Persistence in Prayer
When we pray, we also need to be alert and ready. This means simply just keeping your eyes open and being aware of what is going on, always watching, always aware. We need to always be conscious that the enemy is always there. Our adversary is like the prowling lion, seeking to devour. Make sure that you are always open to what God is saying and what God is doing. It is an attitude of the heart.
I remember back in the early '80s, I was pastor of a church in Washington state. Some of my members were serving on the Trident nuclear subs. One day they asked me if I wanted to take a tour. I said, yes, I would love to. So we get out there and they walked me through all of the security, and there was a lot of security. As you go, you meet this guard and that guard along the way. When you finally get out there, the sub is three football fields long, more than 900 feet long. It has 23 silos they can shoot nuclear warheads from anywhere on the earth underwater. And as you are going in, what caught my attention were the guards. They were Marines, and they had a staring problem. They stared at you as you came -- they looked at you up and down as you came by. This makes a person feel a little self-conscience. These guys do not smile. They were lined up with their weapons and were watching and looking around continuously. I was amazed by that. And whenever I think about prayer, that is the image that the Lord continually brings back to my mind -- the guards who are looking out. Everything that comes by is suspect and in question, as if to ask "Are you the real thing or not? I don't care who you are traveling with, I am going to keep my eye on you." All the time they are looking at everything in the area they are posted to guard.
That is the way we are to be in prayer. Always looking, always aware, always conscious of what is going on. We must be sensitive to the Spirit and what the Spirit is saying. Some of us need God to knock us on the head to hear the Spirit talk to us. We are walking along and all of a sudden bang! It is like the Lord is saying, "I'm trying to get your attention. Hello? Wake up."
God shouldn't have to work that hard to talk to us. He wants us to be so sensitive that He doesn't have to knock us on the head to get our attention. He wants us to see, to be aware and to perceive that the enemy is there. He wants us to know the next step to take. And He wants us to pray with tenacity, with perseverance, hanging in there and not giving up.
Do you ever get tired of praying for other people? Let's be honest -- I do. I admit it. There are times that I say, "Lord come on, are we done with so and so yet?" I mean every once-in-awhile it just comes out. "Can we just skip this one today?" But we can't ever give up, we can't ever quit, we can't ever stop, and we can't get too tired. Jesus would say this, in Luke 18:1: "Show them that they should always pray and not give up." God doesn't want us to give up. God wants us to hang in there. He wants us to stay there. And we don't know what all God is doing. We need to keep on praying until God breaks through.
One time Daniel was praying and fasting. And all of the sudden he looked up and there is this angel standing in front of him. Daniel chapter 10 describes this angel, and no one other than Daniel saw the angel. They knew the presence of the Lord was too strong and they responded by running away. Then the angel spoke to Daniel and said this, "Don't be afraid Daniel. Since the first day that you began to pray and ask for understanding and humble yourself before your God, your requests have been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer." Now how long was Daniel praying before that happened? It was 21 days. "But for 21 days, the spirit of the prince of Persia has blocked my way, then Michael, one of the archangels came to help me. And I left him there with the spirit prince of the King of Persia."
So there was Daniel, praying intensely and fasting. He prayed for 21 days (three weeks), and nothing happened. How would you be with that? About the third day you are fasting. After seven days you begin to ask, "Oh Lord what is wrong? Why aren't You breaking through?" We don't realize what is going on when we pray. Daniel was praying, but he didn't know what was happening. But as he began to pray, God sent angels and said "Go." And the king of darkness came up and they were fighting. And Michael, the archangel, came with his big sword and began whooping on the demons. And they were fighting back and forth and finally this messenger got through.
Meanwhile, what is going on with Daniel? He is just praying. "Oh Lord, do something, sometime, please. Just please come through."
