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Introduction
Hello everyone. This is Part 3 of our study on prayer. We will begin this lesson as we did the
previous two lessons and open with the following two passages of Scripture.
First Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Pray without ceasing.”
Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Be anxious for nothing; but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the
peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus.”
In Part 2, we focused on what we do that erect roadblocks to God’s ability to answer our
prayers, but not His willingness to answer our prayers. We looked at the following reasons,
and this was not an exhaustive list by any means.
? Not praying in faith
? Habitually committing sin
? Ignorance concerning how to pray
? Husbands not honoring their wives
? Wives not submitting to (respecting) their husbands
? A lack of love for others
? Selfish prayers
? A heart of pride
? An unforgiving heart (attitude)
Again, this list is not exhaustive, and it only focuses on what we do that hinders us from
receiving answers to our prayers. However, there is another reason why our prayers are
hindered or delayed that we sometimes don’t think about, and we want to discuss it before
we continue this study on prayer. But we must first re-tell the story of Sis. Betsy, which has
been an important part of the foundation for this study on prayer. The “testimony” of Sis.
Betsy is one of our favorite stories about believing in the power of that prayer.
“Several years ago, there was a drought in one city and the pastor of the Church called for a
prayer meeting to pray for rain. The prayer meeting was held on a hot summer evening. All of
the members came out dressed in summer cool clothes since they would be there for a while
praying. Well, when Sister Betsy arrived at the Church, everyone heard her approaching as
her shoes were making a loud noise. As she entered the Church, everyone turned to see why
she was making such a loud entry. What they saw tickled them and some of the members
actually laughed softly.
Here was Sister Betsy entering the Church wearing rain boots, raincoat, a hat and carrying an umbrella. She looked a sight in the sweltering heat. Some of the members thought Sister Betsy had finally lost her mind – that her elevator was no longer going to the top floor. The pastor looked at her with much concern. He comes down from the pulpit and approaches her. He asks her, “Sister Betsy are you all right – are you feeling okay?” Sister Betsy looked at him confused by the question and replied, “I feel fine.” Then the pastor asked her, “Well I must ask, why are you dressed this way? Didn’t you feel how hot it is outside? You must be burning up in this outfit. What possessed you to wear all of this tonight in this heat?”
Again, some of the members continued to snicker and laugh under their breath while others now shifted to true concern for Sister Betsy’s mental state. Sister Betsy looked at her pastor and then scanned the faces of the rest of the members and made the following statement: “You know pastor, I too was confused when I walked into the Church. You see, I thought we were all coming here to pray for rain, and I expected there to be rain when we left. I am confused as to why none of you are dressed for rain since that is what we are supposed to be here asking from God.”
In that story only Sis. Betsy came to the meeting expecting God to answer that prayer that
very day. This is the type of faith we should have when we go to God in prayer – we believe
immediately that He has answered the prayer and until it is manifested, we begin thanking
Him for doing so. Now, before we continue this study on prayer, let’s look at a reason why our
prayers can be hindered or delayed that we sometimes do not consider. Rodney is going to
get us started.
Satan Fights To Keep Our Prayers Unanswered
Barry, a good place to begin this part of the lesson is with the reminder we see in Ephesians
6:12 about our battle with Satan and his demonic horde. The verse says, “For we do not
wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the
rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the
heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)
We believe that Christians sometime forget that receiving answers to prayers can be a wrestling match in the realm of the spirit. But, as we will see, it’s a wrestling match that ultimately results in prayers being answered if they don’t give up. Satan does not want our prayers answered. That’s a given. And the wrestling match manifests itself through the thoughts he tries to plant in our minds to seduce us to believe his lies. For example, he wants you to believe that your prayers are hindered or unanswered because “It’s not God’s timing right now” or “God is angry with you” or “You are not worthy enough” or “You have to earn it” or “It’s not God’s will.” The list is endless and again, they are all lies.
In Daniel 10, we see how Satan tries to hinder or delay answers to our prayers. This is the
only place in the Bible that pulls back the curtain and provides insight into the realm of the
spirit regarding prayer. We’re going to read the first 14 verses.
(1) In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar. The message was true, but the appointed time was long; and he
understood the message, and had understanding of the vision.
(2) In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks.”
Daniel understood that the vision was not good and pointed to a time of bondage for the Jews even though it would not come to pass immediately. This caused him to go into mourning for three weeks. Now, keep this timeframe in mind because it is important.
