Dutch Sheets - Authority in Prayer: Praying with Power and Purpose

We live in perilous times! The vigilant parent, pastor, or politician is aware that Gods purposes in their lives will be challenged over and over again. Praying with authority is a necessary part of your dominion tool kit. More than a manual for effective prayer, Dutch Sheets distills a lifetime of experience and scholarship into the essentials of high-impact prayer. I began using the breakthrough concepts unveiled in this book the same day I read it. My results have been amazingyours will be, too.

Harry R. Jackson, Jr.
Senior Pastor, Hope Christian Church
Chairman, High Impact Leadership Coalition

In this book, Dutch Sheets brings to the surface something that most of us will readily admit, namely that a good bit of the time we pray, we pray like wimps! Long before I came to the end of the book, I decided that Im not going to pray like a wimp anymoreIm going to pray like a winner! Im thankful for this huge upgrade to my prayer life, and I know that you will be just as thrilled when you read Authority in Prayer.

C. Peter Wagner
Chancellor, Wagner Leadership Institute

This is a fantastic, funny, and life-changing book on prayer. It is one of Dutchs best. I highly recommend it.

Che Ahn
Pastor, Harvest Rock Church
Founder and President, Harvest International Ministry

2006 by Dutch Sheets

Published by Bethany House Publishers
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
www.bethanyhouse.com

Bethany House Publishers is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
www.bakerpublishinggroup.com

Ebook edition created 2012

Ebook corrections 03.19.2015

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

ISBN 978-1-4412-0216-1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture quotations identified KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations identified AMP are from the Amplified Bible. Old Testament copyright 1965, 1987 by the Zondervan Corporation. The Amplified New Testament copyright 1958, 1987 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations identified NKJV are from the New King James Version of the Bible. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations identified The Message are from The Message. Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Cover design by Lookout Design, Inc.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1

T HE Q UESTION

A few years ago I was given a double-billed cap with one bill pointing to the left, the other to the right. The words on the front of the cap, Im the leader, which way did they go? are intended to prompt the obvious question, Who, really, is in charge? I loved the humor in spite of the not-so-subtle and obviously asinine aspersion it cast on my leadership skills.

That question in one form or another is asked throughout the world millions of times a day. I recall the day our dog, Mercedesshes a Boxer, so ugly she needed a classy nametried to assert her dominance over me. She was young, and the two of us were in a season of trying to establish who would rule our house. I was lying on the floor watching a football game, and she, very ceremoniously I might add, sauntered over and sat right on my chest. She then stuck her chest out, head up, and looked disdainfully at me out of the corner of her eye, glancing proudly at everyone else in the room. Easy to interpret: Im in charge here; you will submit to me. (Maybe it was because I was wearing the cap.)

Mercedes is quite large, and at that time she was already full grown. Having her plop down on me was uncomfortable, not to mention humiliating. The guffaws of my wife and daughters didnt help matters much. Of course, girls do stick together. I took authority over the situation immediately, commanding Mercedes to get off of me. As Im sure youd assume, she obeyed her masterand within two or three minutes promptly removed herself! I won that power struggle and have been in charge ever since.

But it is not only people and their dogs that struggle with the Whos in charge? question. It is at the heart of all conflict on earth. The question was born in the heart of Lucifer when he tried to sit on Gods chest in heaven, and it spread to earth when he passed the question on to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Satan spewed his poisonous deception, and our foreparents also tried to sit on Gods chest. We humans have been wearing a double-billed cap ever since, thinking were in charge, all the while stumbling around, wondering which way to go. It seems that at every level and in every arena of life, power struggles occur:

MEN AND WOMEN WRESTLE OVER CONTROL OF RELATIONSHIPS.

PARENTS AND CHILDREN STRUGGLE WITH WHO WILL RULE THE HOUSE.

SIBLINGS QUARREL OVER TOYS, CLOTHING, TV, AND A HOST OF OTHER ISSUES.

BUSINESSES CONNIVE TO CORNER VARIOUS CONSUMER AND INVESTMENT MARKETS.

SPORTS TEAMS VIE FOR FIRST PLACE.

DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS STRIVE FOR THE DOMINATION OF AMERICA.

LEADERS OF NATIONS WAR OVER CONTROL OF LANDS, PEOPLE, AND WEALTH.

Everybody wants to be in charge!

Who is ruling your world? Im not referring to the big one, as in planet earth. At least not yet. Im talking about the world you live in every day, your personal world. Im speaking of your home, family, job, health, dogwell, okay, maybe not your dog. God doesnt intend that any outside force dominate you. He has given you jurisdiction over your life.

God began dealing with me a few years back about governing my world. And He wasnt referring to Washington, D.C. He was talking about the gray matter in my craniummy thoughts as well as my house, my finances, my health, and so on. In ever-expanding circles He began to teach me about governing the world around me. God did actually want to use me to influence cities, states, and nations, and has since sent me to Washington dozens of times, to all fifty states on an amazing prayer assignment, and on numerous other prayer journeys.

I want to share with you what He has taught me. Im certainly not implying that I have full understanding of this or any other aspect of truth. In fact, much of my learning has come through paradigm-stretching assignments and frustration-prompted questions. Desperation often births inspiration, like the day at the airport...