 Once you grasp this truth of coming into agreement with what the Word of God says, your prayer life will be transformed and enriched. There's a reason why praying the scriptures works. There's a reason why there is power added when we speak what we see written in the Word of God. When we pray the Word, we are praying God's will. God's will is like a river. It has a fixed direction, a fixed location, a fixed flow. Many believers, when they pray, they get it in their minds that their goal is to move the direction of that river. They imagine that perhaps God is in heaven with his arms folded and that the more they pray, the more he reluctantly says, okay, well gee golly, maybe I'll do what you're asking me to do. Or they imagine that he's being irritated by the many petitions that are being thrown his way. And he says, you know, I've just had enough. I don't want to hear it anymore. Fine. I'll do what you're bugging me to do. That's not it at all. The will of God, like I said, is that mighty river. Many Christians want to cup their hand, take a sip. Very few believers are willing to dive in. The difference between just drinking from that river and diving into that river is simple. Who is in control? And many times when we pray, we use prayer as a tool to implement our own wills. Or so we imagine that's what we're doing. Or to worry out loud. Many believers confuse worry for prayer, as if God doesn't already know what's happening. But prayer is not the means of exercising your own will. Prayer is the means by which we cause earth to come into alignment with the heavenly realm. That's what you and I are called to do. Now imagine you get pulled over and a police officer asks you, license and registration please. You would of course provide license and registration. But let's say they come to your house at midnight. You've committed no violations. You've broken no laws. They knock on the door. Say license and registration please. And to add to it, they're not even wearing their uniform. What would you do? You probably would be suspicious. You probably would not provide license and registration. You probably would call other cops. In that scenario, that officer would be acting outside of their authority. We get it in our minds and you've heard it said that our words have creative power. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. How many times have you heard that quoted? And then we misapply it. Oh, you know, I'm not feeling too well. Life and death are in the tongue. Don't say it. You'll end up in the hospital. My tire has been flat for a couple days. I hope it doesn't deflate or pop up. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. Don't you dare say it. We're acknowledging something very practical. Faith doesn't deny reality. That's delusion. And a lot of believers confuse delusion for faith. I'm not saying our words don't have power, but we have to understand why our words have power. Our words don't have power because we can call things into existence and just create things. That's not even biblical. Imagine the chaos that would result if every single one of us could just speak things into existence. I mean, there'd be a lot more Ferraris in the parking lot. There'd be a lot more zeros on your bank account. What happens then if, for example, two people on opposite sides of the teams are rooting for their own football team, one speaking the championship for their team and the other is speaking the championship for theirs. I mean, I don't know what would result from that. So this idea that we speak things into existence, it's misunderstood in how that actually works. You and I, when we speak, have power in our words because, A, they can affect the mindset to the people who are listening to what we're saying. So if you get around someone who's constantly speaking ungodly realities or worldly philosophies, what happens is the mind becomes programmed to think according to what's being heard. It's not as though you can have one conversation with an atheist and then live with the doubt for the rest of your life. It would have to be years and years of being around people and allowing those thoughts to influence you without countering them with the truth. Words have power not in a magic form of way. Words have power because what we speak can affect the way people think. Words are the programming of the mind. And as you speak the words, it's like a computer. It's like a software being loaded. And the more you hear something, the more likely you are to believe it. The more often you hear something repeated, the more likely you are to accept it. So that's where the power of our words come from. Or even in speaking something encouraging or discouraging. I can encourage someone and saying, Hey, you're doing an excellent job. You're very much appreciated. What does that do? Emotionally, it uplifts them in their heart. They're uplifted. Why? Because you're speaking what we would say life. But it's not like you could say to the same person, you know, I don't like you. I wish you would drop dead and then they drop dead on the floor. That's not how it works. So what power does the believer have? The believer's authority comes from God's authority. Just like that officer acting outside of the law and acting outside of the uniform would be ignored so the enemy can ignore you when you try to speak your own will by God's authority. When God gives us his will, he's giving us the authority to implement that. In other words, we are not the source of the light. We are reflections of light. Our prayers are not the voice. Our prayers are the echoes of his voice. And so when the scriptures are spoken, you're speaking in alignment with God's will. So God, when he speaks causes things to come into existence. When you and I speak, we call things into order. God's words cause our words cultivate. God's words start our words steward. We do not have the power to just call things out. This is why I don't really fret when somebody tells me I'm putting a curse on you. Do you know that witchcraft's only power is your belief in it? I was talking to a pastor friend of mine who had a falling out with his pastor and his pastor began to curse him. You leave this church and you won't fulfill God's will. You leave this church and you're going to suffer financial ruin. You leave this church. I'm going to make sure everyone knows you were rebellious. Manipulation is what that is. The Bible says we're called to bless, not to curse. And so this pastor comes to me just fretting, fretting, fretting, just worried and it was robbing him of sleep. It was robbing him of peace. It affected the way he preached. It started seeping into his sermons and there was no fresh oil on the sermons. It was just speaking out of fear and defensiveness and worry. So it began to affect his ministry. We sat down and the moment we had our conversation, the moment he realized that those words could do nothing to him, suddenly that burden was lifted. Why? Because witchcraft's only power is your belief in it. That's faith in what the curse says. Faith is what activates declarations. The power is in delegated authority. God has given to you and I the responsibility of bringing order to his creation. Well, what did Jesus say? How did he tell us to pray? Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Okay. He's saying you pray that the will of God be done in the earth as it is in heaven. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Why would Jesus tell us to pray for God's will to be done in the earth if those prayers accomplished nothing? The very fact that he tells us to pray for God's will to be done in the earth is proof that when we pray, our prayers bring forth the will of God. We are terraforming the earth. Think about the fact that Elon Musk wants to take rockets and go to Mars. I think that's really cool. He wants to go and terraform. Terraform means change the atmosphere and change the settings of that ecosystem. He wants to change everything about it so that we can live there. What do they have to do to make that possible? They have to terraform it so that plant life can survive, so that people can survive, so that the weather doesn't kill us. Well, that's what believers are doing. The Bible says we're citizens of heaven, not of earth. And so our father who art in heaven, my father, that's acknowledging who he is and who I am at the same time. To call God my father is to acknowledge his identity and mine at the same time, because it acknowledges him as the source and it acknowledges myself as the child of God. That is our stance. We're praying from heavenly places. The scripture tells us that we're seated in heavenly places with him, so then we are terraforming the earth. We're bringing about heavenly atmospheres, not through some mystical, magical pronunciation of our words. Remember, that doesn't cause anything. God does not give us creative power in our words. He gives us cultivating power. He gives us authority to do certain things. When we pray this way, we come into alignment. Alignment accesses authority. The moment you step out of alignment, think of that police officer, takes off the badge, takes off the uniform, tries to enforce his will outside of the law. You don't have to listen to that guy. Why? Because he stepped out of alignment. When you are in alignment, you have access to authority. Alignment accesses authority. This is why Jesus tells us to pray in his name. Thank you for watching Encounter TV. Don't forget to subscribe and click the notification bell. Also, help us spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. Make a one-time donation, or become a monthly supporter by clicking on the donate link now.