“And I sought for a man among them, that should make the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found more. Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord God.” Ezekiel 22:30-31

“Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.” Psalm 106:23

Self-Sufficiency is one of the attributes of God. Does he need anything that man can supply? No.

Why should God require the prayers of man?

“Pray, therefore, to the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.” Matthew 9:38

There is no fine print in God’s prayer contract.

“And whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.” John 14:13-14

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.” John 15:7

Power in prayer depends upon union with Jesus, and obedience to His will.

The Privilege of Prayer:

“Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.” Ephesians 2:19

“Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?” 1 Corinthians 6:2

“For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” Ephesians 5:30-32

A great mystery; the mystery of the union of Christ and believers, represented by the marriage union, and which makes it proper for the Holy Ghost to speak to believers as members of the body of Christ, of His flesh and of His bone, and of their being so joined to the Lord as to be one Spirit.

“But he who united himself with the Lord is one with Him in Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 6:17

You and I are the representatives of Christ

“Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father has sent me, even so I send you.” John 20:21

We must practice enforcement of heavenly decisions by prayer.

“And I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:19

Spurgeon said, “For practical purposes the people of God would need discipline, and the power to receive, refuse, retain, or exclude members. Of these keys our Lord says to Peter, ‘I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.’ Foremost among the apostles, Peter used those keys at Pentecost, when he let three thousand into the church. Our Lord committed to his church power to rule within herself for him: not to sep up doors, but to open or shut them: not to make laws, but to obey them and see them obeyed. Peter, and those for whom he spoke, became the stewards of the Lord Jesus in the church, and their acts were endorsed by their Lord.”

E M Bounds states, “God shapes the world by prayer.”

“And the Lord said, ‘Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not: and when you are converted, strengthen your brothers.” Luke 22:31-32

“For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.” Colossians 1:9

Paul E Billheimer said, “Prayer is God’s way of giving the church on the job training in overcoming the forces hostile to God.”

“To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” Revelation 3:21

The prayer closet is the arena which produces the overcomer.

“Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to chasten yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I am come for your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.” Daniel 10:12-13

There will be resistance to prayer = need to be an overcomer.

“Likewise, the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” Romans 8:26-27

Spurgeon said, “What a mercy it is that the Holy Spirit knows all things, and moves us to ask for what is best. Before we pray we should wait upon the Spirit for his guidance, and then we shall go in unto the King with an acceptable petition…in respect to these the Holy Spirit helps us by enabling us rightly to bear them, to overcome the evils they occasion, and in due time delivering us from them.”

Burkitt said, “That it is the work and office of the Holy Spirit of God to help our infirmities in prayer, or, as the word signifies, to help together with us, to set his shoulder to ours, and lift with us at the same burden.”