Prayer
Finding the Heart’s True Home
by Richard Foster
Part 3— Moving Outward
Chapter 20—Authoritative
Prayer
“God has instituted prayer so as to confer upon his
creatures the dignity of being causes.” Blaise Pascal
OPENING PRAYER
1. Calling forth the will of God upon the earth.
· A
different category of prayer
· Moses and
the Red Sea—Exodus 14:15-16
· Speaking
to “things”—Joel’s ear
2. Authority wedded to compassion
· Speaking
the truth in love
· Abuses of
authority—examples?
· Combining
Christ’s authority with His blessing
3. Discernment and Prudence
· Discernment is a gift (charism) of
the Spirit
· Divine
ability to see what is really going on
· Demon or
illness or rebellion?’
· Spend time
with those who have it—who do people seek out for advice?
· Prudence is common sense—virtue of
those seeking to live uprightly
· Thinking
about what the consequences of our actions might be
· Manners,
love, custom
· Discernment
and prudence together keep us from charging in and making a mess of things,
even when we have the authority.
4. Faith to Follow Our Leader
· Mark
11:23
· Mark
19:14-29
· Prayer of
Command
· Be
still! Be clean! Take up your bed and walk! Your sins are
forgiven! Come out!
· Jesus
gave this authority to His disciples—us!
John 14:12
· Not
acting can be as dangerous as acting in excess.
· When we
feel prompted by the Spirit, we need to check with Prudence, but not be afraid
to act.
· Gloria’s
story.
5. Commonsense Counsels
· Most
things are mundane, not cosmic. Not every pain is a demon
· Nothing
special required—speak normally and do what is necessary in the moment
· Draw on the
Holy Spirit, the protection of the Light of Christ, the Angels assigned to the
situation.
· Firm and
decisive with evil, gentle and compassionate with people
· Authoritative
prayer is not a substitute for disciplined habits of living.
· Stay
connected with others—you are probably not John the Baptist or Elijah.
· Humility
is key, even in our boldness. We are
just following orders.
6. Spiritual Warfare
· Christ’s
authority—Eph. 1
· Leads to
our authority—Eph. 2
· Results
in us waging the warfare of the Lamb—Eph. 6
· The
principalities and powers of this present darkness—Eph 6:12
· Examples
of how that plays out in this world—greed, avarice, disobedience, distraction,
injustice, oppression, sexual violence, racial strife, destruction, brutality.
· Conquering
King and Lamb that was slain
· The Whole
Armor of God—Eph. 6:13-18
· Overcoming
evil with good
7. Exercising our authority
· Breaking
inner vows that people have condemned themselves with—“negative self-talk”that
becomes deep beliefs in our hidden hearts
· Breaking
curses that come from other generations.
· Come
against every mountain that hinders our progress in God.
· Command
fears to leave, reject evil thoughts and distortions, bind spirits of anger and
jealousy and gossip.
· Loose
spirit of forgiveness and love and faith.
· Expel
demons. Take authority over all things
that stand in the way of our life in the Kingdom.
· Come
against social evil and institutional injustice.
· Matthew 18:18
You can share our lessons with others who can’t be
here in person by referring them to
http://christian-transformationblog.blogspot.com
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