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Laika
Registered Member
Date Joined Mar 2003
Total Posts : 2433
| Posted 7/20/2004 1:48 AM (GMT -6) |   | quote:
Originally posted by Sahid
Anyways, I still have questions about intercessory prayer. Why is it that two people praying for something is more effective than one?
Luke 18
Parables on Prayer
1 Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart,
2 saying, "In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man.
3 "There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, 'Give me legal protection from my opponent.'
4 "For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, 'Even though I do not fear God nor respect man,
5 yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.'"
6 And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge said;
7 now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?
8 "I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?"
inside you the time moves and she don't fade
the ghost in you she don't fade | | Back to Top | | |
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PotOnWheel
Registered Member
Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 9890
| Posted 7/20/2004 2:09 AM (GMT -6) | | | | |
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Bobber
Registered Member
Date Joined Jun 2004
Total Posts : 199
| Posted 7/20/2004 2:29 AM (GMT -6) | | quote:
Anyway, I still have questions about intercessory prayer. Why is it that two people praying for something is more effective than one? Or is it? Why is it even necessary? Won't God love us and take care of us the same, regardless of how many people pray for us? Allowing for freedom allows for our choices to matter, but how does it make this kind of prayer matter? What if I know someone who is ill. Would my prayers make it more likely that God would bring healing? It seems to me that we are not informing God of anything new except of our choice. But that doesn't make sense. I don't choose to heal someone. God does. Or maybe God has given me that power. But then I'm left with my original question. Why would God wait for me to pray, before helping someone else?
With more then one praying there is apparently more anointing power and strength brought on the scene. Spiritual things in some ways are very much like natural things. If you have enough fuel to make it to a place you'll get there...if you don't you don't. Even in the devils kingdom you can read if a demon is cast out [if the person don't fill themselves with the word of God which is strength] he'll come back with seven other spirits and the latter of that man will be worse then the first, as Jesus stated. So numbers at times can matter when it comes to strength or power in the spirit. Why does God wait for you to pray before healing someone. John Wesley the founder of Methodism stated that it seemed to him that God is limited by our prayer life.
He can do nothing for humanity unless someone asks him to do it. [im sure he meant that generally speaking this seemed always to be the case] Well the reason is God gave MAN dominion over this natural realm or the universe of the physical. In the Psalms we read where it states, The heavens even the heavens are the Lords but the earth has he given to the sons of men Psalm 115:16 I think if we understand that correctly he's really stating the whole universe of the physical has he given to man but the universe of the spirit God directly reigns over. One might exclaim that NO that can't be true but if we read the same in Psalm 8
quote:
When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: 7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. Psalm 8
So it really had to be speaking of the whole universe of the physical. Can't God do things sovereignty overriding mans authority? Yes there does appear to be place for that. God brought the flood in Noah’s day etc, so God has reserved a certain right to do that[not the flood now for God promised not to bring another universal flood] but generally speaking God works through mans authority that he gave him in this realm thus the reason its important to pray for people. 
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quest for truth
Registered Member
Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 479
| Posted 7/20/2004 5:05 AM (GMT -6) | | Bobberquote:
If you have enough fuel to make it to a place you'll get there...if you don't you don't.
I like it!
I keep hearing that song in my head "If one of us can put ten thousand to flight then two of us can send the legions fleeing..." I know that Jesus asked his disciples to stay awake and pray even though he too was in the garden praying so there must be something to this numbers thing. God hears us when we pray alone. God loves and cares for us. There are times quiet time alone with God is fruitful but as Bobber stated above there is power (fuel) in numbers. We wouldn't send a soldier out to fight the opposition alone. We are in a spiritual battle. | | Back to Top | | |
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JEE
Registered Member
Date Joined Jul 2004
Total Posts : 1466
| Posted 7/20/2004 5:51 PM (GMT -6) | | GREAT questions, Sahid!
My thoughts (which may or may not be so great) are:
God is very interested in people sharing in his heart of love. Essential to this participation in God's life is that we learn how to enter into the realm of the Spirit, into the influence of God's love, and reflect God's glorious character in this life. "He that lives in love lives in God, and God in Him," said the apostle John. When we express our genuine LOVE for others by praying for them, we reflect the character of God (the Spirit of God already makes intercession for us), live in His love, and share in His sufferings/burden for human suffering.
It's all about community. It's all about love. It's all about living in the Spirit of Christ (being a Christ-follower). Christ was above all a praying man. From his vital prayer life his ministry flows, both then and now. The Spirit interecedes for us and Christ intercedes for us continually now in heaven.
We don't pray to inform God of anything. We pray to seek His face. We intercede for others because it is what Christ exemplified for us. We pray that the Lord of the harvest would send forth laborers into the fields, for "without Him we can do nothing." I like what a Korean pastor I once heard said about the Korean Christians: "No prayer, no power; little prayer, little power; much prayer, much power!" I think in a real sense that in true intercessory prayer we allow ourselves to be more and more saturated/influenced by the Spirit of God, so that we can know what God would have us to do, and so that we can be able to successfully fight against the Adversary.
Eph 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual {forces} of wickedness in the heavenly {places.}
13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm....18 ¶ With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,
The disciples were unable to cast a demon out. They asked Jesus why:
Mark 9:28 When He came into {the} house, His disciples {began} questioning Him privately, "Why could we not drive it out?"
29 And He said to them, "This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer."
Jesus' implied answer is not, "Well, I'm the Son of God, you guys just can't handle the kind of things I can." No, he simply and only said in so many words, "You guys don't pray as much as I do." Ouch.
Luke 6:12 ¶ It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.
Luke 24:49 "And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high."
Acts 1:8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."
Prior to the fulfilment of this great promise of the outpouring of the Spirit, the disciples didn't just sit back and say, "If it's God's will, it'll happen."
Acts 1:14 These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with {the} women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
1 Cor 2:4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
1 Cor 4:20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power.
Eph 3:20 ¶ Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,
21 to Him {be} the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
Ps 119:2 How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, Who seek Him with all {their} heart.
http://revivaltheology.net | | Back to Top | | |
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quest for truth
Registered Member
Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 479
| Posted 7/20/2004 11:46 PM (GMT -6) | | quote:
Is this a popularity contest? Is God more likely to answer the prayer of the popular person? That doesn't sound right.
Sahid, those are great questions! I agree with JEE that prayer cannot be reduced to mathematics. God can and does hear our prayer when we pray alone and God can intervene anytime. Sometimes people die because that is what God decides instead of healing regardless of how many pray. Sometimes we need additional folks praying on our behalf because the spiritual battle is so intense. God desires for us to work as a body and sometimes the nose needs the hands to do the job. At ALL times God listens to us when we communicate with him regardless of numbers or popularity. We cast our cares on him because he cares for us.
The Father heard Jesus' plea in the garden even though the disciples fell asleep. Would the cup had passed if the disciples would have stayed awake and prayed? Would the outcome been different? I don't think so because this was the hour for the Son of man. What benefit would have there been if the diesciples had stayed awake and prayed? Perhaps Jesus may have felt the spiritual support and perhaps Satan wouldn't have had as easy of time harrassing Jesus in the garden. What do you think? Why do you think Jesus asked the disciples to stay awake and pray? What was the significance of that request? | | Back to Top | | |
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quest for truth
Registered Member
Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 479
| Posted 7/21/2004 5:19 AM (GMT -6) | | | | |
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