Tag Archives: strategic

Declarative Prayer

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11295609_965501846846256_8820776121841191577_n-2“Declaring prayer simply means that once we know God’s heart on an issue, we boldly pray that it will be so, and then walk in faith that it is already so – even if the answer is not yet visible.” Jonathan Graf

The scene was absolutely breathtaking. Situated on the side of a mountain in an apartment, we didn’t initially realize where we were living. That is until we took an elevator down several stories, walked down a long series of steps, and out the gate into a curved street that is so typical in Spain. As we walked, I looked up with a gasp at the very place where we were living. High up was the balcony of our apartment protruding out the side of a mountain. It looked so small and vulnerable seated among a number of mountain cliffs. For a few days we actually were living on a cliff!

Now I don’t personally like cliffs but I do love high places because I love to pray high up where I can see a great distance of landscape and trees. And this place was perfect for that! The view was out of this world. The sky was blue and the sea was the richest color of blue-green that you had ever seen. On one side were the Sierra Nevada Mountains painting half the scenery and on the other side was the Mediterranean Sea. We were sandwiched directly in the middle.

This was last year in Spain. My husband and I would have prayer times in this apartment. One time when we were praying we decided to go out on the balcony, and he began to declare and pray over the land. Suddenly we began to declare God’s Word in prayer as we looked at the beautiful landscape before us. We knew there was a lot of hidden darkness underneath, but we knew we had power in prayer. He pointed directly to the mountains and said as an act of faith,

 “This is a place of faith. It’s time to say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be thrown into the sea!’”

We had been going through a particularly difficult time regarding our future. Not knowing which way to go and feeling bombarded by attacks from the enemy at every turn, it was an important declaration when our faith seemed at low ebb.

But as we declared God’s Word directed by His Spirit, all of a sudden our faith began to rise!

We began to believe God for greater things in prayer. Hope began to fill our hearts and our prayers became more forceful. We realized afresh the importance of declaring God’s truth out loud for spiritual breakthrough.

Declarative prayer is a dynamic way to pray strategically. We must be willing to learn to wait to hear the Lord’s voice if we want to pray declarative prayers. We must know the Lord’s timing and voice. It can’t be our personal desire. It’s not a name it, claim it prayer. It must be God. He always has a plan. As His ambassadors and representatives on earth, we are to stand in the gap in prayer for others (Ezekiel 22:30). As we obey and pray His Word, God wants to use us to bring healing on the earth. Barbara Wentroble in her book Prophetic Intercession says:

“Intercessors should be able to hear God speak. As He speaks, He will reveal areas that need prayer, strategies to overcome the enemy, actions or declarations to break the power of hindrance, and even reveal the sources of warfare. Victory can be obtained through obedience to the Word of the Lord.”

Declarative prayer claims supernatural intervention from God on God’s terms, not ours. Our faith for declarative prayer comes from God and not our own efforts – God works through our faith – He is the object and source of it. It’s not about our faith, our own effort and abilities or anything else. It’s all about God. He calls forth what doesn’t exist in the natural realm (Romans 4:17). Matthew 16:19 says, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” God does the binding in heaven, and then we carry it out on earth. We receive the “rhema” word from the Bible. As we listen to God, our faith grows.

God wants us to use His word to release His will on the earth. In Genesis 1, the Spirit moved at God’s Word. There is anointing on God’s Word. Jesus resisted Satan by speaking God’s Word in the desert (Matthew 4:4-10). Let’s realize what God has made available to us if we will believe. He has given us the keys to His Kingdom.

  • There is power in our words – “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63).
  • Our words release life and death – “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit” (Proverbs 18:21).
  • We must speak and declare God’s Word – “It is written: ‘I believed; therefore I have spoken.’ With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak” (2 Corinthians 4:13).

When our hearts and our words agree with God’s will, they release His power in a dramatic way. But if our words agree with Satan, we release his power. Declarative prayer affects the spirit and heavenly realm by binding demonic activity and loosing angelic activity. Jesus fights when we speak His Word in intercession and when we declare decrees according to His leading. He fights with the sword of His mouth (Revelation 2:16). We are to proclaim the decrees of the Lord. If we ask, He will give us the nations as our inheritance! (Psalm 2:7-8).