(3) I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.” Because the vision was so disturbing,
Daniel entered a time of prayer which included a three week fast. Again, we are reminded of
the timeframe – three weeks have passed. When Scripture does this within the same
passage, it draws attention to something that is critical to understand in the passage. And we
see the importance of repetition in a story in the book of Genesis. Do you remember the story
about Pharaoh’s two dreams in Genesis 41? No one in his court could interpret. After the
captain of the guards remembers how a Hebrew prisoner had accurately interpreted his
dream and that of the chief baker, he tells Pharaoh about him.
Pharaoh sends for Joseph and tells him the dreams. We are going to read verses 25 and 32.
(25) Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do ...
(32) And the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.”
So, what we are seeing here in Daniel 10 is Scripture identifying and establishing one of the “wiles of the devil.” He tries to disrupt things in the realm of the spirit so that we will blame God in some form or fashion for our prayers not being answered or, in our minds, not being answered fast enough.
(4) Now on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, that is, the Tigris,
(5) I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose waist was girded with gold of Uphaz! (6) His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and feet like burnished bronze in color, and the sound of his words like the voice of a multitude.
(7) And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision; but a great terror fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves.
(8) Therefore I was left alone when I saw this great vision, and no strength remained in me; for my vigor was turned to frailty in me, and I retained no strength.
(9) Yet I heard the sound of his words; and while I heard the sound of his words I was in a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground.
(10) Suddenly, a hand touched me, which made me tremble on my knees and on the palms of my hands.
Barry, why don’t you pick up the story with the next verse?
(11) And he said to me, "O Daniel, man greatly beloved, ...
Rodney let’s pause here for a moment. The angel describes Daniel as being “greatly beloved” by God. The angel implies that God’s view of Daniel plays a role in his being sent with the answer to Daniel’s prayer.
Ladies and gentlemen, do you know God says the same thing about you? Do you know that
you are His beloved? We see this in First John 3:1-2.
(1) Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
(2) Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”
Daniel was God’s servant. We are God’s children. Remember that the next time that you pray. Let’s continue: “O Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you,
and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you." While he was speaking this word
to me, I stood trembling.”
The verses we want to draw your attention to are verses 12 through 14. But, as you know, in
our Bible studies we make it a point to establish the context in which verses are found. So,
with this in mind, let’s continue.
(12) Then he said to me, Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words.
We want to point out some things in this verse. First, the angel assures Daniel that there is no reason for him to be fearful. This is an angel’s “common” introduction” when dealing with men and women who are not born again. Secondly, he says God heard his prayers the very first day
he prayed them. Then, he says God saw how Daniel humbled himself before Him. It’s
unmistakable to us that approaching God with reverence for Who He is, and a humble heart
cannot be understated.
The angel says God sent him immediately to Daniel with the answer to his prayers. This verse reminded us of what Jesus says in John 11 just before He raises Lazarus.
(41) .... And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You
have heard Me.
(42) And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.”
By connecting Daniel 10:12 with John 11:41-42, we want you to see and understand that
God always hears our prayers, and He always wants to answer them. And, as we are about to
see, not only do we sometimes stand in the way of God answering our prayers, so does
Satan.
(13) But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone
there with the kings of Persia.
We see in this verse that Satan sends several of his top demons to stop one angel from delivering God’s answer to Daniel. We also learn in this verse that the demons were too powerful for the angel, so God had to send Michael, one of His archangels, to defeat the demon and make sure the angel could get Daniel’s answered prayer to him. It’s interesting to me that the name Michael means “Who is like God.” God sends the archangel who must resembled Him to stop the delay.
(14) Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come.
Rodney and I are not saying that every hindrance to answered prayer or every delay to answered or every prayer that is not answered has some sort of demonic spiritual opposition. What we are saying is this: Satan hates you just like he hated Jesus when He was on earth. He will do anything to stop you from walking in the plan God has for your life, which includes a prayer life that is consistently answered.
Now, before moving on, let’s make sure that we understand another point about this record.
Unbeknownst to Daniel, he faced spiritual opposition when he prayed. The Bible says the
following in Second Corinthians 2:11: “...lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we
are not ignorant of his devices.”
After reading this record, we know that Satan will actively do whatever he can to hinder or delay our receiving answered prayer. Knowing this, we can pray and declare that his plans for defeating our prayers are broken and in shambles. Praise God! However, if we are not like Daniel, if we are not seeking God’s counsel through prayer, then Satan doesn’t have to be concerned about us and this leads into the last topic we are going to cover in this lesson. Rodney, would do the honors?
