Today we continue our new series, “NEW LEVELS IN 2021!” If we are going to make progress in 2021, we must be intentional. I am calling this “Progress on purpose.” God is saying, “New Levels” are available for us. But if we don’t pursue divine progress ON PURPOSE, we can surely miss out on what God is declaring for this season.
With that in mind, I told you that I would discuss “Leveling Up” in five areas:
1. Spiritually
2. Financially
3. Physically
4. Internally
5. Externally
I told you that for area #1, we would take about recommitting ourselves spiritually in three areas:
1. The Word of God
2. The Holy Spirit (hearing from God)
3. Prayer
We covered the first two last week. Today we will start looking at prayer. If we are going to LEVEL UP, we must LEVEL UP our prayer life. I introduced you to the topic yesterday. Today we will look at how to pray: praying from a position of God’s grace.
So what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. Living By Faith and walking in New Levels will require a certain level of discomfort.
a) To experience things you have never experienced, you must do things you have never done. I am making this point upfront because if you are not OPEN to new things, you won’t hear from God about the NEW LEVELS He is leading you into, and your prayer life will be ineffective.
b) You cannot have an effective prayer life without being in synch/alignment with God.
c) For your prayers to be aligned with heaven, you must OPEN your heart to all God wants to do in this season.
d) True faith requires a departure from the safety of human possibility.
e) If you are set on living your life doing ONLY the things YOU can do, then you don’t need God and you don’t need to pray. God calls you into realms that require His supernatural power. If you are willing to live the life God birthed you to live, you certainly need a prayer life. Moreover, your prayer life must be in harmony with God’s will for each season/level/stage.
f) To live by faith you must get comfortable with a certain level of discomfort. God will not allow you to rest in your ability. God calls you to people, places, and projects that force you to rely on Him and His ability.
g) Living by faith means you receive and maintain what Jesus already obtained for you.
h) God has declared, “NEW LEVELS” for us in this season. But since the levels we will walk in are NEW, it requires us to be OPEN to things we may not be comfortable with.
2. Your prayers must be in alignment and agreement with heaven.
The Father wants us to pray, but He has not signed up to give us whatever we want, or whatever we come up with. The Father has signed up to give us whatever we ask for that lines up with His will. God’s grace is a key aspect of this. I will attempt to explain this point.
While teaching on the Prayer of Agreement, Jesus said that we, as humans, have the authority to bind (or prevent) things from happening and loose (or permit) things to happen here on the earth. Jesus said this in Matthew chapters 16 and 18.
The traditional King James Version (KJV) of these verses are somewhat confusing. This is how they read:
(Matthew 16:19 KJV)
And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
(Matthew 18:18 KJV)
Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
If all you read are these verses, without any context, it sounds like heaven will respond to whatever we say in prayer or otherwise. But you and already know that’s not the case. You have prayed for and said many things that heaven did not respond to. So let’s seek understanding.
The Amplified translation of Matthew 18:18 reads: “Truly I tell you, whatever you forbid and declare to be improper and unlawful on earth must be what is already forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit and declare proper and lawful on earth must be what is already permitted in heaven.”
This translation sheds more light on what Jesus was actually teaching. Jesus was not putting pressure on heaven to respond to our will, but rather on us to learn what heaven’s will already is and to pray that!
We can’t force God to do something against His will. As a matter of fact, we can’t force God to do anything! When we pray, we must pray in alignment and agreement with heaven.
3. Pray from a position of God’s grace.
a) Prayer is not about you telling God what to do. You cannot command God. He is not your servant, it’s the other way around. Prayer is about submission and surrender, acknowledging that there is a God and you are not Him, and then coming to that God to access His grace.
b) When you understand God already made plans for you before the world began, and He made those plans completely by His grace, you then understand the importance of seeking God concerning what to pray for. John said, “We can come to God with no doubts. This means that when we ask God for things (and those things agree with what God wants for us), God cares about what we say. He listens to us every time we ask him. So we know that he gives us whatever we ask from him.” (1 Jn 5:14,15 ERV)
c) Praying from a position of grace means you are praying from the position of God’s perspective and will. You are praying for (on earth) what He has already provided (in heaven). In this way, grace-based prayers tap into supernatural power for God’s will to be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
d) When you understand the divine authority God has given you in the earth domain, you appreciate and respect the responsibility you have to bind (prevent) and loose (permit), so the earth can agree with heaven.
e) When things are happening in your life that you don’t like, you must ask yourself the question, “Have I prayed about this?” “Have I invoked God’s involvement?” If not, it’s a failure on your part. You cannot assume that just because God knows your heart, that He will do what He is whispering to you. No, He is whispering it to you so you can OPEN YOUR MOUTH and pray in agreement with His will. You have not, because you ask not!
f) You have the responsibility to permit and prevent things from happening in your life with your prayers. God will back what you pray for when you pray in alignment with His will! In this season of new levels, it is time to LEVEL UP our prayer life!
g) Powerful things happen when two (or more) believers come together, in agreement, and pray the will of God, on earth, as it is in heaven.
That’s enough for today. This is important, so I will continue it tomorrow. I will continue this tomorrow.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for extending Your amazing grace towards me. I also thank You for teaching me to pray and to pray from a position of grace. There was a time in my life when I prayed from a position of need. I thought of all the things I needed, and I asked You to give them to me. There were times when my prayer consisted of simply laying out a laundry list of wishes before You. I now see why those prayers were ineffective. I was looking at things from the world’s point of view and not heaven’s. You put Your Spirit IN me, so I could learn to see things Your way and pray from a position of grace. I pray from the position of what You have already provided. As I do, I come in agreement with heaven, and I bring the reality of heaven into this world, in my life. This is how I experience heaven on earth. In this season of NEW LEVELS, I am committed to LEVELING UP my prayer life. GREATER IS COMING for me! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen!
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
