As a pastor for over 40 years, I have heard many, many believers express their anger toward God. Typically, it was because they expected something from God that he has not promised. Often it was because he or she had experienced some traumatic event that they believed God should have prevented. At other times, it was because a fervent prayer had gone unanswered. In this blog, I want to talk about one more reason that a prayer may go unanswered or that hurtful things may happen that few believers are aware of.

This may be an unfamiliar concept to many, but I believe it is a valid, biblical concept. Your prayer may have gone unanswered or is yet to be answered simply because of the devil’s resistance. I think most believers assume that when a prayer goes up to God, he simply gives it a “yes” or “no” or , perhaps, a “not now.” If he approves, then it is a done deal. However, even when the answer is yes, there can be significant demonic resistance to the answer.

The classic example of this reality is found in Daniel 10. In that chapter, Daniel had a disturbing vision about a great war. Daniel was troubled by the vision and so began to fast and pray for an interpretation of the dream. After twenty one days, a powerful angel appeared to Daniel. The angel told the prophet that on the first day Daniel had begun two fast and pray, he had been dispatched with the answer to Daniel’s prayer. However, a powerful demonic prince, the prince of the Persian Kingdom, withstood the angel for twenty one days and would not let him pass to bring the answer to Daniel. Eventually, Michael, the archangel, came to take up the battle with the demonic prince so that the other angel could continue on his assignment.

If you are not familiar with the passage, this may surprise you. First of all, many believers give little or no thought to the demonic realm and many of us simply assume that if God approves our prayer then everything automatically lines up for our answer. The truth is that Satan may and does oppose what God has said “yes” to. In this case, the answer was delayed for three weeks and, if Daniel had not continued to pray, it is possible that Michael would not have been dispatched to join the the battle and Daniel would not have received his answer.

This opposition is a reality in spiritual warfare. We have a part to play in the battle and that part is sometimes persisting in prayer until we see the answer or some breakthrough. That prayer may take longer than three weeks, three months, or three years. Some might argue that since Christ defeated Satan through the resurrection, demons can no longer oppose God’s will. However, the apostle Paul himself wrote to the church at Thessalonica, “For we wanted to come to you—certainly I, Paul, did, again and again—but Satan stopped us” (1 These. 2:18). In the New Testament, post resurrection, we are warned that we must be aware of Satan’s schemes against us. We are told that we must struggle against him. We are told that he still seeks to devour us like a roaring lion. If we allow ourselves to fall prey to one of his scenes against us, hardship may come our way even though it is not God’s heart for us. If we give up praying too soon, an answer may not come because we became weary and gave in to the devil’s resistance.

A second reality, attached to spiritual warfare, is that something in our lives may be giving the devil a legal right to oppose God’s blessings and maintain a curse that has been established over our lives. Curses may be established because of unrepented sin in our own lives or as a result of sin in our bloodline. We are told several times in scripture that the consequences or punishment for the sins of our fathers, may be passed down for three or four generations. The consequences of these sins may be a curse that us operating on an entire family line (see Exodus 20:5).

Curses give Satan a right to oppress or afflict even believers. These curses may manifest as repeated business failures, conflict in families, mental illness, miscarriages, physical illness, a history of divorce, rebellion in children, bondage (additions), etc. The spiritual realm is a realm operated under law. There are many courtroom scenes is scripture in which the enemy brings a charge against of of God’s people in an effort to obtain a legal right to afflict even God’s children. Because God is a God of justice as well as grace, if the devil brings a charge against us in the courts of heaven that gives him a legal right to afflict us or oppose an answer to prayer, then God must allow him to do so because God, as a judge, cannot show partiality even to his own children. Many times, bad things happen to us or blessings fail to manifest because Satan has obtained a ruling against us in a court of heavenly law.

Our part, then, is to not only continue to pray for good things but also to confess, repent of, and renounce any sins that we are aware of on behalf of ourselves or our bloodline. Contrary to popular religious thought, these things are not always taken care of automatically by the blood of Jesus. In the first few chapters of Revelation, Jesus gave warnings to several churches and called them to repent and change their ways or bad things would occur. This is not a threat by an angry Jesus, but an indictor that their unrepented sin would open the door to demonic attacks, through which bad things would come their way.

We may need to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any thing that is giving Satan legal access to us or our children, our sins or the sins of our fathers, so that we can remove that legal access through the blood of Christ. Satan is described in Revelation as “the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night” (Rev. 12:10). That is his tactic so we must be diligent to eat with those issues in our lives or bloodlines so that he has nothing to use against us in court.

Some prayers may have gone unanswered because we did not persist. Other prayers may have gone unanswered or hurtful things may have occurred because something was giving the devil a legal right to harass, oppress, or afflict us or our families. Sometimes we are mad at God because of unanswered prayers or hurtful events in our lives or family lines. For the most part, the church has not taught us about the arena of spiritual warfare. Just as Israel had to engage in battle to posses the promised land, we too must often engage in battle to possess the blessings we are praying for. This is not God’s fault but our own or church leaders for not teaching us these realities.

Perhaps, God has given us more responsibility in obtaining our answers to prayers and his blessings than we may be comfortable with. And yet, scripture reveals these responsibilities and the power of the blood of Jesus to overcome the enemy. If you have not been schooled in spiritual warfare, I might suggest my book, Born to Be Free (published by Morgan James and available on Amazon), and begin to grow in your understanding and the strategies needed to overcome the resistance of the devil. There are other excellent books as well that address these issues. I encourage you to read one.

God is for us. He wants to bless us. He wants to answer our prayers. But there are things that can get in the way of blessings and answered prayer that he has revealed to us and for which he has provided solutions. It is true that God could sweep away the devil with one word, and keep us from all hurt and harm on this planet. And he will do so in time. But for now there is still a real enemy and real battle to be fought. Paul reminds us, “That 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. Therefore, put on the full armor of God…” (Eph. 6:12-13). Our lack of knowledge about these matters does not exempt us from their reality, it simply leaves us at the mercy of an invisible enemy who wants to steal, kill, and destroy and then blame God. Blessings in Him.