Authority Before Praying

Anyone who is under authority is in authority.  

Out of the blue, Jesus receives a request from a Roman military officer... 

Luke 7:1-10  (NKJV)

 

7 Now when He concluded all His sayings in the hearing of the people, He entered Capernaum. 

The Sermon on the Mount had just concluded. 

2 And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear to him, was sick and ready to die. 

This centurion had a genuine concern for those who worked for him.    

3 So when he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to Him, pleading with Him to come and heal his servant.

4 And when they came to Jesus, they begged Him earnestly, saying that the one for whom He should do this was deserving, 

It was really important to these elders for Jesus to answer this request.  

Not only did the centurion love them, they loved him back. 

5 “for he loves our nation, and has built us a synagogue.”

The centurion showed his love with acts of kindness by building their community a place of worship with his own funds.  

6 Then, Jesus went with them. 

And when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof. 

Although the elders said that the centurion was deserving of his request, he disagreed by saying I'm not worthy! 

Not only to have this request answered, but also to have Jesus to come inside my home.   

7 Therefore, I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. 

But say the word, and my servant will be healed.

8 For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. 

And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

What the centurion saw in Jesus was the mighty invisible kingdom of the Lord our God, and he saw the Romans, the rulers of this world that he worked for, as puny in comparison.
  

He saw Jesus as an Officer of the Most High, and he was in awe, but not so much so as to not ask Jesus for this small favor.       

9 When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” 

The centurion saw the mighty power of God working through Jesus, and his little request as insignificant.  

He had great faith in Jesus' big God, and no faith in his little bitty problem.  

10 And those who were sent, returning to the house, found the servant well who had been sick.

 It was the faith of Jesus speaking in the centurion's own mouth that made the difference. 

This centurion got God's attention.  

He understood authority! 

I have authority because I am under authority.
  

I always pray for four authorities.
   

1. Family authority- My Father has passed, and my wife Tammy's parents have passed.
  

My authorities are my mom and my older brother.
  

My brother is my family authority although I am his ministry authority because he works for me.

When we meet as a family together, he always leads in praying.
  

2.  Governmental authority- Never filter how you feel about your authorities to pray for them.
  

We are to pray for our enemies. 

Surely, we can pray for our authorities.

I pray for the President, Vice President, Supreme Court, Congress, Governor, Mayor, the Police and Fire Departments.
    

3. Work or School authority. Mine are the trustees and overseers of this ministry.

   

4. Spiritual authority.  

I expect the devil to obey when I speak because I am man under authority.
   

Anyone who is under authority is in authority.  

In read is Scripture. 

In purple are my (M. H. Dennis) notes. 

In yellow are Chris Hodges' notes of Church of the Highlands. 

Your Prayer Blocker

God is inclined to forgive everything you've done.  

Psalm 103:8-12  (NKJV)

8 The Lord is merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.

(God does get angry, but He is slow to do it). 

9 He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.

(Once God does get angry with us. He gets over it, and forgets about it completely). 

10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor punished us according to our iniquities.

(God doesn't over punish, but does the opposite.  He under punishes). 

11 For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;

(His mercy is reserved for those who have a great respect for who He is). 

12 As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

(When God cast a sin from us, it goes from here to eternity).  

Matthew 6:14-15 (NKJV)

14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 

15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Jesus taught that God's great forgiveness is conditioned upon how you forgive others.  

Matthew 18:21-22 (NKJV)

21 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”

22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Peter struggled with practicing God's extravagant forgiveness for others, and he tried to put limitations upon it.

Jesus requires us to forgive others without limit.

We give God everything else, but the pain of the hurts from others.

Forgiveness is not approval, or the restoration of trust.  

Keep letting the pain go. 

Unforgiveness may be your prayer blocker.  

Verbally release those who have hurt you.  

If you do, you are the one set free.

  

2 Corinthians 10:4-5  (NKJV)

4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.        

Resist unforgivness like any other sin like doubt, anger, lust, etc... 

Take those thoughts captive when the enemy brings them to mind. 

When Satan brings that hurt to mind, start confessing God's and your great love for the offender. (M. H. Dennis)

You've got to forgive the wrongs and focus on the good in others if you’re every going to make it in this life. (Chris Hodges)

• Layne Schranz, Church of the Highlands 

   

   

Warfare Prayers

In the Bible ,there was an all out war in the heavens.  

A man named Daniel was praying.  

The demonic forces of the Prince of Persia fought off God's answer through Gabriel for 21 Days. 

