“Brother, please agree with me in prayer for xyz.” I’ve received several of such requests. While making a prayer of agreement is powerful, there are rules to it. Those rules determine the effectiveness of the prayer of agreement.
Sometimes I wanted to explain to the people requesting for the prayer of agreement why I couldn’t make a prayer with them but I couldn’t find the right words.
Today, I’ll explain to you what I wanted to explain to those people so that you make prayers of agreement that yield fruit.
The Primary Principal of the Prayer of Agreement
The prayer of agreement is based on the simple law in the book of Deuteronomy 19:15 that says; One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established.
God put this law in place for many reasons. One of the main reasons was to neutralize the power of the devil. Let me explain…
The devil is so cunning. He deceived man to sin against God. In his cunningness, the devil could easily deceive man to intercede to God on his behalf and God would be forced to grant the prayer of man out of the love He has for him.
But because God is wiser than the devil, He put in place laws that would ensure that kind of a scheme doesn’t succeed.
When any prayer is made, it is treated as a case in heaven where God is the judge. God demands for two or three witnesses for the prayer to be established.
As usual, prayers made in agreement with God’s word have the author of the law of God as a witness and the Spirit of God as the other witness. This is why men of God insist that we should pray according to scripture.
If I am praying for healing and I quote Prophet Isaiah who wrote “By His stripes we are healed”, Isaiah will be my first witness and the Holy Spirit who inspired him to write it will be the second witness.
If the devil deceives believers to intercede for him, there will be no witnesses for that kind of a prayer to be established.
It is in this setting that the value of the prayer of agreement is revealed.
The validity of Witnesses in a Prayer of Agreement
God answers all prayers made to Him provided they have two or three witnesses. While that is a straight-forward case, there are many complications to it.
The Bible only said ‘two or three witnesses’ but it didn’t go into detail. We know from the Bible that there are true witnesses and false witnesses.
With this being the case, witnesses have to be verified for their witness to stand. At the very basic level, a witness must have witnessed the claim in some way.
To verify the validity of witnesses, God created a system called compassion. Compassion exists in true witnesses but false witnesses don’t have it.
If a poor man has been robbed by a rich man and he goes to a judge to seek justice, a true witness will have compassion on the poor man and give true witness. A false witness will take the rich man’s bribe and betray his compassion by giving false witness.
Because God can see compassion in our hearts, it is very easy for Him to tell if a witness is telling the truth or not. This is why making insincere prayers is a waste of time.
God is not fooled when you say “Heal me oh Lord!” yet witnesses testify that you harbor unforgiveness. Apart from not answering your prayer, God will charge you for being a liar.
It is for this reason that I am usually reluctant to agree with some people in prayer. Why should I lie to God by pretending to agree with someone in prayer when my heart is not there?
Cultivating Compassion in a Prayer of Agreement
The secret to a fruitful prayer of agreement is having compassion. But since compassion can’t be faked, you have to cultivate it and there is only one way to cultivate it; through love.
If you love your mother and she is ill, her pain will evoke compassion in you. With that compassion, you can present yourself as a witness before God for your mother’s case and you will be approved.
I love what the Bible says in Matthew 9:36; But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.
Jesus too had compassion out of seeing people he loved in pain. When He would make requests to God, they would be granted.
However, there is a notable mention in the book of Mark 6:5 which says “Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.”
The Bible is clear that Jesus could not do mighty work in His hometown. The primary reason is because He could not cultivate compassion for them. They ridiculed and demeaned Him.
With no compassion for them, Jesus could not ask for anything from the Father for them. The few sick people we are told He healed there must have managed to draw His compassion is some way.
The fact that Jesus marveled at their unbelief tells you how hard they were that not even Jesus could cultivate compassion for them.
Seeking Agreement in Prayer from a fellow Believer
If you want someone to agree with you in prayer, you have to appeal to their compassion. Without their compassion, even if you pray together, in heaven, that prayer won’t be considered an agreement prayer.
Unless someone loves you and has understood your pain, he can’t be your witness in an agreement prayer. Someone may love you but refuse to agree with you in prayer because he feels the prayer is not genuine.
When Hannah was praying for a child, she was in deep anguish. Elkanah her husband loved her but didn’t agree with her in prayer. To him, a child was not worth the stress that Hannah was putting herself through.
Over and over, her husband tried to dissuade her from praying for a child but Hannah persisted. When Eli the priest saw her praying, he too didn’t have compassion for her; he accused her of being drunk.
But when Hannah explained the cause of her anguish, Eli had compassion on her and agreed with her by saying “Go in peace and may the God of Israel give you what you have asked Him for”.
Because Eli was a priest, his witness of Hannah was approved before God and Hannah’s prayer was answered.
When you ask a fellow believer to pray with you, he may brush it off but when he sees you travailing for the matter, he will be moved to agree with you.
This is also why we fast; fasting increases our anguish and pushes witnesses to have compassion on us. Witnesses are not only humans but angels also.
Praying in Tongues is an Automatic Prayer of Agreement
Praying in tongues is not called a perfect prayer for nothing. When you pray in tongues, the Holy Spirit bears witness of your case when He intercedes for you.
While you may need to get witnesses for a prayer made in understanding, a prayer made in tongues comes with pre-ordained witnesses.
Jesus promised the coming of the Holy Spirit to be our comforter. When the Holy Spirit prays for God to comfort you, His prayer for you is in agreement with what Jesus said about Him. You end up having Jesus and the Holy Spirit as your witnesses.
This is why praying in tongues is a powerful gift and every believer should have it.
I hope you are more enlightened now to make a good prayer of agreement.
Until next time…Peace!