Do we persevere in prayers because God is reluctant to answer them and thus we will have to seek His blessings through repetitive prayers spread over several days, with begging and tears? If this is not the case, then why are there times when we have to go through a season of intense prayer while waiting for our prayers to be answered?
There are several possible reasons for this:
1) God can be using this period of waiting to mould our character and while we persevere in our prayers, we develop the fruit of patience and faithfulness.
2) The period of waiting can also increase our faith so that we may know that it is God and not our own works that accomplishes things.
3)In the spiritual realm, there are things unseen and unknown to us
e.g. In Daniel 10:13, it is revealed to us that God answered Daniel's prayers and sent an angel to bring Daniel the message but the angel was stopped by the devil for 21 days before he could bring the message to Daniel.
Our prayers can change things in the spiritual realm in ways we cannot understand so we must pray until we see things move in the natural realm and this is related to this concept called the substance of prayer.
The substance of prayer is the concept that our prayers can release the power of Holy Spirit from us to do great things! Consider the following verses:
Revelation 5:8
And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
Revelation 8:3-5
Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.
Our prayers are akin to the incense that is added to the golden bowl, the more we pray, the more quickly the bowl will be filled and when the bowl is full, great things happen! Therefore, we will not lose heart in praying but let us be encouraged to pray unceasingly!
-Short sharing from Dutch Sheets "Intercessory Prayer"
There are several possible reasons for this:
1) God can be using this period of waiting to mould our character and while we persevere in our prayers, we develop the fruit of patience and faithfulness.
2) The period of waiting can also increase our faith so that we may know that it is God and not our own works that accomplishes things.
3)In the spiritual realm, there are things unseen and unknown to us
e.g. In Daniel 10:13, it is revealed to us that God answered Daniel's prayers and sent an angel to bring Daniel the message but the angel was stopped by the devil for 21 days before he could bring the message to Daniel.
Our prayers can change things in the spiritual realm in ways we cannot understand so we must pray until we see things move in the natural realm and this is related to this concept called the substance of prayer.
The substance of prayer is the concept that our prayers can release the power of Holy Spirit from us to do great things! Consider the following verses:
Revelation 5:8
And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
Revelation 8:3-5
Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.
Our prayers are akin to the incense that is added to the golden bowl, the more we pray, the more quickly the bowl will be filled and when the bowl is full, great things happen! Therefore, we will not lose heart in praying but let us be encouraged to pray unceasingly!
-Short sharing from Dutch Sheets "Intercessory Prayer"
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