that when we pray for others, we are asking God to implement Christ's victory over Satan in the particular case we are praying about.
Sheets makes this point in an interesting way: "Our calling and function is not to replace God, but to release him."
"We don't deliver anyone, we don't reconcile anyone to God, we don't defeat the enemy. The work is already done."
Our job as intercessors is to "ask for the release and application of these things".
Jesus empowered us to be his representatives or ambassadors. It isn't our ability that is at issue, Sheets says, but Christ's - and Christ has already been victorious against the power of sin and death.
"Our challenge is not so much to liberate as to believe in the Liberator; to heal as to believe in the Healer."
When we intercede for someone, we meet with God and ask him to meet with someone else in all his power. We have been given "the ministry of reconciliation" between God and man - releasing the power of the resurrection into the lives of people.
Among the examples he gives, Sheets tells of a trip to Guatemala where he visited an elderly woman who had fallen and broken her ankle months before. The ankle had not healed and she was in great pain.
He began to pray but only managed to get out the word "Father" when he froze, was unable to speak, and began weeping. The power of the Holy Spirit entered the room, her foot began bouncing up and down, and she met the Spirit. She was healed.
Not only do we ask God to release his power, we are to enforce Christ's victory as we meet the powers of darkness, Sheets writes. He points to the apostle John's words in 1 John 3:8: "The Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil."
He mentioned that a friend of his faced a situation in Guatemala where a witch doctor had cursed a young woman because she refused to have sex with him. She was paralyzed from the neck down and couldn't speak. She had been in a wheelchair for six months when this friend of Sheets met her.
Sheets' friend whispered into her ear these words: "Satan, I break your hold over this young lady in the name of Jesus. I command you to loose your hold over her and let her go."
Nothing happened immediately. But a week later she was able to move her arms a little. The recovery continued for a month until she was completely healed.
This is a good reminder for me that Christ has defeated Satan and that my job is to ask God to apply that victory in the lives of the people I am praying for.
No comments:
Post a Comment