Covenant prayer releases supernatural grace for the assignment and power to route the enemy.
If we’re going to take back our nation for the Lord, it will have to be one territory at a time. It will require regional strongholds to be pulled down and Kingdom practices to take hold if we are to truly “possess the land” that God has given.
But what kind of authority does it take to disarm regional principalities and powers? Can any believer in Christ take down territorial spirits as a son or daughter of the Most High? Based on the current fruit, or lack thereof, it is apparent that territorial spirits and regional principalities do not easily bow to someone’s personal claim of spiritual ranking, or even our collective rebukes and declarations. And though we have understood the need for repentance and having clean hands and a pure heart, we have yet to see the tangible results we long for on a larger scale. Even as we persevere in corporate intercession, I believe there is a key element that has been sorely lacking. And I believe it’s our spiritual adversaries who reveal a missing link.
In a recent YouTube video that went viral, ex-satanist, James Kawalya, shared some of the strategies that occultists have used in taking down churches, pastors, and prayer groups over regions. His own story of redemption is shocking but is an eye-opening account of the enemy’s tools in shutting down the power of prayer. Yet, even in the midst of these targeted schemes to bring disunity among believers, Kawalya revealed a kind of covenant authority in prayer that even the highest-ranking witches over nations cannot touch.
The kind of covenant prayer Kawalya talks about is not just people agreeing to pray together for a specific length of time. It is not even a weekly commitment to a prayer ministry or agenda. Nor is it determined by the length of our fast or the fervency of our prayers. It is a depth of commitment to one another that requires a circumcision of the heart and rending of our flesh in order to see principalities and powers fall. He described a covenant agreement that involves consecration, sacrifice, and mutual submission that is extremely powerful in the spirit. And yet few have fulfilled this depth of covenant agreement to see the tangible breakthroughs needed. We either get offended and quit or allow our differences to become stumbling blocks instead of stepping stones.
Those who pursue the works of darkness know the power of agreement. Witchcraft is founded on covenants, oaths, and vows in order to accomplish a goal. They know the power of making covenants in order to elicit change through supernatural means. They are so committed to their cause, that they will even sacrifice loved ones if it means fulfilling their deadly covenants and gaining more power from the evil one. This level of commitment should convict us. It should cause us to consider our own understanding of covenant and how our commitment, not just to God but to one another, ultimately affects our cause.
As I have begun to study this kind of prayer, I would like to offer some basic principles that might help us better understand what covenant prayer is – and isn’t. Consider how these factors might be influencing your own prayers or the prayer initiatives in your own cities and territories.
WHAT IS COVENANT PRAYER?
- Covenant prayer is based on God’s covenant with us. He consistently states that He will keep His promises to us when we put Him first and follow His commands. (We must do our part so He can do His.)
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments, to a thousand generations. (Deuteronomy 7:9)
- Covenant prayer is established through committed godly relationships. It is a fellowship of believers who have agreed on fulfilling God’s terms together. (No lone-ranger intercessors.)
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47)
Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. (Acts 4:32-33)
- Covenant prayer honors those whom the Lord has placed in positions of spiritual authority, recognizing that apostolic input is essential for effective breakthrough in cities and regions. (We cannot take cities apart from pastoral involvement).
While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off…And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God. The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. (Acts 13:2-3, 43-44)
- Covenant prayer is targeted and strategic for a specific cause. (The more specific the target, the easier to measure.) (See Judges 20:18-40, Ezra 8:21-23, Nehemiah 1:1-4, Acts 14:23)
WHAT SETS COVENANT PRAYER APART?
- Covenant prayer requires collective consecration and repentance on a consistent basis. (We must set ourselves apart).
Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the Lord their God. (Nehemiah 9:1-3)
- Covenant prayer calls for all idols of the heart and mind to be fully surrendered. (Idolatry within regions will not submit to believers who are personally compromised.)
Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations? (Jeremiah 7:9-10)
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. (Colossians 3:5)
- Covenant prayer requires each participant to be free of offense, bitterness, and strife, aiming for oneness of the heart and not just unity of purpose. (There is no unity when offense is stirring.)
See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled. (Hebrews 12:15)
May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:5-6)
- Covenant prayer requires perseverance in the midst of likely conflict and contradiction. (Don’t let the enemy divide you.)
But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night. (Nehemiah 4:7-9)
Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore. (Psalms 133)
- Covenant prayer that seeks breakthrough in cities and regions asks those called as shepherds and overseers to lead the way by demonstrating personal consecration. (Pastors must take ownership and engage).
And when the priests came out of the Holy Place (for all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves, without regard to their divisions)… and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord, “For He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever,” the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God (2 Chronicles 5:11-14).
But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. (Acts 6:4)
- Covenant prayer honors the agreements made and perseveres together until the completion of the assignment. (Don’t quit!)
And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. (Luke 24:49)
And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. (Acts 4:29-31)
Covenant prayer releases supernatural grace for the assignment and power to route the enemy. When our covenant to God and one another is maintained with a clear conscience and oneness of heart, there is a spiritual authority released that overrides demonic agreements and nullifies covenants of the wicked. Occultists have known the power of covenant agreement from the start. We cannot allow the workers of darkness to outdo us in consecration and commitment.
It is time the Church rises up together in resurrection power to break through the darkness. The gates of hell will be no match for a people who walk in covenant agreement and raise their voices as one.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Wanda Alger