We don't see all that takes place when we pray. Sometimes we say, "God I don't see anything. Are you hearing this prayer? Is anything happening?" You go to your backroom into your prayer closet and sit in your little chair and you begin to pray. "Lord, just come through. Please help me Lord." You are not feeling anything and you are not seeing anything. But up in the heavens God says, "Legion 475, get your guys together and go to take on that demon down there." They go and the demons say, "No you can't have that," and they battle. Michael the archangel comes and Gabriel is trying to get through. And all this fighting is going on and you are back in your prayer closet. "Thank you God. Thank you Jesus." And you walk away thinking, "Did anything really happen back there? Did anything take place at all? Why am I doing this? I'm getting tired. I'm getting discouraged." And we don't see all that is getting released in the heavens whenever we pray. We don't usually understand all the power, all the angelic hosts that are being dispatched when we pray. It happens even if we don't see it. Don't underestimate that power of prayer.
Don't underestimate what you have available to you. It is a weapon in your arsenal. And when we pray we have to pray with great tenacity. We have to hang in there. We can't quit.
Do you know what we do sometimes? We pray until we get to a tolerable level. We have our pain tolerance. When it is too bad, what do we do? We pray to God and we cry out to God. Then what happens? It lightens and lessens and it gets tolerable. What happens when it gets tolerable? You quit praying. Until all of the sudden your pain level goes up. Now I've got to come pray some more. "Oh God this is so terrible. Help me Please Jesus, please." Then you get back down to a tolerable pain level. It's not very good, but it is better than what it was. And you say, "I can handle that. I can tolerate that for a little bit." Right?
When Israel complained, "God these task masters are so bad. They oppress us, they kill our babies" God sent them Moses. Were they excited to see Moses? No. The deliverer had come, and they said, "Well, who are you?" Moses said, "God sent me, I am the deliverer." And did you know that God had to increase their pain level a little bit just to make them want to get out of Egypt?
Sometimes God does that with us. He may increase our pain tolerance to bring us to the place of deliverance. We want relief, God wants deliverance. We pray for our nation, "God change it." And if all that we got was a little bit of relief, we would quit praying.
God keeps it just intolerable. I don't mind that. To be honest with you, we have more people now that are at a place of uneasiness in our nation than any other time that I have been alive. There is no security. All of our security has been exposed as being false. So what are people doing? They are freaking out. Someone opens an envelope and little white powder comes out and he screams, "Anthrax! Spray me down!" A man on an airplane opens a birthday card and those little glitter things fall out and they shut down a plane because of it. People are freaking out.
I know that it bothers some of you. It doesn't bother me. I don't mind keeping people a little uneasy, on their edge. I don't mind that little fear rising up. Otherwise they won't turn to God. And God is interested in getting people to heaven. Are we clear on that one? Do you understand that God will allow whatever it takes to get people there? Hell is a long time. Heaven is a long time. God wants them to spend that time with Him in heaven. He will do whatever it takes to get their attention and to keep them on the edge. I don't look for peace to come over the nation. I look for edginess to come over the nation. And I believe it is going to drive people to God. It already has. And it will increase.
But keep in mind that God has a bigger plan in mind. God simply wants to get our attention. He's doing a good job. God wants each nation to have revival. God wants each nation to know Him. God is readying us for that day and that hour to get us ready for Him.
Obtaining Breakthrough
So how long do you pray? Well, you can pray until there is a breakthrough. That is always good. Or you can pray until you have an answer. Or maybe God doesn't give you the answer that you want. Maybe you just pray until God gives you His peace inside. Or maybe the burden that He has placed within you begins to fade. You just keep praying until it is time to stop. And if you pray in the Spirit, God will tell you how to pray, when to pray, and what not to pray for. You just pray in the Spirit and God will show you these things.
We need to understand that prayer is the weapon of God. It is the weapon of God and we can not underestimate its power. It's piercing the heavens, it's dispatching angels. It changes things and changes lives. And we don't give it much time in our life. It should have a higher priority, the highest priority in our lives. When you are sitting there in your little prayer closet and you think, "I don't feel a thing, I don't see a thing, I don't sense a thing." And you may begin complaining, "I don't see anything going on." In those times, know for certain that God honors it when you have prayed. He will come through. He will do it. You are dispatching angels and things you don't even see are going on. But they are going on.
