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Episode 3 of The Purpose Practice and Power of Prayer series. This is a church small group Bible study series from Buddy Owens at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California.
CHECKING IN
CHECKING IN
1. Share something you are thankful for today.
2. How did last week’s lesson affect the way you prayed this week?
KEY VERSE
God raised us up with Christ and seated us with
God raised us up with Christ and seated us with
him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:6 (NIV)
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- What does it mean to you to pray in Jesus’ name?
- Have somebody in your group re-read Ephesians 1:18–23; 2:6–10 (in the video outline) aloud. How does this passage shape your perspective on where and how you stand in your authority in Christ?
- Talk about the relationship between praying in the authority of Jesus’ name and being a person of the Word.
- What stood out to you about the reality of standing on the earth and being seated in the heavenly realms? Does this make you think differently about God’s purpose for you on earth?
PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE
Read Ephesians 1–2 every day this week and, as Buddy said, “Let these truths steep into your soul.” Try turning these chapters into a prayer, talking about them with God. For example, “Lord, enlighten the eyes of my heart so that I may better know the hope to which you have called me. Help me appreciate the riches of your glorious inheritance and understand your incomparably great power for me.”
PRAYER DIRECTION
PRAYER DIRECTION
The truth about your authority in prayer can feel daunting. As a group, turn any of these feelings into gratitude. Thank God for the authority which he has given you in Christ. Pray for strength and conviction to use this authority to be Christ’s ambassador on earth.
Share your prayer requests and pray for each other before you finish your meeting. Ask someone in the group to write them all down and then email them to all your group members. Commit to pray for each other throughout the week.
DIVING DEEPER
Dive deeper this week by reading Praying for Peace by Jimmy, Carol, and Buddy Owens. Chapter 5, “Spiritual Warfare: Setting Captives Free” deals with your position of authority, your position of strength, taking back enemy territory, and dealing with spiritual attacks.
This series was created for Saddleback Church's small group curriculum series. For more great Bible studies and small group curriculum, visit pastors.com
And for more great podcasts, visit Lumivoz.com
And for more great podcasts, visit Lumivoz.com
Creators & Guests
Host
What is The Purpose, Practice, and Power of Prayer: A Saddleback Church Small Group Study?
The Scripture makes it clear that we are in a great cosmic battle. It is not a battle against people. It is a battle against spiritual forces of evil that are trying to destroy the work of God—in the world, and in our lives. But God has equipped us, empowered us, authorized us, and called us to partner with him in accomplishing his purposes on the earth. And we do it primarily through prayer. This is a small group Bible study series by Buddy Owens from Saddleback Church. Download the study guide here: https://saddleback.com/watch/the-purpose-practice-and-power-of-prayer
A Lumivoz podcast
00:00:13:07 - 00:00:38:25
Buddy Owens
Hi and welcome back to session three. In our study of the purpose, practice and power of prayer. Now, so far we've looked at our spiritual armor and our strategy for prayer. That's when I introduced this chart about Egis in our last session. But in this session, I want to talk about your authority in prayer. Specifically, what does it mean to pray in the name of Jesus?
00:00:39:16 - 00:01:01:06
Buddy Owens
So most of the time, when we pray whether it's at a meal or in church or a small group, wherever we finish the prayer by saying in Jesus name, amen. Well, what does that mean? To pray in Jesus name is not just to put a nice little bow on the package. I want to go back to to Egis here and explain something.
00:01:01:15 - 00:01:29:00
Buddy Owens
Remember this. This is a ship. I should have put little waves here. OK, so he in the water. And this ship, this battleship is sailing under a flag, is sailing under the flag, in this case of the United States of America. That means that it is sailing in the name of the United States of America. It is coming under the authority of the United States.
00:01:29:01 - 00:02:11:16
Buddy Owens
It is doing business of the United States. It represents the United States. In fact, a military ship at sea is considered a physical extension of its sovereign nation. It is the United States out there on the water. It's coming in the name of the nation that sent it. And wherever it goes, it carries with it the full authority and resource of the USA to back it up, to pray in the name of Jesus is to come under his authority and say, I'm coming because he sent me.
