Pray In Agreement!

Pray In Agreement!

"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about
anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in
heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there
am I with them." Matthew 18:19-20

if anyone were to ask me what was the one most important step in
my marriage restoration, without hesitation it would
be "Prayer!" The next hindrance that I want to discuss this
Lord's Day for your Sunday school lesson is: "not praying in
agreement." How many people do you know that will not really
pray for restoration of your marriage because they do not believe
that the Lord can resurrect your dead marriage or they really do
not want your spouse to come back home and be part of your
family? There is not power in prayer when there is disagreement,
discord or strife. This may happen because some of your family
members are not Christians or because Christian friends have lack
of knowledge or lack of faith in praying and believing for your
difficult marriage circumstances.

At our local Bible Study, we start praying in agreement when
standers come early to pray before the Bible study starts. We
then open with prayer. We pray for special urgent needs and then
close praying together as a large group for thirty minutes, as we
all pray, agreeing with each other as each stander prays for
their beloved spouse, child or their special prayer request. As
we pray almost every stander prays for all prodigals around the
world to be obedient to the Lord's wooing and His instructions.
They pray in agreement that all prodigals’ spouses will be set
free from the bondages of sin that they are in as they turn their
hearts to the Lord.

I believe with all my heart there is such power when you have two
or more people praying in agreement. You do not need to tell
all your circumstances, but state your prayer request so others
can pray for you. If you start reading the book of Acts in your
devotion time, you will read how the disciples would get together
and prayed.

"Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount
of Olives, a Sabbath days walk's from the city. They all
joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and
Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers." Acts 1:12, 14

"On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people
and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to
them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together
in prayer to God." Acts 4:23-24

Let me share a powerful scripture showing the power of people
praying in agreement as a Bible Study or as a church praying for
lost souls to be saved, prodigal spouses returning home,
marriages restored and praying for the many sick people to be
healed. May you never doubt the power of prayer when your
circumstances seem impossible. In the early church, James had
already died and Herod had Peter in prison bringing him to trial
and he was in the custody of sixteen soldiers. What would you
think or believe in the natural? Let me share how the Lord
answered their prayers:

"So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly
praying to God for him. The night before Herod was to bring him
to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with
two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly
an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He
struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he
said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists. Then the angel
said to him, "Put on your clothes and sandals." And Peter did
so. "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me," the angel told
him. Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea
that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought
he was seeing a vision. They passed the first and second guards
and came to the Iron Gate leading to the city. It opened for
them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked
the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. Then
Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know without a doubt
that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's
clutches and from everything the Jewish people were
anticipating."

"When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the
mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had
gathered and were praying. Peter knocked at the outer entrance,
and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. When
she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back
without opening it and exclaimed, "Peter is at the door!"
"You're out of your mind," they told her. When she kept
insisting that it was so, they said, "It must be his angel."
But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and
saw him, they were astonished. Peter motioned with his hand for
them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out
of prison." Acts 12:5-17

The early church lived and believed that "the prayer of a
righteous man is powerful and effective." James 5:16. Do you?
The early church prayed in agreement, fervently, with
perseverance, in faith over Peter's circumstances. Their prayers
were answered. May you learn from this powerful Bible story that
has a powerful lesson for you this Lord's Day? Never forget that
God is no respecter of persons. May I remind you of some of the
other hindrances that I have been teaching which correlate with
this hindrance of not praying in agreement which include: lack of
faith, not asking, losing heart, giving up, praying for wrong
motives or not truly believing in the power of prayer.

We have heard from many of our standers who are praying and
believing for marriage restoration are going through physical or
financial problems, children's problems, their spouse filing for
divorce, their spouse announcing wedding plans and so many other
circumstances and attacks from the enemy. We would like to
remind you to pray in agreement for all standers to grow in the
Lord, feeling His presence, His strength, His direction, His
wisdom, His knowledge, His understanding, His protection, His
faithfulness, His grace, and His love to be with each stander and
loved ones through their difficult time of trials and
circumstances.

There is power in prayer. You can also pray many of Paul's
prayers that are in scriptures with you and your spouse's name in
them. You might pray regularly a few additional words such
as: "Lord, I pray this scripture for my beloved spouse, but also
for all the prodigal spouses around the world. Lord, I pray for
Your wisdom and strength for all standers around the world."

Have you contacted your church's prayer chain to pray for
salvation of your spouse and restoration of your marriage? I
pray that you will be able to find one person locally who will
agree with you in prayer for your spouse's salvation and
restoration of your marriage. Ask this person (same sex) if you
could call them once a week and you both pray for one or two
special needs for that week. If you cannot find such a person,
call your prayer chain at church and ask if there is a senior
saint (same sex) you can call and pray with you for a few minutes
each week about your spouse and marriage. There is power in
prayer and agreement.

Let us pray around the world that thousands of husbands and wives
will turn their hearts toward home today. "Lord, I pray that You
will touch and speak to prodigal spouses to break all ungodly
relationships and be set free today from Satan’s chains, freeing
them to turn their heart to their Lord God and go back home to
their families now in the mighty Name of Jesus. Amen." Let us
all pray in agreement that this Lord's Day we will have a mighty
harvest of many lost souls saved of all ages!

God bless,