God is seeking for people who will "stand in the gap" before God on behalf of others' lives. Satan was defeated at the Cross, but the Enemy still expresses authority over individuals and communities ‑ because people continue to give him authority. Prayer means taking the victory of the Cross and applying it against the Enemy's authority, thereby rendering him powerless.

God has given the believer special authority to "bind" and "loose" in the spiritual realms. This verse appears to indicate that when we "bind" something in the spirit down here on earth, our decision is backed up by heaven, and God Himself then binds that spiritual force.

But the original Greek has another (and we believe more accurate) meaning: "Whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven."

In other words, the decision to bind is not with us, but with heaven. We are the enactment of authority that has been delegated to us from the Throne of God. As we are sensitive in prayer to the leading of the Holy Spirit, He identifies areas that He wants bound and loosed. And through the Spirit, we are given the keys of the kingdom of heaven to enforce the very will of God in the spirit.

Our whole motivation in prayer should be to see God's will "done on earth as it is in heaven". We bring God's will down to the earth in our lives and through our prayer. This is the cutting edge of spiritual warfare ‑ the clash of God's will and Satan's will. And we have a part to play in this warfare. Heaven decrees the binding of destructive forces or the loosing of people's lives, then God's Spirit searches for someone to "stand in the gap", to bring the will of God down to earth in prayer. Prayer is defined by the will of God.

After describing our enemy in Ephesians 6:12, then listing our defensive and offensive armoury in verses 13‑17, Paul tells us:

"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints" Ephesians 6:18.

The reason for identifying the enemy and putting on our spiritual armour is so that we can pray!

Notice that Paul says "with all kinds of prayers and requests". Prayer is expressed in many different ways, as led by the Spirit, depending on the occasion.

"I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone..." 1 Timothy 2:1.

Paul urges us, first of all, to pray. Prayer should be our instinctive reaction to any situation which contradicts the will of God. But this verse reveals four kinds of prayer that we can use, and each is very different.

Requests is the simplest and most common expression of prayer. God has invited us to ask Him for anything in prayer (Matthew 7:7). But the Greek word here translated "request" actually has two meanings:

Supplications: "to ask, to beseech"Deprecations: "to speak disapproval of"

Deprecation, as a type of prayer, comes into action when we see something that slanders God's name and we come to God in prayer with great indignation and disapproval of the Enemy's action. For a Biblical example of deprecation, read 2 Kings 19:9‑19.

Prayers, in the original Greek, means "the pouring out". This pouring out of our hearts is a special, deeper expression of prayer. It is not simply asking; it is the depths of our heart being expressed to God, often with tears, for what is dearest to our heart. For a Biblical example of this kind of prayer, read 1 Samuel 1:9‑15.

This is another unique expression of prayer. Intercession, as translated from the original Hebrew and Greek, means:

"A meeting between" (1 Tim.2:1)"To come or fall upon; to meet" (Jer.7:16; 27:18)"To meet with; to come between" (Rom.8:27,34; 11:2; Heb.7:25)"To meet with on behalf of another" (Rom.8:26).

Intercession is not the pouring out of our heart's desires to the Lord; it is the joining of our hearts with God's heart on behalf of others.

The Bible contains many examples of intercession (Gen.18:20‑33; Ex.32:9‑14; Dan.9:2‑19; Neh.1:2‑11). But the greatest intercessory model is Jesus Himself. His death on the Cross was the greatest act of intercession ‑ He was not dying for His own sin and guilt, but for ours. From this act of intercession we can see what the ministry of intercession is really all about ‑ taking the place of another in prayer before God.

The ministry of Jesus in heaven right now is to intercede for us (Rom.8:34; Heb.7:25). He is able to do this because He knows how we feel (Heb.2:14; 4:14‑15). But His intercessory ministry is also expressed through His Body, the Church (Rev.1:6). The Holy Spirit will sometimes cause a believer to be "yoked" with Christ's heart in prayer, and this is often described as "the burden of the Lord" (Matt.11:29‑30; Rom.8:26).

Through experience, we have identified four distinct anointings of intercession:

Sometimes when Christians are praying, they begin to feel a sense of deep grieving and sorrow, and begin to weep. The Holy Spirit has laid a burden on their heart so that they can feel how Christ feels as he intercedes for His Church, or for an individual, a city, a nation or a people. As His Body, we can enter into the same sorrow Jesus expressed as he wept over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41) and as He agonised in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matt.26:37‑38). He brings the same challenge to His Body today that He brought to His disciples in the Garden:

"Could you men not watch with me for one hour?" Matt.26:40.

Sometimes the Holy Spirit anoints prayer so that the person praying actually feels what the other person is going through. Just as the Lord Jesus understands what we go through, and thus is able to intercede for us (Heb.4:14‑16), so the person praying is able to know how to pray for the one in need (see Gal.6:2,1; 1 Cor.12:26; Rom.12:15).

Another distinct anointing of intercession is that of travail ‑ a deep groaning of the Spirit within us to bring something to birth in the spirit (Gal.4:19).