00:02:12:19 - 00:02:36:18
Buddy Owens
I'm praying this way because he has given me the opportunity, the responsibility, the right and the authority to pray. And so I come in the name of Jesus under his authority. I am sailing into these waters in his name. Like that battleship is sailing into dangerous waters. In the name of its nation. And that's what it looks like to pray in Jesus name.
00:02:36:24 - 00:03:07:13
Buddy Owens
We pray against evil in Jesus name. And listen we come before the throne of God. In Jesus name. We pray for people we love in the authority of Jesus name. And all that is represented in who Jesus is. Just like that ship comes with the full authority and resource of its nation. And that's your authority. Remember, Jesus said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
00:03:07:21 - 00:03:35:23
Buddy Owens
Therefore, go. He said, pray in my name. Touch in my name. Speak in my name. We go in the authority he has given us to do his work in the world around us. The Bible uses another kind of word picture to make this point. It's in Second Corinthians chapter five. It says We are therefore Christ's ambassadors. God is making His appeal through us.
00:03:36:07 - 00:04:12:02
Buddy Owens
We speak for Christ when we plead. Come back to God. He says We are Christ's ambassadors now. What does an ambassador do? Well, she represents her king, and everywhere she goes, she takes her king's influence with her. She takes with her at her disposal the full authority, influence, values, and the resource of her kingdom. She speaks for her king and the embassy where she works and lives is the kingdom itself.
00:04:12:16 - 00:04:42:02
Buddy Owens
For instance, the American Embassy in Germany is the United States. The French embassy in Japan is France. And in the same way, you take the Kingdom of God with you, wherever you go, because you are his ambassador. You have been called by our king to partner with him in extending the influence of his kingdom and to accomplish the purposes of heaven on earth.
00:04:42:11 - 00:05:13:17
Buddy Owens
Our King invites you to change the world with him. And when you pray in the name of Jesus, you're praying in his authority as his representative in the situation being a kingdom person is not just about eternal life there. And then it's about kingdom life here and now. As long as you are engaged in spiritual work, you will be engaged in spiritual warfare.
00:05:13:22 - 00:05:38:18
Buddy Owens
The Holy Spirit gives us spiritual gifts for the work of the Spirit and spiritual armor for the warfare of the Spirit. So we've been given gifts, armor, a commission and authority and to go further in our understanding of our spiritual authority and prayer. I want to look at a familiar passage of Scripture, but I want to look at it in a way that might surprise you.
00:05:40:01 - 00:06:05:24
Buddy Owens
Jesus said in John 14, I'm going to prepare a place for you that you also may be where I am. I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. So where is this place he has prepared for us? Jesus says it's with him. So where is Jesus? Right now?
00:06:07:13 - 00:06:36:24
Buddy Owens
The answer to that question will shape the way you see your life, and it will empower your prayer life. For years I thought the place Jesus went to prepare for us was our home in heaven. After we die, the mansion over the hilltop, like the old him, talked about And that is true for our future. In the meantime, there is another, more immediate place he has prepared for us.
00:06:37:18 - 00:07:06:16
Buddy Owens
It is a place that we occupy right now. It is our position of authority in prayer. That place is described in Ephesians Chapters one and two. The Bible says this. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you the riches of his glorious inheritance and the saints and his encamp bably great power.
00:07:06:24 - 00:07:35:28
Buddy Owens
For us who believe that power is like the working of his mighty strength which he exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and look and seated Him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all, rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given not only in the present age, but also in the one to come Don't miss this.
00:07:36:24 - 00:08:04:02
Buddy Owens
Not only look at that, not only in the present age, but also in the one to come. I'm going to read it backwards. Not only in the age to come, but in the present age. He says, I want the eyes of your heart to be enlightened so you can see this and God placed. He says all the things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body.
