Strange to think that not everyone is going to agree with us. Even the prophet Amos understood this well. “How can two people walk together unless they are in agreement?” (Amos 3:3). But where there is agreement, especially on things of substance, there is also spiritual authority and power released into situations that matter. Jesus reminds us, in John 15:16 that He enters into agreement with us (or better yet, we with Him) on being fruit bearers. In fact, He chose and appointed us for this purpose, not to just bear little fruit but to bear much fruit and that it should remain.

It has been my experience that when I simply pray my own stuff, it may sound pious and righteous but has little substance or power. Yet when I pray the Scriptures, with its kingdom values and priorities, there is not only power but it carries the authority of heaven with it. In this context, in John 15:16, kingdom authority and power are released through us to bear fruit. We have been chosen by Jesus and appointed by Jesus for the purpose of bearing kingdom fruit. When Jesus said that “He came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10), the fruit He bore is the same fruit that we also are called to bear. Kingdom fruit is the winning of the lost and discipling them in the ways of Christ.

Yet we are not called to do this alone. We do it in concert with Jesus and through prayer to the Father. We also do it in agreement with others of like mind and passion. What would happen if you were to begin to pray for three people to come to faith through you and then ask two or maybe three others to come into agreement with you in prayer for these people. Three people, praying in the authority and power of Kingdom, recognizing “that whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give to you.” (15)

Take this a step further. If your praying partners also had three people that they longed to see come to faith in Christ and then asked you to join in agreement with them, there would now be nine people who are being prayed.

Charles Finney, the great evangelist, once left a prayer meeting because, as he said, they prayed but never really believed that God would answer their prayers. Yet I have this confidence that this won’t be said of you, or me. Fruit bearing is the will of God, especially when we stand in the authority of the Word of God. In that authority we pray.

On that great day, when the names are read out in the Lamb’s book of life, I suspect that there will be sideways glances of those, who with a twinkle in their eyes, will whisper a thank you to those who would not surrender in prayer until heaven opened and their lives were changed forever. I know I owe a huge debt of gratitude to those who prayed for me. You do as well!

Blessings!