RECOGNIZING THE BATTLE

"Why am I not seeing the break through when I pray?"

I was asked this question from a hospital bed yesterday. The man I prayed for has been in a fight for his life for several months now. He is believing that God will heal him. He is convinced that God wants to heal him. This has led him to begin (as so many of us do) to wonder if the problem is on his side.

One of the most common issues I face when praying for a Christian’s healing is their concern with “doing their part” in the process. This often leads to anxiety about having enough faith. (Interestingly, this issue never comes up when I pray for a Hindu, Muslim or unbeliever.)

When Jesus told his disciples that all they needed was faith the size of a mustard seed, he wasn’t being critical; he was being encouraging. Having enough faith to pray, or to ask for prayer requires at least mustard seed-sized faith––so for most people and situations, having enough faith isn’t the issue. Then, why do we not see the break through?

We must always remember that prayer involves three parties: us, the Lord and our enemy. If we forget this, we are left with the conclusion that either God doesn’t care or isn’t powerful enough to intervene, or that there is something wrong with our faith, motives or behavior. Prayer engages God and pushes against the enemy. Thus, real prayer by its very nature involves spiritual warfare. Walter Wink writes that this kind of prayer defies what is, in the name of what God promised.

Daniel 10 gives us a clear picture of this. For 70 years, Israel had been living as a captive nation in Babylon, first under the rule of the Chaldeans, now the Persians. Daniel has been battling in prayer and fasting for three weeks, asking God to release His people back to Jerusalem, apparently to no avail. Suddenly an angel appeared to him:

Then he said, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. 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.

¹³But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia. (Dan 10:12-13 NLT)

The spiritual Prince of Persia did not want Israel free to return to Jerusalem, thus depriving Persia of a cheap labor force. Likewise, the enemy did not want Israel moving a step closer to its ultimate destiny in God.

This episode highlights several things: First, delay is seen simply as a fact; we don’t know why some of our prayers are answered immediately and others take more time. Second, the demonic powers over Persia were able to assert their will for a time. Yet, through Daniel’s persistent prayer, they needed to yield to the Lord. That is why Jesus tells us to keep on asking, seeking and knocking. Sometime the break through is immediate; other times we must fight for it.

If we don’t understand that because of the battle, prayer often means delay, we either quit or we lose our confidence and therefore our focus.

As disciples of Jesus, we are in a continual learning process. The same men who returned from a mission trip full of joy and confidence in Mt 10, in Mt 17 faced the frustration of apparent failure with the demonized boy. After healing the boy, Jesus indicated that there was more to learn about prayer. This is the journey that we, as his disciples are called to––with all its ups and downs, celebrations and sorrows. But as we are determined to continue, step by step, we grow in effectiveness and confidence in the power and grace of Jesus flowing in and through us.

And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for. (1 Jn 5:14-15 NLT)