00:08:04:10 - 00:08:38:20
Buddy Owens
The fullness of him, who fills everything in every way. And Chapter two, four, six. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him. Seated us. Past tense. It's already done. Seated us with him in the present age, in the heavenly realms, in Christ Jesus, for we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared and advanced for us to do.
00:08:39:18 - 00:09:07:03
Buddy Owens
If you only see the place Jesus is preparing for you as the home in heaven, after you die, then you will see Jesus as way off someplace in another dimension and heaven just be on air, shot just beyond arm's reach, waiting for you to arrive. And your prayers will seem like the desperate cries of a drowning man hoping to catch the attention of a passing ship.
00:09:08:07 - 00:09:30:21
Buddy Owens
But when you begin to understand the truth of this passage in Ephesians it will change your perspective on where and how you stand right now in the present age, and it will shape your understanding of your authority in Christ and your power in prayer. So let me camp out on this for a minute. Where is Jesus right now?
00:09:30:22 - 00:10:03:07
Buddy Owens
Ephesians 120 says Jesus is seated at the right hand of the father. But Ephesians 26 says, We are seated with him and in him right now at the right hand of the father right now, not some day later, but now. Today, this very moment, not only in the age to come, but also in the present age in which we wrestle against the rulers of darkness of this age as Chapter six talks about in Ephesians.
00:10:03:20 - 00:10:29:01
Buddy Owens
Are you with me? Colossians three says, Since then, since then, catch that. Since then already happened. You have been raised with Christ or set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. There's that phrase again, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
00:10:29:08 - 00:10:59:02
Buddy Owens
For You died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. So where is Christ now? At the right hand of the Father. You say, But wait a minute. How can I be seated there when I am most definitely still standing here on the earth? Which one is true? We have to reconcile these two because neither one of them is make believe, but they are both equally true.
00:11:00:11 - 00:11:25:10
Buddy Owens
You are seated in Christ at the right hand of the Father. Not in a physical sense. My physical body is still on the earth. And nor is it strictly in a spiritual sense. But rather you are seated in Christ in an authoritative or a legal sense. In fact, the Greek word for seated in this verse has a dual meaning.
00:11:25:28 - 00:11:54:13
Buddy Owens
It means both to make something sit down, and it also means to appoint or confer authority on someone. It's the way you might say a judge is seated on the bench. In other words, he occupies a place of authority, and he rules as a sitting judge, and he is still the sitting judge. Whether he's in the courtroom or on the golf course, he is the sitting judge.
00:11:55:05 - 00:12:16:11
Buddy Owens
Or you could say it's like having a seat on the New York Stock Exchange You are established in a place of authority, or we might say a sitting president. That doesn't mean he's always seated in the Oval Office, but he is the sitting president or legislature is seated in the government she occupies and rules from a seat of government.
00:12:16:26 - 00:12:47:02
Buddy Owens
It doesn't mean she's physically seated in a chair. It's referring to her authority, not her physical location. In the same way, you are seated in Christ as an ambassador, is seated in his kings government. You are established in a position of authority from which you pray to be seated in Christ. At the right hand of the father means that you currently occupy a position of favor with God.
00:12:47:03 - 00:13:11:01
Buddy Owens
That's what the right hand is about in Scripture. It's about His favor. Let me give you an example from my own life. It's kind of getting close to this. My first job out of college, I was going to sound really impressive, but don't be impressed. I'm just trying to make a point here. My first job out of college, I was the director of constituent services for the lieutenant governor of California.
00:13:12:11 - 00:13:51:11
Buddy Owens
Now, what that meant was I took care of people on his behalf. I did it in his name. I represented him. I could gather people in his name. I stood up for his interests and I had authority to make decisions. Not a lot of them, but I had authority to make decisions in his name. I was not the lieutenant governor but I was seated in his office as his representative to function in his name in the same way, because you are in Christ when you pray, you pray in the authority of Jesus himself.
