The Significance of Prayer in Agreement
Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst. (Matthew 18:19-20)
A Korean proverb tells us, “It is better to lift together even a piece of paper.” Instead of isolating oneself and trying to do everything on his own, this age-old adage teaches us, efficiency will rise and a better result can be expected when two or more people work together. Christianity that emphasizes love for one’s neighbors and church community must be a good example in this regard as well.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 tell us, “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.” These verses teach us that when people unite and collaborate, great power and joy can be produced.
By the same token, Matthew 18:19-20 tells us how important it is for believers to come together and pray in agreement. Therefore let’s look at “Prayer in agreement” and “individual prayer.” In “individual prayer” people pray for their own personal problems on an individual basis or pray as they meditate on the Word in quiet times. However through “prayer in agreement” a number of people gather to cry out to God together and “in agreement.” Prayer in agreement refers to the prayer of many in one mind. As Jesus told us that if two of us on earth agree and where two or three come together in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that He will be there in the midst of us and that what is asked would be done by God the Father in heaven. We have been told that God has spoken that He is delighted to accept prayer in agreement and promised us He would do anything we ask Him and be present with us when two or three come together in the name of Our Lord!
How can we give glory to God with answers we receive from Him through prayer in agreement at home and church, and within your group, and cell? Let us delve into the significance and methods of prayer in agreement and make bread of its power so that we may receive from God anything as we pray for His kingdom, righteousness, and church, and greatly honor Him.
1. The Significance of Prayer in Agreement
In the first of the verses on which this Chapter is based, Jesus tells us, “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 18:19). Here we find something a little peculiar. Instead of referring to the prayer of “one person,” “three people,” or “two or more people,” why did Jesus specifically say “if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask,” and place the emphasis on “two” people?
“Two of you” here stands for, in relative terms, each of us as individual “I’s” and the rest of the people gathered in agreement with us. In other words, “two of you” can refer to one person, ten people, a hundred people, or a thousand people, in addition to oneself.
What, then, is the spiritual significance of the “two of you”? It refers to each of us as a “self” who carries the flesh, and within us dwells the Holy Spirit with a character of His own. As Romans 8:26 reads, “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;” the Holy Spirit who himself intercedes for us has made our mind a temple in which to dwell.
We receive the authority to which we are entitled as children of God when we first believe Him and accept Jesus as Our Savior. The Holy Spirit comes and revives our spirit who had been dead because of our original sin. Therefore, in each of God’s children there are his or her own mind in the flesh and the Holy Spirit with His own character.
To say “two people on earth to agree about anything they ask for” means they pray with their mind and with their spirit (1 Corinthians 14:15) – the Holy Spirit’s intercession (Romans 8:26). Furthermore, when the Holy Spirit joins with one person in his prayer or two or more people in their prayer, it is for the “two of you on earth [to] agree about anything you ask for.”
By remembering the significance of prayer in agreement, we must experience the fulfillment of God’s promise – “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” – everyday in our lives by praying in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit when two, three, or more of us gather to pray in the name of Jesus Christ.
2. Methods of prayer in agreement
God is pleased to accept prayer in agreement, gives His answers more quickly to such prayer, and manifests His great works because people pray to Him with one mind.
It will surely be a source of overflowing joy, peace, and infinite glory to God if the Holy Spirit and each of us pray with one mind. We will be able to bring down the “answer of fire” and unreservedly testify to the living God. Yet, becoming “one mind” is not an easy task; and bringing our minds into agreement carries a very significant implication.
Suppose a servant has two masters. Would not his loyalty and heart of service be naturally divided? The problem becomes more serious if the servant’s two masters possessed different personalities and tastes.
Again, suppose two people came together to make plans for an event. If they failed to be of one mind and instead remained divided by their own opinions, it would be safe to conclude that things will not go too well. Moreover, if the two did their own work with a plan but without a mutual goal and different objectives in mind, their plan may appear to be going well on the outside but the desired outcome would be quite obvious. Therefore, the ability to be of one mind whether praying alone, with another person, or with two or more people is the key to receiving God’s answer.