Listening to what God is saying is key. The Bible promises us in John 10:27 that God’s sheep hear His voice. There are many examples of declarative prayer in the Bible. Jesus cursed the fig tree in Matthew 21:19, Ezekiel spoke to the dry bones in Ezekiel 37:4-9, and God told Moses to speak to the rock in Numbers 20:7-8. Jesus even taught us to speak to the mountains in our lives in Mark 11:23. This is what my husband did in that apartment in Spain. But how can we be sure that we are hearing God’s voice in order to declare His will? Here are a few questions you can ask yourself as you learn declarative prayer:

  • Am I giving glory to God or is this for my personal gain and desires? Faith declaring prayer is for the glory of God alone.
  • Does my prayer expand God’s Kingdom? Declarative prayers expand the Kingdom of God.
  • What does God want to do in this situation? Declarative prayers pray God’s will and His desires with faith.
  • Are my motives pure and am I surrendered? Declarative prayers have pure motives (James 4:3).
  • What are the promises of God in Scripture? Declarative prayers pray God’s promises in His Word.

Do we realize the responsibility we have to determine what we do on earth for the Kingdom of God by our words? We read in Psalm 115:16 “The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth he has given to man.” We can pray and declare what God wants to release on earth and what is on His heart for the future. We can pray His promises onto the earth where we live and work. Job was instructed to pray and declare before God and it would be established (Job 22:22-28). That’s powerful.

Are you living on a cliff in your life experience? Are you going through a difficult time where you don’t know which way to go? Do you need a breakthrough? Perhaps it’s time to speak to the mountains in your life through declarative prayer. Let’s learn to ask God for greater faith to listen and pray His will on earth for His glory in our daily life experiences. And let’s learn to walk in faith as we hold onto the promises that we have boldly prayed.

“When God puts a specific verse in my heart showing me how to pray for a particular situation, my faith is naturally heightened. To engage in listening prayer, receiving a precise Bible verse for a specific situation enables me to pray His will with His wisdom. ‘so faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the (rhema) of Christ’ (Romans 10:17). Hearing a specific word – a rhema – from God produces faith! Now that’s worth waiting for.” Mel Winger

By Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise International
IHOPKC

Strategic Joy in the Midst of Warfare

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11351336_964567213606386_5770670982150967644_n-2“Joy and gladness are the currency on which heaven runs… Joy is deep-rooted happiness in the presence, person and nature of God. It sits in our heart and directs our life, displacing grief, mourning and sadness. When we have a quiet, God-given joy bubbling up inside us, the negative is pushed out.” Graham Cooke

Living strategically in the end times is a key to victory. The strategy of the enemy is to steal your joy. God’s strategy is that we are joyful in the midst of spiritual warfare. This may seem quite difficult when facing hard, strenuous battles. I went through some difficult warfare when praying towards and pressing through in battle to get books on prayer published,  new prayer websites up and running, and an International School of Prayer developed. There seemed to be no forward movement, and anything to do with prayer faced the greatest spiritual attacks. I knew this. Yet the enemy really tried to bring discouragement into my life. Along with this was a battle  with my health. But God is greater, and there was another way of looking at all of this. We have the hope and reality of heaven! It is time we bring the joy of heaven to earth.

Joy is our strategy against the works of the devil.  

“Heaven is a place of exuberance, and we must bring that enthusiasm to earth. All of heaven – the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, the angels, the saints – they all love to rejoice. Everything that God makes and touches manifests His happiness. It is embedded into our DNA.” Graham Cooke

God began to speak strongly to my heart. He was saying, “Do not despair or give up.” At that point, I realized that the enemy wanted to invade my life with a spirit of discouragement and despair, but God wanted to give me joy. I began to study about joy.

Did you know that there are nearly 300 verses in the Bible about joy? The Bible commands us to be joyful always, and pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:16), to be joyful in God (Hebrews 3:18), to consider it pure joy when we encounter trials (James 1:2), to tell of God’s works with songs of joy (Psalm 107:22), and the list goes on and on. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22), there is joy in God’s presence (Acts 2:28), and the Holy Spirit gives joy (Luke 10:21). God wants to anoint us with the oil of joy (Hebrews 1:9), and He wants us to pray with joy (Philippians 1:4). Throughout Scripture, we are exhorted to shout and sing for joy (Psalm 118:15, Isaiah 52:9). Even the heavens, the earth, the mountains and trees are commanded to sing for joy! We are called to a high quality of life that includes joy in the midst of difficult circumstances.

