The following is an excerpt from our daily devotional series Seven Conditions for Answered Prayer.

To close this series of devotionals on effective prayer, I want to bring you a further picture from Matthew 18:19-20. This is what I call “The Prayer Symphony,” and I use the word, “symphony” deliberately. Let’s begin with verse 20. “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” Where the English says, “are gathered together,” the Greek says, “have been led together.” So, we have this statement. “Where two or three have been led together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

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When we talk about “being led,” we immediately have to ask, led by whom? And we’ve already seen the answer in Romans 8:14. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” Therefore, Jesus says when two or three have been led together (brought together), in My name, by the Holy Spirit, then you can count on My presence.

Jesus has aligned Himself to those who are led by the Spirit of God to come together into His name. I call this the basic cell unit of the Body of Christ. The smallest body unit within the Body of Christ is when two or three people, brought together by the Holy Spirit in a meeting place, which is the name of Jesus. Then Jesus says, “I am there.”

In relationship to that, He says in verse 19, “Again I say to you that if two of you [the absolute minimum] agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.” The key to understanding this is the word “agree.” It is not intellectual agreement; it is not simply putting something on a prayer list and saying, “That’s what we’re going to pray for,” because – let’s be honest – you and I have many times heard people say intellectually, “We’ll agree. We’ll pray for Brother Smith in hospital.” But Brother Smith stays in hospital and dies in hospital. Nothing happened. Why? Because Jesus was speaking of a deeper “agreement,” not merely about intellectual agreement or mental assent.

The Greek word for agreement is sumphoneo. It’s a musical term from which we get the English word “symphony.” If two of you shall “symphonize” – come together in harmony concerning anything they shall ask according to the will of God, it will be done for them.

I believe that this promise is so important that it’s worth analyzing what Jesus really said. I understand it this way. I’m going to focus on the illustration of the symphony and the orchestra. I’m not a musician, but I have studied and enjoyed classical music, and I know that if you have a symphony orchestra, there are two things you will need for the symphony to be performed. You need a score (the music), and you need a conductor to bring the instruments together in agreement with the score. I believe this exactly illustrates what Jesus meant when He said if two of you shall “symphonize” as touching anything you ask. Who is the Conductor? The Holy Spirit. What is the score? God’s will, revealed in His Word.

When the Holy Spirit brings two or more people into perfect harmony concerning the will of God, revealed and interpreted from the score (the Word of God) by the Conductor (the Holy Spirit), then anything they ask shall be done for them. When we have the Conductor, the score, and the orchestra, we have the results. But without that, it’s just words. This is the basis of effective praying.

 Points to Ponder:

• “Praying Christians are often their own most severe critics.” That statement, from an earlier IFA publication, has encouraged many intercessors to press on in prayer. Because we are finite, we don’t always know the ultimate purpose of God in His larger plan. Don’t let that discourage you from continuing to pray.
• As another intercessor from the previous generation has said, “The only way you can ‘fail’ in prayer is to stop praying before the situation is resolved.” So keep on keeping on.
• Let these devotionals encourage you to know that God wants to hear your prayers, and that He will answer according to His will. When perplexed, ask God for wisdom from His Word. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting…” (James 1:5-6)

Complete Devotional in PDF Format Click Here!

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(Derek Prince was one of the founders of Intercessors for America. Photo Credit: doidam10 via Canva Teams)