How to see breakthroughs even when there are delays.
A. The Bible teaches us that one of the greatest untapped sources of potential blessings and breakthroughs for our lives and our families’ lives is that which comes from being committed to a consistent life of prayer. Because of how Daniel prayed in his private life, he prevailed in every area of his public life.
I believe we shouldn’t fear the bad that might happen but the amazing good we might miss by not claiming all of the gifts God has for us.
“Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”
— Jeremiah 33:3 (NKJV)
“The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years.”
— James 5:16b-17 (NLT)
“Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance.”
— Psalms 2:8a (NLT)
B. One of the keys to seeing the potential of prayer is realizing the unstoppable prayer is not just “asking for” things but sometimes it is also pressing in when answers seem delayed. People who see breakthroughs are people who are willing not just to do “ask fors” but also “push throughs.”
Sometimes prayer is asking; sometimes prayer is also warring and waiting.
“For everyone who keeps on asking [persistently], receives; and he who keeps on seeking [persistently], finds; and to him who keeps on knocking [persistently], the door will be opened.
— Luke 11:10 (AMP)
C. Many people don’t see the potential of their prayers because they get discouraged, when their prayers seem unanswered or delayed. Daniel felt this too, but received an insight that helped him persevere.
“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. But 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.”
— Daniel 10:12-13 (NLT)
Some things the Bible teaches about why answers to prayer are delayed.
1. Prayer involves warring with demonic spiritual forces that resist the advance of the kingdom. Part of the assignment of Christ’s church is to see that the gates of Hell don’t prevail.
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
— Eph. 6:12 (NIV)
2. Prayer involves God’s timing and our aligning.
3. Prayer is not only about God blessing us; it involves God preparing us.
a. He is not only preparing a miracle for us, He is preparing us for a miracle.
“Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.”
— Hosea 10:12 (NIV)
b.Often this involves building our faith muscle.
“If you can believe all things are possible.” Many people ask for things but they are not ready to completely believe for things. God wants to build in us a faith strong enough not only to get but to keep what God blesses us with.
“Faith is the ability to believe in advance what will only make sense when it is seen in reverse.” — Philip Yancey
“He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God.” — Romans 4:20 (NKJV)
Ways to press through in prayer to see breakthroughs in prayer
A. Listen to what God is saying by staying in His word and listening to His voice. Great praying starts with great listening and learning to sense and say what He is saying. As you listen to God, He’s not only going to help you pray but help you discern what and how He wants you to ask.
“In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans-in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.”
— Daniel 9:1-2 (NKJV)
“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
— John 15:7 (NIV), Jeremiah 29:10-14 (NKJV)
B. Give God your full focus and cry out to Him with your whole heart. Praying through involves being spiritually focused and emotionally connected.
“Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.”
— Daniel 9:3 (NKJV)
“You will find me when you seek me with your whole heart.”
— Jeremiah 29:13
God doesn’t just want us to pray His heart, He wants to give us His heart.
"I looked to my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: Refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.”
— Psalms 142:4 (KJV)
C. Keep lifting your attention up to exalt God as bigger and over your expectation.
Pressing through involves letting God always be between you and your circumstances, never allowing your circumstances to be between you and God. The heart of effective waiting is not just wishing, but staying in a place where you are expecting God.
If we’re not expecting God to come, we might not see it when He does. Praise and thanksgiving are key.
“And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and keep His commandments.”
— Daniel 9:4
1. Daniel kept the focus not on his worthiness, but God’s mercy. (Daniel 9:18)
2. The best way to keep faith alive is through adding thanking to asking. (Philippians 4:6)
D. We press in by humbling ourselves with prayer and fasting, allowing to Him to adjust and remove anything in our hearts that might stop us from receiving a breakthrough (Daniel 9:8-11).
“Sadly, many people just don’t see the light until they feel the heat.” — Rick Warren
“I have found that the common denominator and person at the center of every place my life that is messed up is me.” — Simon Sinek
E. Position yourself to continue to do and be in the position your heart and hands need to be for God to use you, to accomplish whatever He wants to bring breakthrough.
“And he (Angel Gabriel) informed me, and talked with me, and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand.”
— Daniel 9:22
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