How, then, can we be of one mind in prayer?
People praying in agreement must pray in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, be taken captive by the Holy Spirit, become one in the Holy Spirit, and pray in the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 6:18). For the Holy Spirit carries with Him the mind of God, He searches all things, even the deep things of God (1 Corinthians 2:10) and intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will (Romans 8:27). When we pray the way the Holy Spirit leads our mind, God is pleased to accept our prayer, gives us anything we ask, and even answers the desires of our heart.
In order to pray in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, we must believe in God’s Word without doubting, obey in the truth, be joyful always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances. We must also call out to God from our heart. When we show God faith that is accompanied by deed and wrestle in prayer, God is pleased and gives us joy through the Holy Spirit. This is said to be “filled with” and “being inspired by” the Holy Spirit.
Some novices or those who had not been praying on a regular basis have not yet received the power of prayer and thus tend to find prayer in agreement arduous and difficult. If such individuals attempt to pray for an hour, they try to come up with all kinds of prayer topics yet are unable to pray for the full hour. They grow weary and exhausted, anxiously wait for the time to pass quickly, and end up keep on babbling in prayer. Such prayer is “the prayer of the soul” or “the prayer of thoughts” to which God cannot answer.
For many people, even if they have been attending church for more than a decade, their prayer is still the prayer of the soul. Most people who complain or become discouraged for the lack of God’s answers cannot receive His answers because their prayer is that of the soul. Yet, this is not to say that God has turned His back on their prayer. God hears their prayer; He just cannot answer it.
Some may well ask, “Does this mean it is pointless to pray since we are praying without the inspiration of the Holy Spirit?” That is not the case, however. Even if they pray only in their thought, as they diligently call out to God the gates of prayer will open and they will receive the power of prayer and come to pray in spirit. Without prayer, the gates of prayer cannot be opened. For God listens even to the prayer of the soul, once the gates of prayer open, you will unite with the Holy Spirit, come to pray in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and receive answers for which you had asked in the past.
Suppose there is a son who did not please his father. For the son could not please his father anything he did, he could not receive anything he had asked for from his father. Yet, one day the son began to please his father by deed and the father began to find his son after his own heart. Now, how would the father begin treating his son? Remember that their relationship is no longer what it had been in the past. The father will wish to give his son anything he asks of him and the son will receive even the things he had asked for in the past.
By the same token, even if our prayer is from our thought, when it has piled up, we will receive the power of prayer and come to pray in a way that is pleasing to God as the gates of prayer open for you. We will also receive even the things for which we had asked God in the past and realize that He has ignored not even one trivial item of our prayer.
Moreover, when we pray in spirit in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, we will not grow weary or succumb to sleepiness or worldly thoughts but pray by faith and in joy. This is how even a group of people can pray in agreement for they pray in spirit and in love with one mind and one will.
We read in the second of the verses on which this Chapter is based, “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” (Matthew 18:20). When people come together to pray in the name of Jesus Christ they – God’s children who have received the Holy Spirit – are in essence praying in agreement, and Our Lord will surely be where they are. In other words, when a group of people who have received the Holy Spirit gather and pray in agreement, Our Lord will oversee the mind of each person, unite them by the Holy Spirit, and lead them to be of one mind so that their prayer will be pleasing to Our God.
However, if a group of people pray without uniting each one’s heart, even though they are praying for the same thing, their prayer cannot be a prayer from heart, because each one’s heart is at different places. If the heart of people in attendance cannot be united in one, the presider ought to lead a time of praise and repentance so that the heart of people gathered can become one in the Holy Spirit.
Our Lord will be with the praying people when they have become one in the Holy Spirit, as He oversees and leads the heart of each individual in participation. When people’s prayer is not in agreement, it must be understood that Our Lord cannot be with such individuals.
