Concerning the seeking Gentile stranger, Solomon prayed that God would act according to all that the foreigner would call upon Him for (vv. 41-43).
In verses 44 and 45 Solomon prayed that if God's people were sent into battle, God would hear their prayer and maintain their cause. For God to maintain the cause of His people means that He executes justice regarding their situation.
Solomon prayed even concerning the future captivity of God's people (vv. 46-53). He prayed that in the captivity of His people Jehovah would hear His people's prayer and maintain their cause when they would return to Him with all their heart and with all their soul and pray to Him toward the land that He had given to their fathers, toward the city that He had chosen, and toward the house that Solomon had built for His name, that they could be separated from all the peoples of the earth to be His inheritance.
In the last of the seven conditions concerning God's listening to the prayers of His elect, three things are stressed (v. 48): the holy land, typifying Christ as God's allotted portion to the believers (Col. 1:12); the holy city, signifying the kingdom of God in Christ; and the holy temple, signifying God's house, the church, on the earth. These three things—the holy land, the holy city, and the holy temple—are the three crucial things regarding God's economy. During the Babylonian captivity Daniel prayed for the holy land, the holy city, and the holy temple three times a day by opening his window toward Jerusalem (Dan. 6:10). This indicates that God will listen to our prayer in the way that our prayer to God must be toward Christ, the kingdom of God, and the house of God as the goal in God's eternal economy.
The holy land, the holy city, and the holy temple are all types of Christ. Christ is our good land; Christ is our city, our kingdom; and Christ is the temple, God's dwelling place. Today, our prayers should be aimed at the holy land, the holy city, and the holy temple. This means that our prayers should be aimed at the interest of God, that is, at Christ and the church as God's interest on earth.
The spiritual significance of God's interest is Christ Himself. This indicates that no matter for whom we are praying, our prayer must be aimed at Christ as God's interest. We need to pray for the saints, but we should not aim our prayers at them. On the one hand we pray for them, but on the other hand we pray for them because of God's interest. If in our prayer we aim at the one for whom we pray, this will bring in the enemy's attack. This is a spiritual strategy in the spiritual warfare.
We need to remember that prayer involves three parties: we, God, and Satan. Sometimes when we pray for a certain person, Satan comes to attack him, and his situation becomes worse. The reason for this is that our interest is in that person, not in God's economy. No matter for whom we are praying, we should aim our prayer at God's Christ, who is God's interest in His economy.
To pray properly, we must pray to God in the name of the Lord Jesus (John 16:24), aiming at God's interest for His economy. By the expression "in the name of the Lord Jesus" I do not mean any traditional form of prayer. To pray in the name of Jesus is to pray for the interest of God on earth, which is Christ as God's portion to us, as God's kingdom, and as God's dwelling place. Our prayer should be altogether for God's interest to fulfill God's economy.