Prayer of Blessing

 

Prayers of blessing are often said for visiting missionaries, or families relocating to another church, those starting a new job, or new graduates. We pray blessings over newlyweds, newborns, or even over a new house or car. Prayers of blessings are found throughout Scripture and are powerful ways to ask for God’s best to be poured out.

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1:9-11)

The Intercessory Call

 

The Holy Spirit has not emphasized the calling to night-and-day worship and prayer worldwide throughout church history, but is now calling many ministries to embrace it. I do not believe that it is God’s will for every local church or ministry to host 24/7 worship in their own building, but that He plans to establish it in each city or region of the earth. This can happen if many local churches partner together in the work of night-and-day prayer. The practical application will differ from city to city and from nation to nation, as well as according to different cultures.

Many are asking the Lord to establish 24/7 prayer with worship in every tribe and tongue before the Lord returns, by bringing multiple ministries together in unity to accomplish the work in every region of the earth. Imagine a missions movement that reaches every tribe and tongue, with the gospel being preached in every language, deeply connected to 24/7 prayer with worship.

Prayer of Healing & Transformation

 

As followers of Jesus, we aim to live like him, live according to his ways, and enter into a lifelong process of sanctification. Praying for this type of transformation in our hearts, minds, and lives is purposeful and we can find these types of prayers in God’s word.

 

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24)

Prayer of Intercession

 

Praying for others is a crucial part of being part of the body of Christ. The Bible instructs us to pray for one another and to intercede on someone else’s behalf. In the Gospels, we read that Jesus prayed for others in his final hours before being arrested. The apostle Paul wrote of how he often kept other Christians and new believers in his prayers, as well.

 

Paul, in his letter to the Church in Colossae wrote, “And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light” (Colossians 1:9-12)

Deliverance

 

Our Lord Jesus Christ dealt directly with satan himself, not only in the spiritual realm as he faced death on the cross, but before that in the physical realm when satan tempted him in the wilderness. (Matt. 4: 1–13, Mark 1:13, Luke 4:1–15). The enemy waited until Jesus was weakened in the physical body, having fasted 40 days, and then preyed upon Him, hoping to tempt Him into sin. If Jesus had given into satan and sinned, He would no longer be able to fulfill the role His Father had created for Him: to die for us, a perfect sacrifice for all mankind.

Jesus, of course, resisted the temptations of the evil one, and this account of His confrontation with satan serves to prove not only His perfect purity and sinless nature, but also the very real existence of satan. In addition, it describes the heavenly angels who came to minister to Jesus after He had been tested.

This is only one of many Biblical accounts that describe the real presence of satan and his evil spirits, or demons. Another account which stands out is the temptation of Job, when satan went before the throne of God to ask permission to take away all Job had (Job 1–2). 

More on Deliverance

 

1 John 3:8 tells us, 'The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work." Jesus not only cast out demons as part of His work on earth, as is evidenced throughout the Gospels, but He taught about satan and his demons: "Then they brought to him a demoniac who was blind and mute; and he cured him, so that the one who had been mute could speak and see. All the crowds were amazed and said, 'Can this be the Son of David?' But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, 'It is only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons, that this fellow casts out the demons.' He ... said to them,· ... no city or house divided against itself will stand. If satan casts out satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? If I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own exorcists cast them out? ... But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you."' ( Matt. 12:22–28).

Jesus commissioned his followers to carry on His work after He went to be with His Father in heaven. He also gave them authority over satan and his evil spirits:

"Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness...' As you go, proclaim the good news, "The kingdom of heaven has come near." Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.'" (Matt. 10: 1 , 7–8).