Intercessory Prayer, Praise, and Spiritual Warfare

¹⁸Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers for all the saints.

¹First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be offered for everyone— ²for kings and all those in authority—so that we may lead tranquil and quiet lives in all godliness and dignity. ³This is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

¹⁶Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.

²⁰Early in the morning they got up and left for the Wilderness of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood up and said, “Hear me, O people of Judah and Jerusalem. Believe in the LORD your God, and you will be upheld; believe in His prophets, and you will succeed.” ²¹Then Jehoshaphat consulted with the people and appointed those who would sing to the LORD and praise the splendor of His holiness. As they went out before the army, they were singing: “Give thanks to the LORD, for His loving devotion endures forever.” ²²The moment they began their shouts and praises, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, and they were defeated.

¹Of David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, so that the king drove him away. I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise will always be on my lips. ²My soul boasts in the LORD; let the oppressed hear and rejoice. ³Magnify the LORD with me; let us exalt His name together. ⁴I sought the LORD, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears. ⁵Those who look to Him are radiant with joy; their faces shall never be ashamed. ⁶This poor man called out, and the LORD heard him; He saved him from all his troubles. ⁷The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, and he delivers them.

²³On their release, Peter and John returned to their own people and reported everything that the chief priests and elders had said to them. ²⁴When the believers heard this, they lifted up their voices to God with one accord. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “You made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them. ²⁵You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of Your servant, our father David: ‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? ²⁶The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against His Anointed One.’ ²⁷In fact, this is the very city where Herod and Pontius Pilate conspired with the Gentiles and the people of Israel against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed. ²⁸They carried out what Your hand and will had decided beforehand would happen. ²⁹And now, Lord, consider their threats, and enable Your servants to speak Your word with complete boldness, ³⁰as You stretch out Your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.” ³¹After they had prayed, their meeting place was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.