Before You Move
The great victories Jesus experienced out on the front lines as He ministered to the needs of the people — teaching, opening blind eyes, unstopping deaf ears, healing all manner of diseases, and raising the dead — were not automatic. They were won in prayer before He went out on the front lines.
Although He was the Son of God, Jesus did not win these victories in His own strength. He had stripped Himself of His divine abilities and was subject to the same human limitations as you and I. He did absolutely nothing independent of the Father. None of the tremendous miracles and healings He did were automatic. Jesus said, “By myself I can do nothing. (John 5:30, NIV) and “ …the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does” (John 5:19, NIV). He was totally dependent upon the Father.
Everything Jesus did was a result of what the Father revealed to Him while He was in His presence in prayer. Before He went out onto the battlefield, Jesus spent time in His Father’s presence where God revealed His will to Him. Through prayer, Jesus penetrated the enemy lines, fought the battle, and won it!
- Before Jesus began His ministry, He spent forty days in fasting and prayer and returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee (Luke 4:14).
- Before feeding the five thousand by multiplying five loaves of bread and two fish, He went by boat out to a solitary place where He prayed (Matthew 14:13).
- Before choosing the twelve apostles, Jesus went to the mountain and spent the whole night in prayer to God (Luke 6:12, NAS).
- Before a great healing campaign in Gennesaret where the people brought the sick to Him, Jesus went up on a mountainside by Himself where He prayed (Matthew 12:22-23).
- Before He began His ministry throughout Galilee where He preached and cast out demons, Jesus prayed (Mark 1:35-39, NIV).
- Before going to the cross, Jesus went up to a mountain where He prayed (Luke 9:28).
- Before He was arrested, beaten, mocked, and crucified, Jesus went into the garden of Gethsemane where He agonized in prayer (Matthew 26:36-46).
- • Before you make any move that will affect your life or family, shouldn’t you enter into spiritual warfare through prayer, penetrate enemy lines, and win the battle?
Make this declaration:
Before making any move that will affect my life or family, I will penetrate enemy lines and win the battle in prayer.
