att. 18: 18-20 Truly I say to you, Whatever you shall bind on earth shall occur, having been bound in Heaven; and whatever you shall loose on earth shall occur, having been loosed in Heaven. Again I say to you that if two of you shall agree on earth as regarding anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them by My Father in Heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst.
The word agree is ‘sumphoneo’ and it means to be harmonious, to make a symphony. In the above verses we see that if we come into agreement, harmonize with heaven, and with each other, the Lord will answer and do what we have asked. So how do we put into action this powerful promise?
1. ‘According to His will’ is harmonizing with heaven.
a. 1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. God sets out His perfect will in His word, He gives us covenant promises we can stand on. When we are faced with a situation like sickness we look into the word and see what the Lord says concerning it. 1 Peter 2:24 says ‘by His wounds you have been healed; Ps. 103 says ‘He heals all our diseases.’ So we know that to come in agreement with these promises is the will and purpose of God.
b. We may be having financial struggles, so we search the word for the promises on provision. We do a harmony check with Malachi 3 – are we robbing God? Are we choosing life and blessings by being in obedience to the Lord? (Deut. 28)
c. If we are praying for the lost what is His will? 2 Pet. 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That is His will and purpose. We know the lost face an enemy and that they are blinded by him. 2 Cor. 4: 3-4 shows us who we are standing against.
d. We can know by His word what has been bound in heaven. The enemy has been defeated, we have the victory because of what Jesus did on the cross.
2. Harmonizing with each other
a. 1 Pet. 3 talks about husbands and wives being in harmony so that their prayers are not hindered.
b. Mark 11:25 And when you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive it so that also your Father in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses. Unforgiveness can hinder our prayers and put us out of harmony with the Father and with each other.
c. Check your heart: are you praying for your benefit or for the person you are praying for? Prov. 4:23 Keep your heart with all dilgence; for our of it are the issues of life.
d. Watch for dissension in your prayer group or whoever you are praying with. Song of Songs 2:15 tells us to catch the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vine.
e. Ps. 133 tells us that when brothers and sisters dwell in unity God commands a blessing and we want our prayers to be blessed.
f. There is protection in two coming together; we see that in Ecc. 4:9-12. When we join in agreement with each others and the Lord we have that threefold cord that cannot easily be broken.
3. Set your mind on the promises
a. The enemy loves to bring in doubt and unbelief when we are standing on the promises so we need to stand against those thoughts and refresh ourselves in the Word. 2 Cor. 10:5 pulling down imaginations and everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought into the obedience of Christ.
b. If we are double-minded we will not receive anything from the Lord. If we are praying one thing, but believing another our prayers will not be effective. James 1:6-7 says But let him ask in faith, doubting nothing. For he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed. For do not let man thing that he shall receive anything from the Lord.
4. There is power in agreement
a. In Acts 4:24-33 when they prayed in ‘one accord’ (unanimously) the place where they were in was shaken and they were filled with the Spirit. We also see this in Acts 12:5-12 in how the church prayed in agreement for the release of Peter and the prison doors opened.
b. Even in wrong agreement there is power. In Gen. 11:6 the Lord says ‘Behold they are one people and they have all one language and now nothing they have imagined they can do will be impossible for them.’
5. When you have done all, stand
a. Hold fast to the promises of God and don’t let go.
b. Don’t let doubt and unbelief have a place in your prayers.
c. Don’t let your eyes dwell on the circumstance, but on the answer.
d. Be like Abraham who didn’t waver in unbelief, but believed that the Lord was faithful and keep his promises.
e. Remember that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
f. Hope is not wishful thinking, it is the intense expectancy that God will do what He has promised.
Jane Jones
National Prayer Coordinator
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