Stay There!

Dan.10:12-13 “…Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way.”

Matt.6:8 (KJV) “Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.” This is another scripture that a lot of people struggle with when it comes to persistent prayer. Why do we have to keep calling and keep praying when our Father already knows what we need? Thank God it was Jesus Himself that said to us, learn from the widow (Luke 18:1-8, please read) how to keep calling repetitively until we get what we ask for. I had a friend back in the day that used to pray for like three hours stretch. She said that after she has been praying for a while, her mother would come and push her. ‘Make your prayers short, God already knows what you need. You do not need to pray for hours and hours, disturbing everybody.’ her mother would say. What the mother was not saying was that her daughter’s prayers were thwarting her witchcraft. 

The point is, there are different types of prayers for different types of situations. There are times that all you need is a prayer of faith and you see results. There are times that you need to dig in and stay there. Elijah prayed once and fire flashed down from heaven. But for a different task, this same Elijah prayed the first time, no rain. He prayed the second time, no rain. He prayed the third time, still no rain. Meanwhile, it was God that told him to go and show himself to Ahab that rain was coming. Elijah prayed the fourth time, prayed the fifth time, prayed the sixth – still no rain. What was going on? Is God not answering prayers? When Elijah prayed the seventh time, the heavens released their rain and everywhere was soaked. 

Why did Elijah not stop after praying the first, second, third, and fourth time? Why did he not get discouraged or say maybe it is not ‘God’s will’. This erroneous concept of  ‘God’s will’ is another cup-out by a lot of people.  Well maybe it is not ‘God’s will’ – that is actually laziness speaking. God’s will is clear – do not stop calling. You have to develop that attitude of persistence in the place of prayer. The Bible says from the first day that Daniel started petitioning heaven, the answer was released. But Daniel got the answer after twenty-one days. Daniel did not know what was going on, but he knew that if he keeps on knocking, the door will be opened. Daniel stayed there and he got his breakthrough. You will get your breakthrough in the Name of Jesus.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, empower me to keep on asking, keep on seeking, and to keep on knocking and never give up, in Jesus Name. Amen!