I want to tell you at this hour that the angels of God are busier than they have ever been. I mean they are on the move. The kingdom of darkness is rising up. Remember the Bible talks about how mad the devil is going to get? He has always been that way, he is just going to manifest it. We can not shrink back in fear. A lot you see going on in the natural is a good picture of what is going on in the spirit. That radical Islamic group is a type of Satan. What do they do? They prey on the innocent. Everybody is their enemy. They strike in places where you don't expect them to be. Those are the ways the devil works. He is just like that. Take out the innocent, take out the weak, take out the ones who don't see him coming. Take out those who are open to him. He finds the place of vulnerability and goes after it. And God wants you to see that you have a place in the battle. You have smart bombs, smart missiles, you have radar, because the Holy Spirit is there and nothing hides from the Spirit of God. He knows where everything is and we can pray effectively.
Not only should we pray that way as we pray for our nation and as we pray for our national leaders, but you can also pray that way when you pray for your family. You see the devil has those inroads into our family members. We have to know how to pray. We need to be saying, "Lord show us how to pray! Lord I want to get a smart bomb and I want to attack that stronghold the enemy has in the life of my son, daughter, aunt." We can pray that way and we can pray effectively that way. Prayer is a powerful, powerful weapon.
God wants to reach your city and the surrounding cities for His Kingdom. Don't underestimate the power that you have whenever you begin to speak the Kingdom of God and you bless. Even as you walk around your neighborhood and speak the blessing of God over every household. You may think, "What is this doing? Is this going anywhere?" I am telling you that angels are going everywhere. Legions, they get assigned. They converge on those houses.
Whenever you pray that way, God's angels are activated and His power is released. God wants to transform a city and He can do it. God wants to transform countries and He is doing it.
EXERCISE
Let's do a little exercise to help us "get on the band wagon" in prayer. In other words, let's actually stop to pray. Let's get in on this. Let's be people who pray. Let's just begin by praising and worshiping the Lord. Take a few minutes, turn on a worship CD or tape, and spend a few minutes just praising the Lord, entering into His presence and telling Him how awesome He is. He is an awesome God, isn't He? He deserves all of our praise and worship. So spend a few minutes drawing close to Him, honoring Him, worshipping Him. Think about all the awesome things God has done. How He delivered His people out of Egypt, how He came through for them again and again. Think of the things He has done for you personally. Review them with the Lord and thank Him for what He did for you. If you have trouble remembering what the Lord has done for you, invite the Holy Spirit to remind you. Think about God and why He deserves your worship and give Him that worship. (Do this for at least five or 10 minutes.)
Then begin by praying for yourself. Lift up your needs. Don't be shy, don't be timid. This is your weapon. Tell God what you need and what you would like Him to do for you. Tell Him about the things that are holding you back from walking in all that He has planned for you. Invite His lordship into your life. Tell Him what you need from Him and ask Him to meet you to take care of your needs.
Next, pray for your family. Claim them for the Kingdom. Intercede for them on their behalf. Angels are being dispatched. The heavens are opening up. Don't be shy when you pray for your family. They are your closest teammates. Some of them are not pulling their weight. You need to pray that they will. Claim them for the Kingdom if they are lost.
Now pray for those who live around you. God has called you to bring light to those around you. To be light into that neighborhood. Claim them now. God wants you to advance His Kingdom where you live. Include the people in your workplace or school. Claim all those around you.
Pray for the city in which you live. Pray for those who have responsibility in government. Pray for the churches that are in the city you live in. Don't hold back. We are piercing the heavens. The darkness is fleeing. Continue to pray for your city, begin to arm yourself up. Then pray for your state or province, pray for your governor or leader, for those involved in state legislatures. Claim any ungodly legislation that is trying to get through. Take it back. Warring angels are being released as we pray.
Pray for your nation. Pray for your leaders (In the USA this would include the president, vice president, Congress, etc. In the UK it would include the queen, members of Parliament, etc.). Lift your national leaders up. The need wisdom, they need God to divinely direct their steps so they will not turn from the right or to the left. They will be making decisions that will affect your life. Lift them up!
How long do you keep praying? Your burden is your guide.
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