Declarative
Prayer
“Thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, to all
who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem
to Babylon: Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their
fruit. Take wives and beget sons and
daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands,
so that they may bear sons and daughters – that you may be increased there, and
not diminished. And seek the peace of
the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the
Lord for it, for in its peace you will have peace.” Jer. 29:4-7
We can declare the
will of God in prayer when we know His will.
The Lord’s will is often made clear through His written word in the
Bible. Other times His will is revealed
to us through prayer, dreams, visions.
Whenever we are not certain it is the Lord who is revealing His will to
us, we can pray for a confirmation so that it becomes clear and sure. There
is a time to ask God for things and there is a time to declare that which He
has promised.
In the time of the
prophet Jeremiah, the word of the Lord was revealed to His prophets. The people had to discern between true and
false prophets. Let’s look at a powerful
passage of God’s will that was revealed by the Lord to Jeremiah. There is so much contained in this text;
let’s try and identify the key declarations of the Lord, as revealed to
Jeremiah in the passage contained in chapter 29.
q In
the place of captivity, build houses, plant gardens, have children, and
increase.
q Seek
the peace in the place of captivity, for in the city’s peace, the people will
have peace.
q After
70 years in captivity, the Lord will return for His people.
q His
thoughts toward His people are good, filled with a future and a hope.
q He
will return His people to the place they came from.
Can we imagine praying this for 25, 50, or 70 years? Praying this passage would be declaring back
to God what he declared to His people – and that is how declarative prayer
works. When the Lord reveals something
to us, we declare it – announce it – herald it, as He instructs us to.
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