Filling Prayer Bowls – Accelerating Answered Prayer

In a previous article titled Frame It! Building a Vehicle For Answered Prayer we discussed how to frame up prayer using a model of golden bowls found in Revelation 5:8 and 8:3-5, with a promise of more to come, discussing how prayer bowls get filled and how we can accelerate the process with spiritual laws and principles. In the same way that the natural world full of visible matter has natural laws that govern its function, the spiritual realm full of invisible spirit-matter has spiritual laws that do the same. Where natural laws include things like friction, drag, gravity, and thermodynamics, spiritual laws include things like sowing and reaping, focus, and agreement. When we understand how spiritual laws function, we can make strategic use of them to enhance the effectiveness of our prayers. Spiritual principles are similar to laws in that they influence how things function, but are not as specific and targeted as laws are. Alternately, to look at why prayers often go unanswered, you can read our article titled Understanding Spiritual Laws and Forces: The Paper Airplane Model. Before explaining how we can use spiritual laws and principles to do this, I want to clarify something. None of this is us earning God’s favor or earning the right to have our prayers answered. We have already been made fully righteous in Jesus Christ, and instead of trying to earn the right to get our prayers answered, the scriptures tell us that because of our position as sons and daughters of God we are to “boldly approach the throne of grace to find mercy and grace to help in time of need (Heb 4:16).” We don’t pray from an earthly position of need, but from a heavenly position of birthright and authority, decreeing and legislating into the earth that which we already have access of in heaven. However, God also wants to bring us into maturity as sons and daughters which means learning how the spiritual realms work and the rules by which they operate. The good news is that doing so will help us to be more effective in manifesting heaven’s rule in the natural realm.

Spiritual Laws

The primary law that influences most of what happens in the earth is that of sowing and reaping. Galatians 6:7 tells us that what we sow or put out, we will reap or get back. Luke 6:37-38 speaks of a similar concept, saying, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Both of these verses show us that whatever we put out, and in the measure which we put it out, we will receive in like kind in return. In the natural that means if we plant corn seeds, we will grow corn plants. If we plant acorns, we will grow oak trees—and the law works the same way for things spiritual. What this means for answered prayer is that if we want to accelerate the speed at which we get things done, we can intentionally sow in order to intentionally reap. Using the idea of prayer bowls getting filled in prayer, that means we might choose to intercede for others who are dealing with the same things we are, knowing that as we sow on behalf of others, we will reap back the same for our own situation. You can read a little more about it in another article titled Is The Law of Attraction In The Bible?
The thing about using the law of sowing and reaping to accelerate answered prayer is that it isn’t necessarily a quick-fix. It is effective, but not always fast. Think about it—when someone plants a seed, it takes months for it to grow before it produces edible fruit. Sowing and reaping is effective, but it isn’t usually instantaneous. While there are situations and circumstances that can accelerate the “growth time”, as a whole using sowing and reaping to accelerate answered prayer works best in situations that are expected to either be long-term issues or recurring ones.
A second law we can use to accelerate the filling of prayer bowls is the Law of Agreement. Matthew 18:19 says, “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” This verse explicitly states that when two people agree in prayer on something, God answers. Deuteronomy 32:30 expands on this principle, showing us that there is an exponential growth that occurs when we get multiple people involved in prayer. It says, “. . . “one man chase a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight . . . (Deuteronomy 32:30)” When people align in prayer there is something about that joining together that causes not just a basic acceleration but has a synergistic effect in the spirit that propels answered prayer forward.

Spiritual Principles

Spiritual laws are not the only things that help accelerate prayer. There are other principles and spiritual functions that do not fall under the category of laws that can also help us accelerate prayer. Some of the primary ones include engaging and including angels, addressing atmospheres and praying under an “open heaven”, and inner healing and deliverance.
Angels are messengers, helpers, and warriors and some of their functions include helping us do all that God has planned in advance for us to do. Psalm 103:20 says, “Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word.” One of the functions of angels is to perform God’s word, and when we pray in alignment with God’s will and nature (considering Jesus *is* the Word made flesh), angels assist us. One means of accelerating prayer is to be intentional about involving angels. In fact, if we consider the prayer-bowl analogy, Revelation 8:3-5 even shows us that angels are actively involved in the process of answering prayer. In Daniel 10:12, an angel comes to Daniel and tells him that when Daniel first prayed to God, he was dispatched with the answer to the man’s prayer, which only further demonstrates this point. If we want to enhance the effectiveness of prayer, we would be wise to include our heavenly helpers (To learn more about how to partner with angels, enroll for free in our email list and you will receive a free e-book titled Engaging Angels).

Atmospheres are one of those subjects that it seems most are unaware of on a conscious level, but if we really think about it, we have all experienced the influence of an atmosphere. Have you ever walked into a room where two people were arguing? You can literally feel the tension in the air—a perfect example of a negative atmosphere. In the same way that we can both sense and create negative atmospheres, we can sense and create positive ones. A good way to do this is to literally verbally take authority over the atmosphere wherever you are and command it to shift in a way that is according to Heaven’s design, but spending time in worship or prayer are other ways to do this. The idea of praying under an “open heaven” is essentially derived from the idea that we can have a spiritual atmosphere that is highly conducive to prayer, angelic activity, and which restrains the function of the demonic. For a revelatory perspective on this, I highly recommend the article How Satan Stops Our Prayers: Combat In The Heavenly Realms by John Mulinde. Ultimately, whether one titles it something special like “open heaven” or not, the underlying point is that we can influence a time of prayer by addressing not just the spiritual forces of angels and demons during the time of prayer, but by setting up the spiritual conditions around us at the outset of that prayer time. By adjusting the spiritual atmosphere as we start to pray we can enhance the effectiveness of our prayer time and often can sense an active release in the spirit when the things we are praying for are being answered.

Inner healing and deliverance don’t really seem like the kind of thing that would help accelerate prayer, but Hebrews 12:1 gives us a key as to how they can help. It says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us . . . (Hebrews 12:1)“ Soul wounds and demonic baggage are perfect examples of things that hinder, and they also push people toward entangling sin. Going through inner healing and deliverance helps us throw them off, as the verse recommends, so we can run forward with perseverance. While this might not seem to help with prayer at first glance, demonic resistance hinders prayer, and inner wounds eat at our faith. By addressing both of these, we remove things that erode the effectiveness of our prayers, which in turn increases effectiveness.

Whether working with spiritual laws such as sowing and reaping or spiritual principles such as atmospheres and open heavens, we do not have to live at the mercy of our circumstances when it comes to prayer. We can take an active part in when and how our prayers get answered, and can use Godly wisdom to partner with heaven to see God’s Kingdom manifest on earth as it already exists in heaven.