00:13:51:18 - 00:14:13:13
Buddy Owens
And from the vantage point of being seated in the him at the right hand of the father, the place he's prepared for us, that's what it means to pray in Jesus name. The place He has prepared for us is not just a mansion in the sweet by and by. That gives me hope for heaven, but it doesn't equip me for the here and now to be his ambassador.
00:14:14:05 - 00:14:43:28
Buddy Owens
The place Jesus has gone to prepare for us is also our seat with him in him at the right hand of the father. Right now in the present age. And it is from that position of favor that we wage spiritual war. Look again at John 14 six. Jesus said No one comes to the Father except through me. And this is not only true of the way of salvation.
00:14:45:02 - 00:15:08:19
Buddy Owens
It is also true of the way of prayer. No one can come to the father in prayer except through Jesus, Jesus having died in our place, having been raised in glory, having ascended to the father, has even now prepared a place for you at the right hand of the Father. And from that place, that position of authority, you intercede.
00:15:09:19 - 00:15:35:20
Buddy Owens
It is not from Earth to somewhere up in the sky. It's from a position of authority and privilege and favor, already seated at the right hand of the Father in Christ. This is living in two dimensions, though. Physically, we are standing on earth, spiritually and authoritatively. We are seated in Christ at the right hand of the Father. So write this down.
00:15:36:21 - 00:16:04:21
Buddy Owens
The responsibility to pray is ours because we are standing on the earth The authority to pray is ours because we are seated in the heavenly realms. In Christ Jesus at the right hand of the Father And that's why it's crucial for the to be a man or woman of the word. It's critical for us to be people of the Word of God.
00:16:05:10 - 00:16:38:13
Buddy Owens
It is the word of God that teaches us how to pray according to the will of God. It is the Word of Christ that teaches us how to pray with the mind of Christ. So when you pray in Jesus name, you pray in the authority. And with the authority of all that is in His name, which is above every name, we pray in the authority of his name because we are in Christ and we know it is through His name that we have access to the Father.
00:16:38:29 - 00:17:03:17
Buddy Owens
Hebrews 416 says, You come boldly to the throne of grace. Jesus said, Ask anything in my name. So we pray in the authority of his name. We pray with the authority of his name, just like a police officer says, stop in the name of the law. It's not the police officer who's stopping traffic. It's the authority of the law behind him that causes traffic to stop.
00:17:04:01 - 00:17:45:27
Buddy Owens
The officer speaks with authority, speaks on behalf of the law And because we pray from this position in Christ at the right hand of the Father, Jesus teaches us to pray first and foremost. Thy kingdom rulership, thy kingdom come, and thy will, your way and wisdom be done on earth where I stand just as it is in heaven, where I am seated in Christ Jay Macmillan said authoritative Intercessors are men and women whose eyes have been opened to the knowledge of their place in Christ.
00:17:46:08 - 00:18:10:13
Buddy Owens
That's why, Paul said, I pray that the eyes of your heart will be enlightened. If you want to be an authoritative intercessor, then you must walk in an increasing understanding of your position and authority in Christ or seated in Christ in the present age, not just the one to come. It is a present position of authority. To believe less is to dishonor the Word of God.
00:18:11:12 - 00:18:38:09
Buddy Owens
This is not something to be afraid of or shy away from. It is a truth to grow into. It takes sound mindedness and it takes faith. We have the responsibility to intercede because we stand on the earth and we have the authority to intercede because we're seated in the Heavenlies and Christ Jesus has gone to prepare a place for you that where He is.
00:18:39:04 - 00:19:06:20
Buddy Owens
You may be also seated at the right hand of the father. Now, given that truth, and with a growing understanding of your authority, pray every time you pray. See yourself as taking your position of authority in Christ at the right hand of the throne of God, not as some desperate, distant, hopeless voice, but as seated in the very presence and authority and favor of God Himself.
00:19:07:18 - 00:19:28:26
Buddy Owens
Let that be your mindset as you pray. Read Ephesians Chapter one and two every day and let these truths step into your soul and let them embolden you to pray with confidence. I hope you have a really rich discussion time with your group, and I'll see you in our next session.