Strategic prayer can be defined as “prayer through which a person joins God as he works out his grand strategy to accomplish his will and purposes in the world.”
True biblical strategic prayer is called strategic because it moves God to power his own strategy for his purposes in the world. John Wesley said, “God does nothing except in response to believing prayer.” But God doesn’t respond to any just any believing prayer. He only responds to believing prayer that is according to his will. That is to say, the prayer says in so many words, “Thy will be done on earth as in heaven.” To pray for any other purpose or for any creature’s glory would be rebellion and idolatry.
I love how Pastor Sam Adeyemi, a successful Nigerian pastor, talks about strategic prayer. Adeyemi says, “A strategy is a plan, method, or a series of maneuvers that you employ to achieve a specific result. If a person wants to move from Point A to Point B, he asks ‘how do I get there?’ Whatever plan he comes up with is his strategy for getting to Point B. Strategy also answers the question, “What is the best way to get there?’… On the other hand, prayer is communication with God. When we combine the two, strategic prayer can be defined as communication with God so as to download God’s plans, methods, or maneuvers for achieving God’s results. Prayer is not an opportunity for downloading God’s strategies to achieve your own results. The Bible tells us that wanting to use God to achieve our own objectives is manipulation, and it is described as witchcraft. Many people are guilty of this, and it is one of the reasons why many prayers remain unanswered (James 4: 3).”
All true prayer must begin and end with God. God answers prayers from people who live right (the righteous) and ask him to do what is right (i.e., what God wants or his will) for the right reasons (to bring God glory). R. A. Torrey once said, “The chief purpose of prayer is that God may be glorified in the answer.” Strategic prayer glorifies God. And it must be known that the only way to glorify God is to do His will. Many people like to do what they want (their will) and hope that it glorifies God. Though they say with their mouths they are doing it for God, their motives say otherwise. A strategic prayer is a far cry from that kind of praying. It remembers God’s rebuke of King Saul through the mouth of the prophet Samuel, saying,
“Has the Lord as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obedience to the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.” 1 Sam 15:22-23 ESV
The NLT renders that passage as:
“What is more pleasing to the Lord:
your burnt offerings and sacrifices
or your obedience to his voice?
Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice,
and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.
23 Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft,
and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols.
So because you have rejected the command of the Lord,
he has rejected you as king.” 1 Sam 15:2-23 NLT
King Saul lost the kingdom because of that and destroyed his family as well. A very key aspect of strategic prayer is hearing the voice of God’s will throughout the entire process of praying and then obeying it. From the beginning, we must hear God’s voice affirming that the aim of our prayer is the will of God. That’s where our faith and hope of glorifying God when he answers comes from. That’s what bids us to start praying. Then, we must hear God’s voice through the journey of that prayer telling us that God hears us. That voice gives us the strength to persist and not quit until our reward–an answer that glorifies God comes. Andrew Murray said, “Prayer is not a monologue, but a dialogue. God’s voice in response to mine is its most essential part.” And the peculiar thing about God’s will is that when we know it, the only right response is to obey it. Nothing else is worthy. As humans, you may know my will and choose to do nothing about it. Not so with the will of God.
Henry Blackaby wrote a popular book titled Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God. In it, he used scriptures to show that God is always at work around us. Our role is to seek how God wants us to join him in his work and then make adjustments in our lives to do so. Much of God’s work is done through prayer. In addition to praying, “thy will be done,” we want to pray that Jesus would show us what he is doing so that as he always does what the Father is doing, we too may do what he is doing within the area of our calling. Jesus has a strategy for winning the world and bringing glory to the Father. Strategic prayer joins Jesus in interceding for his strategy for the world to be done by the Father.
Resources
daystarng.org/strategic-prayer/