Why We Do Not Pray
We are going to conclude this lesson by looking at “Why we do not pray.” There are a few
possible reasons why people do not pray, and they are probably familiar to many of you. The
first one we want to mention is that some people do not pray is because they believe that
God is not truly real or that He is not concerned about what happens in our lives. David wrote
in Psalm 14:1, “.... The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt,
they have done abominable works, there is none who does good.”
There are many people who do not believe in God and see no need to pray to a “being” they do not know or even believe exists. Typically, these individuals are not Christians. But, sadly, in some cases, they are. Then there are those who do not pray because they believe they have it all figured out themselves – they rely solely on themselves for what they need.
Jeremiah 17:5 says, “Thus says the LORD, „Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the LORD.”
Many are those who do not see a need to pray to God because in their minds they have everything they need to handle their own business. Next, some people do not spend much time praying because they are simply too tired. Luke 22:45 records, “When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow.”
But what we really want to bring out in this part of the lesson is that many Christians do not
pray because of how they understand the sovereignty of God. Since most Christians believe
that “God is in control” they don’t see the urgent need to pray or to pray consistently. They
say whatever happens is going to happen anyway because God is in control. The problem
with this belief is when Christians say, “God is in control,” they are saying “God is in control of
everything.” That is not true. Most Christians believe God’s plans cannot be changed, but we
will give you an example shortly that disproves this.
Before I go there, let me give you a way to wrap your mind around the notion of God being in control so that you can explain it to the next person who says that. If you have seen a movie more than once, then you know the movie’s beginning and ending. Well, God sees the beginning and the end of His plan for creation – He is not bound by time as we are. Now within His plan, there is a lot of freedom for us to make decisions for our own personal lives.
So, the control is God has a plan, from beginning to end, that is going to happen. However,
we make independent decisions every single day that will determine whether we are going to
be in God’s will or not be in God’s will. That’s not God’s decision to make. God will not control
that, and Satan cannot control that. It’s on each of us.
Although Satan will attempt to influence our decision as much as he possibly can, we make the call for how we will live and walk on this earth. When we understand this, we understand our need to pray without ceasing because when we pray, we seek and request God to intervene in our situations. We invite Him to act on our behalf.
Barry, why don’t you conclude the lesson and I’ll summarize and close with a word of prayer.
So, let’s see an example of where God changed His plan after someone prayed.
Look at Second Kings 20:1-6.
(1) In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, Thus says the LORD: Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.
(2) Then he turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the LORD, saying,
(3) Remember now, O LORD, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight. And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
We really want you to grasp and understand the significance of Hezekiah’s prayer and what it says to us today. He reminds God of how he has lived his life before Him. In essence, it has been a life that glorified Him. Now we know that God did not need Hezekiah to remind Him of his faithfulness to Him, but there is a spiritual principle at play here. Look at what we read in Isaiah 43:26. God says, “Put Me in remembrance; Let us contend together; State your case, that you may be acquitted.”
After reading this verse, what would you be able to remind God of if you were in this situation,
or any situation? How would you be able to characterize your life before Him? If your life has
not been one of faithfulness to Him, now is the time to repent and get a fresh start with your
Father. Now is the time. Do it now before you continue this lesson. It is that important.
We have said this before in this lesson and it is worth repeating: God may not always be able
to answer our prayers because of what we have done, but His willing to answer our prayers is
never in doubt and this verse communicates that. There is a difference between His ability to
answer prayer and His willingness to answer prayer. And when it comes to His ability, we are
the primary difference maker.
(4) And it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying,
(5) Return and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD.
(6) And I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for My own sake, and for the sake of My servant David.
Isaiah gives Hezekiah the word from the Lord. He tells him, “You are going to die so get your
house in order.” Hezekiah immediately prays to the Lord and reminds him of the life that he
has lived for Him. As Isaiah is walking out of Hezekiah’s house the Lord stops him and tells
him to turn around and go back. Isaiah had just told Hezekiah that he was going to die.
Hezekiah prays to God and reminds him of the things that he has done for the kingdom; and
God hears him and grants him fifteen additional years.
You don’t think prayer matters? God changed His mind after Hezekiah prayed. Imagine what will happen when we are praying in agreement with God’s desires and plan!
Summary and Closing Prayer
We covered a lot in this lesson but what we really want you to understand is that your prayers
are heard by God at the moment you release them from your mouths. Do not give up your
faith in God’s ability and/or desire to answer your prayer if that answer is delayed. There are
spiritual forces out there trying to delay the answer so that we will give up on God. We cannot
do this – we must hold on until the answer arrives. We will conclude this series next month.
Let’s pray.
