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Intention
Our prayers are powerful because we are seated with Christ in heavenly places.

Scripture

“For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.” — Ephesians 2:6

“For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.” — Colossians 3:3

“The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.” — Revelation 3:21

Reflection
Prayer is a powerful weapon in the battle to save the lost. It is a weapon with divine power to break strongholds. To be effective in our prayers we must understand from what position we pray.

Our position is this: we are seated with Christ. Jesus is seated above ALL things. Everything else is below him. ALL things are under his authority.

In Ephesians 1, this is Paul’s prayer: “I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.”

So what perspective are you taking? As believers, we can take a number of positions. Victory says we are always on the attack from a position of victory seated in Christ. Defeated says, “Oh no! We are under attack! It is lost!” Disengaged involves ignorance to your identity in Christ and your mission. Desertion is to give up, retreat, and surrender.

Our perspective for the battle must reflect the truth. Jesus defeated Satan at the cross. We are positioned with Christ in victory above all principalities and powers. We stand in his power and authority with weapons of divine power to break strongholds.

“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” — 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

We must never let the circumstances of life or the lies of Satan cause us to believe that we are in any other position. When we do let this happen, we put ourselves under him — defeated, disengaged or at worst completely give up and walk away. But we are in Christ. Victory comes when we believe this.

Prayer
Lord Jesus, we thank you for your victory at the cross and for bringing us into your kingdom and seating us with you in the heavenly realms above all others. Remind us Father of our true identity, position, authority and power with which we stand in the battle. Father, remind your church of its position of victory, authority and power over Satan and his evil influences. We pray for the strongholds of the evil one to be broken in our communities. Father, we pray that by your Spirit all people will be convicted of sin, see their need to repent, recognising that Jesus is the righteous one and Satan has been defeated and judged. Amen.

Prayer Points for May 2021
1. Pray for Revival and Transformation for Australia
2. Pray for 1 Billion people worldwide to hear the Gospel
3. Share the Good News of Jesus with 5 people

David Nott is the Director at Youth for Christ Australia’s Gippsland branch. He oversees staff and YFC’s mission strategy for the Gippsland region.

We invite you to join the daily 1-hour Zoom video National Prayer Call every night:
DATES: 1st–31st May 2021
TIME: 8pm-9pm AEST
ZOOM URL LINK: https://zoom.us/j/776881184
ZOOM MEETING ID: 776881184
See Zoom tutorial here.

Daily devotions brought to you by the Canberra Declaration.