The other day someone I deeply respect and listen to quite often was teaching on how that when we pray God moves ...
... and the Holy Spirit moved inside of me ...
The Holy Spirit reminded me of an awesome truth that I would like to pen here and remind myself of every now and then. This is the Truth I should NEVER forget and always take into account in every situation ... because this Truth is the GOSPEL TRUTH!
We say things we do not think through
We say things that sound profound. It even sounds Bible-ish, even Godly but these words are frequently the manifestations of our brainwashed religious upbringing.
We proclaim Grace ... and wonder why our prayers did not work immediately. And the "best" reason we can come up with is from the book of Daniel. That is, if you don't subscribe to the ridiculous and insane gesture that God is always in control no matter what.
Yet, there is something we keep missing as New Testament heirs in the kingdom of God that makes the whole Daniel example totally irrelevant to our prayers.
So, here goes!
In grace teachings one would often find teachings or motivational messages that attempt to provide reasons why certain prayers did not work. After all, Jesus did say that we could ask anything in His name and we shall receive.
In an effort to explain the failure of the believers prayer, preachers would say:
Don't worry, God is for you.
If you do not see an immediate manifestation of what you have asked for, just press through.
God moved the moment we prayed and that our prayers are just being hindered in the spiritual realm by some or other demonic force or activity.
And it is easily motivated from Daniel.
Enters the time-lapse
To illustrate this, the particular grace teacher I am referring to would normally cite Daniel and how that in the beginning of the book of Daniel he, Daniel, prayed and whilst he still was still praying the angel of the Lord appeared right there next to him telling him that the moment he prayed God reacted to his petitions. Check it out in Daniel 9:21-23 Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.
The second time around Daniel ended up praying and fasting and praying and fasting and pressing through and so forth for weeks on end without seeing the physical manifestation of his prayers. Check it out again in Daniel, this time from Daniel 10:12-13 Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.
Your prayers can be hindered, right. Gulp!
Powerful story
... from the old covenant, though ...
Imagine a person with some kind of terminal illness or addiction hearing this message and not seeing an immediate manifestation.
The explanation would normally be that there is nothing wrong with the one praying or with God. God moved the very moment you prayed, but the prayers were withstood in the spiritual. So, just like Daniel, keep your focus on God, press through and know that God had moved the moment you prayed. You just don't know when it is going to happen ...
We worship a God of distance and delay ... 😞
Really?
The dependent prayer
In the above teaching scenario as explained by our grace-teacher-friend, the manifestation of the prayer is dependent on two ingredients. Remember God already moved the moment you prayed, so what is the manifestation dependent on?
Well, our teacher-friend does not say it explicitly. But if you analyse his teaching, he is saying that the manifestation of your prayer is dependent on:
1) YOU - because you have to do certain things such as pressing through, keep believing, rebuking the evil, withstanding, keep thanking God that you will come day receive, etc.; and
2) THE DEMONIC FORCES AT PLAY - because they have this powerful ability to hinder your prayers in the spiritual realm (implying that these forces are somehow stronger than your prayers and worse, that they are stronger than Gods Word, Jesus).
There is no finished work
And so we find ourselves back under the law again: if ... then ...
What did I say?
B S!
So, if all this is BS then what?
As a New Covenant heir in the Kingdom of God we are definitely not in the same position as the Daniel of the old Jewish covenant!
God did not move the moment you prayed!
What?
Yes!
God ... Jesus moved more than 2000 years ago when He died on the cross and rose from the dead, defeating the devil and any other evil force that might stand against His beloved.
Then He moved in. He abides in me with the fullness of His beloved Spirit.
There is no spiritual force strong enough to hinder your prayers
So, what keeps our prayers from manifesting before our eyes?
The belief that God still has to move. The belief that God's move is dependent on our prayers and how we ask. The belief that God's will is mysterious and no one knows God's heart towards his children. The belief that God still has to move or moves when you pray - that all right there is doubt and unbelief, the very single thing that Jesus warned against time and again.
And Jesus answering saith unto them,
Have faith in God.
For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. Mar 11:22-24
and:
Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Mat 17:19
... and 59 other instances in the Bible where unbelief is addressed ...
Your prayers can only be hindered by yourself!
His brother, James and leader of the ekklēsia in Jerusalem said it: But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. Jas 1:6
Your prayers are only hindered by your own doubt and unbelief in the finished work of Jesus!
Can I say that again, slowly?
Y o u r p r a y e r s a r e o n l y h i n d e r e d
b y y o u r o w n d o u b t a n d u n b e l i e f
i n t h e f i n i s h e d w o r k o f J e s u s !
Profoundly Jesus also says how that we could make the Word of God to non effect:
Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye. Mar 7:13
How then do we pray?
Pray and demand the way that Jesus said we should.
Pray like an heir. Not like beggar-slave. Pray like it is a done deal. It is finished!
Take dominion like the Roman Centurion.
Marvel about your Faith, Jesus!