Praying With Kingdom Authority

The enemy wants to make us prayerless so we never turn on the switch, even though the wiring for kingdom authority is in place.

By Tony Evans

In Daniel 10, we find Daniel in Persia. It is in Persia where Daniel is praying about the battles raging around him. And it is in Persia where we gain insight into the spiritual world and how it works by examining the results of Daniel’s prayer. Let’s take a look:

Then behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. He said to me, ‘O Daniel, man of high esteem, understand the words that I am about to tell you and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.’ And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, ‘Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understandinging this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia. Now I have come to give you an understanding of what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to the days yet future.’
Daniel 10:10-14, NASB

When Daniel prayed, he inserted himself into the angelic conflict taking place. Daniel got down on his knees, and he prayed. At the very moment he prayed, God responded. But it wasn’t only God who responded. Satan responded as well by sending the prince of Persia to block Daniel’s answer to prayer. Prayer is hard for many of us. The reason why it’s so hard is because when we pray, we insert ourselves into a cosmic clash of kingdoms. We walk out onto the battlefield. We make ourselves a target.

“The reason why prayer is so hard is because when we pray, we insert ourselves into a cosmic clash of kingdoms. We walk out onto the battlefield. We make ourselves a target.” — @DrTonyEvans Share on X

Enemy involvement in our prayers

As long as Satan can keep you from praying, he is satisfied that he has diminished your role in this kingdom battle. But the moment you pray, you usher in the spiritual solutions to the physical problems at hand. You seek to tap into the power that is freely yours by virtue of your relationship with God through Christ Jesus. Because of this, you trigger the enemy, whose chief goal is to make you prayerless. A prayerless Christian is a powerless Christian. Prayer is the point of contact between you and heaven’s authority. Like flipping on a switch is the point of contact between the wiring and the light, you must engage the battle to be victorious in the battle.

That is why one of the primary aims of the enemy is to make us prayerless, because that means we never turn on the switch, even though the wiring for kingdom authority is in place. Satan will intentionally make prayer difficult to try and dissuade you from doing it. That might come in things that distract you, or sleep that calls to you, or thoughts that overcrowd your mind. Whatever the case, Satan’s objective is to reduce the amount of time you and I spend in prayer. Prayer is God’s divinely authorized methodology to access heaven’s authority for earthly intervention. Prayer is His wiring that connects heaven’s authority with humanity’s hands and hearts. It is the primary method through which God releases His will on earth.

“A prayerless Christian is a powerless Christian.” — @DrTonyEvans Share on X

Primary point of contact

In fact, Jesus expressly referred to the church as a “house of prayer” (Matthew 21:13). He didn’t refer to it as a house of preaching or a house of singing. Instead, He called it a house of prayer. He does this because prayer is the point of contact. Sermons are not the primary point of contact. Songs are not the primary point of contact. Fellowship is not the primary point of contact. Giving or serving is not the primary point of contact. It is prayer that is our primary point of contact to access God’s spiritual authority on earth. Prayer gives us access to God’s environment so that He is free to intervene on our behalf in history.

Prayer places you in the presence of God so you can have a hearing with the King. And as we saw in Daniel 10:10-14, God and His angels view each one of us personally. When the angels looked at Daniel, for example, we see that they saw a man of “high esteem” (Daniel 10:11, NASB). In other words, the angels and God thought highly of Daniel. Daniel’s name came up in conversations. Like a potential buyer seeking to get a home, Daniel had a high credit score. He was a man of high esteem, and that mattered when it came to his prayers being answered.

“Prayer is God’s divinely authorized methodology to access heaven’s authority for earthly intervention.” — @DrTonyEvans Share on X

Reclaiming kingdom authority

One of the reasons Satan can steal so much from us by way of our spiritual authority is because when we pray and God looks at our credit score, He sees we are not fully committed followers of Jesus. We are just pew warmers on our way to heaven but too busy to do any kingdom-minded work for His glory on earth. When your spiritual credit score is poor, then God knows if He answers your prayers, you’ll waste it more often than not. Daniel had a high spiritual credit score. Thus, when he sought God’s intervention, the angel Michael was sent to deflect and defeat the prince of Persia so that Daniel could get his answer from the heavenly realms down in the physical reality.

You and I can call in heavenly authority too. It may take some time focusing on rebuilding a spiritual credit score and learning how to pray more consistently, but once you are positioned as a visible and verbal kingdom follower under Christ, you will gain access to greater kingdom authority. If you want to reclaim what the enemy has stolen from you, it is time to start demonstrating to God that you are not His follower just because you lead a church or check off a box. You are His follower because you want to see His kingdom agenda advanced on earth in such a way that brings glory to Him and good to others. When you do that, you will be well on your way to reclaiming all that the enemy has either blocked or stolen.

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