THERE IS POWER IN NUMBERS

~ Matthew 18:19-20 ~

Praying and fasting in unity is the most powerful spiritual weapon that God has given to us. Most believers have no idea just how powerful a spiritual weapon united prayer and fasting is. Of course, all believers believe that “prayer changes things” and that “there is power in prayer”. But most believers have no understanding of just how much prayer can change things or just how much power there really is in prayer. And especially not about united prayer and fasting.

THE BIBLICAL BASIS

In Matthew 18:19-20, Jesus made a statement that is the key to understanding the concept of united prayer and Fasting. The full significance of this has seldom been understood. God has given us the Kingdom, in the sense of His authority to rule. We do our ruling through prayer and it is in that sense we are kings, as in Revelation 1:6. It is because of this that we can get our prayers answered. We have authority with God. But as individuals, our authority is limited. It is unleashed only when we pray in unity.

We have unlimited power in prayer only when we pray in agreement with others. Our power increases dramatically when we act in unity. As Children of God, we are the Body of Christ. We achieve our full effectiveness when we act as a Body. And the way in which we can most overtly and directly do so is when we unite in prayer and fasting.

AGREE WITH GOD

We can’t be praying against God’s will. If we are, we better hope that our prayers don’t get answered. When God grants a petition contrary to His will, as He sometimes does, He does it as chastisement. One example of this is found in Numbers 11, where the people of Israel literally cried for meat, in a way that was blatant rejection of God’s will (He had already given them manna). He sent the meat, and with it a plague!

We must understand that the unity must be complete and real for this to take effect. The believers who are praying can’t just be agreeing with their lips; they must be agreeing with their hearts. There are several Biblical examples of cases where people united in prayer and fasting in circumstances that make it clear that the agreement was from the heart, with dramatic results.

One of the examples is the story of Esther. Threatened with extermination as a result of Haman’s plot, the Jews prayed and fasted in unity. The result was that Haman got hanged on his own gallows and the Jews were saved.

Another example was the release of Peter from prison, followed by the death of Herod in Acts 12. The Scripture tells us that the Church held a prayer vigil for Peter. They prayed and fasted and Peter was freed.

A third example is when the disciples were in the upper room. Acts 2:1 tells us that, “they were all with one accord...” The Greek word translated “one accord” means “in the same passion”. With passionate agreement they had been seeking the promise of the Lord.

The best example in the Bible is the story of Jehoshaphat’s victory in II Chronicles 20. There are several reasons why he got the answer he received. When he heard about the invading armies, Jehoshaphat proclaimed a national fast and prayer. He didn’t even take the time to consider his options. He went straight to God with united prayer and fasting. Everyone fasted and prayed with agreement due to the circumstances and we see that it came from the heart. It was also prayer in accordance with the will of God.

THE IS POWER IN NUMBERS

One of the biggest mistakes that believers make is to think that “numbers don’t matter”. There are many references in the Bible that indicate that numbers do matter. Numbers do matter very much in particular when it comes to praying in unity. The Bible makes it clear that prayers prayed in unity are usually far more effective than prayers offered by individuals. This is not to say that God does not answer the prayer of an individual. Large scale, dramatic answers are more frequently the result of many believers praying in unity.

There is a little known spiritual principle found in the book of Leviticus that suggests that our power in prayer multiplies as our numbers increase. That principle is applied to Israel at war with its enemies. The key verses are Leviticus 26:7-8 “And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight.”

A hundred putting ten thousand to flight requires five times the relative power of five chasing a hundred. A principle of applying Old Testament doctrine to Christian living is that what applied to the Israelites materially in the Old Testament times applies to the Church spiritually now. So what applied to them in terms of material warfare applies to us in terms of spiritual warfare. We must understand that when we pray and fast as a church body.

Because we can’t see the warfare going on, we don’t really understand just exactly what is happening. There is only one example in the entire Bible that gives us a clue. It is the story of Daniel during his three week fast in chapter 10 of his book. The Archangel Gabriel was trying to get through to him with the answer to his prayer, but the “prince of the kingdom of Persia”, a demonic power, was holding him back. Daniel’s persistence brought the answer. There are demonic powers working to hold back the answers to our prayers. We can drive those powers away when we pray in unity.

Applying this spiritual principle to prayer and fasting, we find that if we multiply our numbers by 20, we multiply our relative power in prayer and fasting by five. We wouldn’t have to do that multiplication many times before our relative power would be greater than all the power of Satan. Consider the following table:

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PRAYER WARRIORS	CAN CHASE	RELATIVE POWER
1	5	5
5	100	20
100	10000	100

When 100 believers pray in unity, each one has 100 times more relative power than he does when praying alone. This suggests that a mere 100 believers fasting and praying in unity, and living in obedience to God can exercise spiritual control over any city or country. In theory, this should be easy to achieve. A few of us praying and fasting together in unity could really make a difference in the world.