OUR PRAYERS: DECLARATIVE OR HUMBLY ASKING

 

What power and authority do we have? This issue is presently creating a lot of division in the Church. Some argue that because Jesus had given power and authority to heal and to cast out demons to His disciples on two occasions, we can still do as they had done.

 

However, according to James, we are a fading mist:

·       James 4:13–16 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

 

Consequently, we should not make bold claims regarding what we can accomplish. Instead, we are merely a mist without much substance. If we understand this, we should recognize that our lives depend upon what God wills (Psalm 57:2). Therefore, to make bold declarations, even in prayer regarding what we can accomplish, is evil. Even the angels lack such authority. Instead, they are servants of God:

 

·       2 Peter 2:10–11 (NLT) He is especially hard on those who follow their own twisted sexual desire, and who despise authority. These people are proud and arrogant, daring even to scoff at supernatural beings without so much as trembling. But the angels, who are far greater in power and strength, do not dare to bring from the Lord a charge of blasphemy against those supernatural beings.

 

·       Jude 9 (NLT) But even Michael, one of the mightiest of the angels, did not dare accuse the devil of blasphemy, but simply said, “The Lord rebuke you!”…

 

Consequently, we must regard any spiritual good that might come out of our lives as a gift of God (John 15:4-5):

 

·       2 Corinthians 3:5 (ESV) Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,

 

This is why our Lord placed His Spirit in our weak, fragile, and vulnerable bodies:

 

·       2 Corinthians 4:7–8 (ESV) But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair.

 

Our Lord is purposely teaching us complete dependence upon Him (Psalm 62) who is unseen

 

·       2 Corinthians 5:6–7 (ESV) So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.

 

Therefore, if we expect to be powerful and to experience a steady diet of miracles, disappointment will result. Instead, we should expect to be humbled (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). Consequently, it is He who will exalt us and not our own power.