- Vocal – normal tongue – devil listens to these! (1 Peter 5:8); also Intercessory Prayer – standing in the gap for an immediate need of others. (1 Tim. 2:1)
- Vocal – prayer in tongues/Holy Ghost – devil can’t understand these! (Acts 2: 1-39); can also be intercessory prayer
- Travail with sounds – moaning and groanings (Romans 8:26-27)
- Travail without sounds (2 Cor. 12: 1-4)
Personal opinion – 90% of prayer is listening! Prayer is meant to be a dialogue with Jesus – not a one-sided conversation where we hit Him up with our needs and be on our way. Two ears , one tongue – do the math!
Bro. Stanley says that 80% of your spoken prayer should be in tongues because your spirit knows what you need more than you do.
Everything in all of creation is subject to the authority of the name of Jesus. That is why it is critical to invoke the name of Jesus when we pray.
“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Philippians 2:9-11 KJV
Having the Spirit of Jesus living inside of us – having the Holy Ghost – activated inside of us – is the key to having authority/power in prayer. In essence, we take the same spirit that raised Christ from death everywhere we go – and we can use that to overcome not only our own obstacles, but use it for the benefit of others.
“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”
1 Peter 5:6-7 KJV
“And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”
John 14:13-17 KJV
When we have the Holy Ghost and we invoke the Name of Jesus in prayer, we are given all power and authority over the enemy.
“And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.”
Luke 10:17-20 KJV
Demons are cast out in Jesus’ name. (Mark 4: 1-19)
Share story of possessed man trying to hit me and fist stopping in my face.
Share story of fasting and Lisa being delivered from possession at a Wed. night service.
When we have the Holy Ghost and we invoke the name of Jesus in prayer, we lay hands on people and they are healed from sickness. (James 5: 13-18)
“Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up;
Share story of laying hands on grandpa – intestines being unblocked instantly.
Share story of commanding grandpa’s cancerous tumor to dissolve and be gone by the next day during colonoscopy.
But it goes further than that- our faith in the authority of Jesus’ name can travel for us in prayer and intercede in any situation. Take for instance the story of the centurion.
“And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.”
Matthew 8:5-13 KJV
Share story of commanding follower’s tongue to be loosed during prayer over the phone.
In Jesus’ name, we also find forgiveness for our sins:
and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.
In Jesus’ name, we also have power over our environment:
Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.”
James 5:13-18 KJV
This is key:
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
When I prayed for Jesus to give me a word for this lesson tonight – the word He gave me was “demonstration.”
“And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”
1 Corinthians 2:1-5 KJV
Let’s demonstrate our faith in His authority now by having prayer together in Jesus’ name.