“We are called to this same thriving quality of life, that no matter our circumstances, we live in the promise of God’s joy. It is impossible to keep God from being happy, and because of that, His Church cannot be denied joy either. Sadness and grief can only overlay our joy; it cannot prevent a breakthrough into it. We may have to look hard on days for that cheerfulness, but it is always present in the heart of God. Sadness must be infiltrated by joy.” Graham Cooke

 Why then do we sometimes get heavy-hearted? We are in spiritual warfare, and Satan hates prayer so strongly. He doesn’t mind when we do many other ”good” things, but he trembles when we pray. He actually attacks us with a spirit of despair or discouragement. He will do everything he can to stop the advance of the prayer movement.

When a heavy weight of discouragement threatens to overwhelm you, and if there is no known sin in your life, you can be sure that the enemy is attacking you with a spirit of despair or discouragement. When you pray against the spirit of despair in your life, it can lift. I pray for each one of you to know the joy of the Lord which is your strength, and that every trace of discouragement or despair is lifted from your life in Jesus’ Name. I pray that the stronghold of hopelessness will be broken in the Name of Jesus. I pray that the joy of the Lord will permeate your prayer life and everything that you do.

God does not want you to be disheartened but He longs to fill you with His joy. He has anointed you to help others who are going through difficulty, and to actually bestow the oil of gladness, joy and praise on those who have a spirit of despair. This is the job description of Jesus. We are to be like Jesus.

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom to the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners… to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion – to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair” (Isaiah 61:1, 2b-3).

A few years ago when we lived in Virginia Beach, we had tropical storm Ernesto pass through our city. Rain was pouring down, the streets were flooded, and clouds and wind were everywhere. People were told to stay in their homes due to the flooding. It was hard to imagine sunshine in the midst of the storm. On a flight, I experienced the plane flying through many clouds on the right and the left as it was ascending. Suddenly the plane came out into the sunshine above all the threatening clouds.

Circumstances can be like both of these examples. Heaviness and darkness can invade our lives because of what is happening around us, when we can’t see past the clouds and trials, and the devil takes the opportunity to attack us with a spirit of discouragement or despair. This is when we must rise above the clouds, and see life from God’s perspective and vantage point through His Word. The sunshine will one day return. We do not have to live in gloom or despair. God has provided a way out.

If you are feeling down and can’t seem to get out of it, take the authority in prayer that is rightfully yours, and break that discouragement in Jesus’ Name. Then ask God to fill you with His joy and peace. Write down the positive things in your life, and thank God for each one of them. God is able to push the negatives out as we begin to praise Him and dwell on the positive things that God has provided for us.

Don’t live your life according to your earthly circumstances but according to your position in Christ. Remember that you are seated in heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3-6), are God’s possession (Ephesians 1:14), are chosen of God (Ephesians 1:11), are complete in Him (Colossians 2:9-10), are a kingdom of priests and a royal priesthood (Revelation 1:6, I Peter 2:9), are the temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16), are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) and are able to do all things through Christ (Philippians 4:13).

Strategic joy in the midst of warfare is yours. This is how you will live victoriously. This is your birthright!

“Don’t deny yourself that which is your birthright as a child of God. Don’t be satisfied with a joyless life. There ought to be in every Christian a deep, settled fullness of the joy of Christ that no circumstance of life can dispel. This comes as you allow the Holy Spirit to express Himself in your life. One of the fruits of the Spirit is joy (Gal. 5:22). This joy is unlike any happiness that is produced by the world. It fills you and permeates everything you do. Jesus did not pray that you would merely be happy or even that you would escape grief. He prayed that you would have the same joy that the Father had given Him: a divine joy, a joy that comes from a deep and unwavering relationship with the Father. It is a joy that is grounded so firmly in a relationship with God that no change in circumstances could ever shake it. This is the kind of joy that Christ is praying will be in you.” Henry Blackaby

By Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise International
IHOPKC