When do I ask and when do I declare?

Sometimes when praying, people end up not knowing whether to declare by faith or to ask. There are people who always declare, and others who always ask. In terms of asking, Jesus says…

John 14:14
You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

John 15:7
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

This means to me that you can ask anything. I will explain why later, but for now lets look at declarations.

Matthew 17:20
So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

Luke 17:6
He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you

If you look here, A declaration requires you to have a certain type of faith. If you have that faith, you can declare and nothing will be impossible for you.

If you feel, you don’t have the faith to declare, then ask.

Then we have authority granted to us, against the powers of the enemy.

Luke 10:19
Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Where there is a spirit directly causing you trouble in a certain situation, there is no need to ask… Just cast it out using the authority given to you.

Then we have Things That Jesus himself has declared we can do, if we use his name.

Mark 16:17-18 New King James Version (NKJV)
17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they[a] will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

So generally,  the name of Jesus has been given to every believer to use in those situations. Even if they don’t have a lot of faith, they can see much result.

Three Kinds of Prayer
There are three kinds of problems you can encounter, that are best dealt with in three different ways.

1. Problems due to Obstacles of Nature
2. Problems Caused by Human Authority
3. Problems caused by Demonic Confrontation.

Of course Satan is the cause of all problems. But what you have to fight is different at times is different.

1. Problems caused by obstacles of nature.

An example is Moses wanting to cross the Red Sea. Or Elisha and an axe that has fallen in the water. Or Jesus when there is no more bread.

These are the kind of situations designed to use mustard seed faith to declare or to do acts of faith. There is no casting of any spirit needed. Some sicknesses are caused by obstacles of nature, due to injury and so on.

If you feel you don’t have the faith for this, you just ask God and he will either tell you what to do. Just as Moses asked God, and God told him to raise his stick in the air. The only faith you would require in that instance is to simply do what God has told you to do. If you have problems hearing God, He may answer you by sending someone into your life who hears God well and they will tell you what God is saying.

2. Problems Caused by Direct Demonic confrontation.

Some problems are caused by a spirit which is standing in direct confrontation with you. In such circumstances you are supposed to use the authority that God has given you.

When you don’t as yet understand how. If you ask, God will send someone into your life to that. However, as you go spiritually and in the word, God expects you to start operating in authority yourself. So at that time you may find that people will pray for you, but you may not see the results you used to because God expects you to use your own authority.

 

3. Problems caused by Human Authority.

Human beings have free will and Adamic authority. They can use this authority to attack you. So you may have a bad boss at work. You can’t cast him out. You can’t declare him to go against his free will. If he wants you dead… you can’t declare that he changes his mind.

If a problem is caused is directly caused by human will, you can’t always declare it away. This is where you may need to reconcile with that person. The only thing that has power to change the will of a person is the word. You can also pray for favour from God. What favour does is that it makes you likable. Think of it as smell. A bad smell will chase people away from you, and a good smell, a perfume will make people want to be around you. So Satan can put a bad smell on you… But God can put a perfume on you.