I was chatting to a bloke in my local coffee shop last week – he is a Christian, so he says – and the subject of prayer came up. I mentioned that our churches had been interceding for Ukraine, and how powerful those times of corporate prayer had been. This guy scoffed. “Why bother?”, he said. “If God is so ‘almighty’ why doesn’t he directly intervene, himself, and just stop all the violence if he is so loving and merciful? Why does he need the church to pray, at all?”
The man thought he had me stumped, but God revealed something to me in that very moment, and so, I now share it with you.
God is sovereign, as I said last week. He does what He wills according to His own counsel – He doesn’t need any advice from mere mortals. God does act sovereignly. He does intervene when He so chooses – and He does so every day. But He also calls His people to pray and invite Him to act in a whole variety of situations on their behalf. So, two things here straight away: God acts sovereignly when He so chooses, but He also calls the Church to pray and intercede, not because He needs the prayer support – He doesn’t. Not at all. He needs no assistance. So then, why? When God calls us to humble ourselves and pray it is because He wants us to be engaged with His amazing kingdom agenda, and to know the joy and privilege of that - and also that the Church might give glory to God, and also share in that glory. That is, when the Church gives glory to God through its passionate obedience to His will and agenda, His powerful anointing comes on the Church to achieve it. God’s will cannot be done without the anointing which achieves things His way. The Church, then, shines with the reflected glory of God. The apostle Paul made this point …
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV)
“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
This is one of the outcomes of passionate prayerful engagement with God’s kingdom agenda.
But there is another reason, as I explained to my coffee shop friend. Although God needs no help from us through our prayers and intercession, He calls us to pray anyway because He is preparing the bride for His Son – Jesus Christ. God calls us to pray often in all kinds of ways because He has ordained that His Church succeeds in such prayer! When God calls us to pray - whether by a prompting, or a clear prophetic invitation or command - He intends that we overcome and win! There is no other option as far as God is concerned. He will never invite us to pray with anything but victory as the achievable, obvious outcome.
God wants us to be successful in authoritative, intercessory prayer that we may be proved suitable, fully prepared and a radiant bride for the Son.
God does not want a wimpy, scared, pathetic little bride for His Son! NO! He wants a glorious, powerful, commanding, fearless, all-conquering bride that unravels and destroys the work of Satan by applying the work of the cross and thereby continuing the work that Jesus did. And in the process the Church is made ready for the Bridegroom – radiant, glorious. Surely, after all that Christ has done, He deserves such a glorious, victorious bride! And so, when we intercede until we prevail and overcome the enemy, we are being prepared as a bride for Christ. When we pray, therefore, we need to be aware of those moments where God is specifically directing us, and leading us, that we may command the circumstances and demons to bow the knee to Jesus. Did Jesus not say to the seventy-two ordinary believers like us …
Luke 10:18-19 (NIV)
He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.”
Every time we pray with this authority, every time we lean in to this kind of praying, interceding for kingdom outcomes, every time we persevere in prayer and see more and more answers, we are learning about victory, we give glory to God – and God gets to prepare the Church to be a bride for the Son, who is deserving of a glorious, radiant marriage partner.
Revelation 19:7-8 (NIV)
“Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear." (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God's holy people.)
God is sovereign, yes! But when He calls the Church to prayer, He is calling the bride to make herself ready for His beloved Son.
This, alone, should be motivation enough for us to pray and prevail in intercession and overcome! God WANTS the bride to overcome and become glorious.
Well, my coffee shop friend wasn’t prepared for all that, but he did appreciate another perspective concerning God’s sovereignty, and His call to us to be a people commanding in prayer ministry. This is precisely why we all felt such power when we were interceding for Ukraine.
Join me for prayer before worship each week!
*Sundays before our 10am worship service in Meeting Room 2 at ReChurch.
Selah!
You are so loved!
Ps Milton