When people become one in the Holy Spirit and pray in agreement, everyone will be praying from his heart, be filled with the Holy Spirit, sweat will run from their bodies, and they become certain of God’s answers for which they ask as a gust of joy from above enwraps them. Our Lord will be with people who pray in such a manner, and such prayer is the very kind that pleases God.
By praying in agreement in the fullness of the Holy Spirit and from your heart, I hope each of you will receive anything you ask for in prayer and thus give glory to God when you gather with others from your cell or group and at home or church.
3. The great power of prayer in agreement
One of the advantages of prayer in agreement is the difference in the speed at which people receive answers from God and the kind of work He manifests because, as an example, there is a drastic difference in quantity of prayer between a 30-minute prayer of one person with one request and a 30-minute prayer of ten people with the same request. When people pray in agreement and God is pleased to accept their prayer, they will experience the undeniable manifestation of God’s work and the great power of their prayer.
In Acts 1:12-15, we find that after Our Lord resurrected and ascended into heaven a group of people including His disciples all joined together constantly in prayer. The number of people in that group was about a hundred and twenty. In earnest hope of receiving the Holy Spirit Jesus had promised them, these people gathered to pray in agreement until the day of Pentecost.
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them (Acts 2:1-4).
How wondrous is this work of God? As a result that they had prayed in agreement, every one of the hundred and twenty people gathered received the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues. The apostles also received great power from God so that the number of people who accepted Peter’s message and were baptized stood at almost three thousand (Acts 2:41). As all kinds of wonders and miraculous signs were displayed by the apostles, the number of believers increased day after day and the life of believers began to change as well (Acts 2:43-47).
Later when the ‘rulers of the people and the elders of Israel’ saw Peter and John and realized that they were ordinary uneducated and untrained men, they were astonished at their courage. They took note that these men had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say for a miracle had occurred through them (Acts 4:13-14).
The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed (Acts 5:12-16).
It was the power of prayer in agreement that enabled the apostles to give great glory to God by boldly preaching the Word; healing the blind, the crippled, and the weak; reviving the dead; healing all kinds of diseases; and driving out evil spirits.
The following is an account of Peter and James, who was the first among the twelve apostles to be martyred. It was during the reign of Herod (Agrippa I) that was largely marked by Herod’s persecution of Christianity. Peter was imprisoned at the time, and it was the night before Herod was to bring Peter to trial. The following account is found in Acts 12:5-10. “So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.” Peter was asleep and bound with two chains while sentries stood guard at the entrance. The church was praying in agreement for Peter. After God heard the church’s prayer, He sent an angel to rescue Peter.
God manifested His power by loosing the chains and having the iron gate of the prison open by itself. Upon his arrival at the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, Peter found that many people had gathered and were praying for him (Acts 12:12). Such a miraculous work was the result of the power of the church’s prayer in agreement.
All the church did for the imprisoned Peter was pray in agreement. Likewise, when trouble engulfs a church or when sickness strikes believers, instead of employing man’s thoughts and ways or worrying and becoming anxious, the children of God must first believe that God will solve all the problems in their hands and they must then come together in one mind and pray in agreement.
God takes great interest in this kind of prayer of the church. He is delighted in prayer in agreement and answers such prayer with His miraculous works. Can you imagine how pleased God will be to see His children pray in agreement for His kingdom and righteousness?
As people become filled with the Holy Spirit and pray with their spirit when they come together to pray in agreement, they will experience God’s great work. They will receive power to live by God’s Word, bear witness to the living God the way early churches and apostles did, expand God’s kingdom, and receive anything they ask.
Please keep in mind Our God has promised us that He will answer us when we ask and pray in agreement. I pray in the name of Our Lord that each of you thoroughly understand the significance of the prayer in agreement and zealously meet with those who pray in the name of Jesus Christ, so that you will first have the experiences of the great power of prayer in agreement, receive the power of prayer, and become precious workers testifying to the living God.