The arch angel Michael came with reinforcements and finally Gabriel broke through to Daniel... (Daniel 10)

There is more to prayer than meets the eye. 

The Apostle Paul knew a thing or two about prayer, and he said this...

Romans 8:38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 

39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.   

Paul was talking about a demonic kingdom who is organized against you, and will stop at nothing to keep you from God's answer to you.  

But how do your stop Him.

Paul listed the strategy in Ephesians 6:11-18 (NLT)

11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.

Satan has multiple strategies to ruin you, but Paul mentions just one strategy of God's to win, but it has many components. 

You must utilize all the components to withstand a demonic attack.  

12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

Satan has an demonic organization which is bent on your destruction.  

It includes ruling demons in authority over armies of demons.  

All with mighty powers that fight in heaven and upon earth to destroy you.

For more on Satan's purpose for your life, cut and paste the web addresses below into your web browser.

How to Survive a Demonic Attack by Charles Stanley. 

http://u-open.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-to-halt-satan-in-his-tracks.html   

Temptation Tugging?  by Adrian Rodgers. 

http://u-open.blogspot.com/2011/03/test-temptation.html

Satan: who is he by Adrian Rodgers.

http://u-open.blogspot.com/2011/04/praise-thief.html

Satanic Wars by Adrian Rodgers.  

http://u-open.blogspot.com/2011/04/satanic-wars.html

13 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil.

Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. 

In the Bible's original manuscripts, they didn't highlight or underline the most important verses, but they'd say it twice.  

In Verse 11 and 13, Paul says it twice!  

It's Paul's way of underlining. 

Paul underlined put on every piece of your armor!   

Put on all your armor before your demonically attacked.  

Satan's forces waits and looks for you when you are most vulnerable. 

Like when you are Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired =H.A.L.T. 

Then, he launches an all out assault to destroy you. 

If you've put all your armor on beforehand, you'll still be standing not him in the in.    

14 Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. 

In Paul's day, everyone wore robes. They were difficult to run in or fight in.  

If you knew that you were about to fight, you would pick up the bottom of your robe and tuck it into your belt. 

Paul says to get ready for a demonic attack beforehand by tying all your thoughts together with a belt with a name on it called truth. 

What is a belt named truth?   

In John 17:17, Jesus prays that "God's word is truth". 

Take your area of weakness, and belt your mind with what God now says about you in that area now that you are in Christ to defeat demonic thoughts. 

In Romans 13:13, Paul commands us to put on the Lord Jesus Christ (like body armor). 

His mind. His point of view,and His righteousness. 

In Galatians 2:20, Paul introduces the concept of an exchanged life.  

That you too died with Christ, and He too rose from the dead with you. 

That truth will protect you from head to toe.  

15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. 

Our shoes represent the foundation in which we stand.  

We are not struggling against flesh and blood, and we lose when we get confused and attack people.  

Chris Hodges says that it's almost impossible to reach an enemy, so try not to make any. 

If the devil is able to get us into strife with people, our faith won't work. 

Paul says in Galatians 5:6 that faith works by love.  

In other words, faith won't work without love. 

Strife is a warning light that we are no longer walking in love. 

Remembering that we're delivering Good News not bad.  

If it becomes Bad News, you're doing it all wrong.  

16 In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. 

In the ancient times, a shield was leather  stretched across a full body size frame. 

Arrows are fired by archers from a distant, so we've got to be prepared to be attacked from near and far.  

The fiery arrows would hit the shield and lodge in it to protect soldier.  

In the same way, the demonic attacks lodge in our faith and protect us.  

Charles Stanley says view everything that happens to you as coming from or through our loving heavenly Father, and He's working it out for your benefit. 

Taking that 

perspective means faith.  Romans 8:28.    

17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Putting on our helmet of salvation means protecting our thoughts with this thought...

John 10:27 (Jesus speaking) My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 

28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 

29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. 

30 I and My Father are one.”   

Your salvation is safe and secure in Jesus' hands from Satan's demons.

Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 

God's word in my mouth prompted by the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus makes Satan flee and run (James 4:7).   

18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. 

Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.

We're at our best when we realize that this battle is not against Satan and me, but Satan and us.  

I've got God my Father.  

The Most High.  

God Almighty. (Psalm 91:1)  

I've got Jesus at His right hand pleading for me (Hebrew 7:25), and I've got God the Holy Spirit within me energizing me (I John 4:4). 

And Finally, I've got you in the trenches praying with me and for me.  No wonder the demons run! Luke 10:18)  

Romans8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? (NKJV)

by M. H. Dennis unless otherwise stated.  Title taken from  Church of the Highlands prayer guide.