This past week our congregation joined other churches around the world for five days of prayer and fasting. We met each night for a time of worship and corporate prayer while we drew close to God and one another. Naturally, the emphasis was on the goodness and faithfulness of God and his willingness to answer our prayers. We had great testimonies of answered prayers and celebrated with those individuals. When we do something like that, however the question always comes up about why God has not yet answered someone’s prayer who has been petitioning God for months or maybe years. That is a legitimate question and one I thought I would respond to in this blog.
There is not just one answer, of course, but several possibilities. One interesting element can be found in Daniel 10. In that chapter, the prophet is given a revelation of a terrible war. He is troubled by the vision and is unclear about who the war will involve. Rather than pulling out a book on the interpretation of dreams, he begins to petition the Lord for the understanding of the revelation. And so, he begins to fast and pray while waiting on his answer. On the 21st day of his fasting, an angel comes to him in a vision.
The interesting part of the angel’s response is that he was dispatched with the answer to Daniel’s prayer the very first day he began to pray. He explained that while he was in route, a demonic prince, the prince of Persia, confronted him and they battled for twenty-one days. The angel who came to Daniel explained that he was only able to deliver the message because Michael, one of the chief angels of God, had come to take up the fight so that Daniel could receive the interpretation he had asked for.
We learn some important things from this. First of all, things don’t just automatically happen in the spiritual realm. Many times, angels are dispatched to come to us and facilitate the answers to our prayers. Sometimes, they face demonic opposition that is not just swept away. We have no idea how much demonic opposition may stand in the way of our prayers for someone’s salvation, the success of a business that will give generously to the kingdom, or for a nation. Paul declared that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual powers and principalities in the heavenly realms (EPH. 6). We usually have no idea what is involved in the answer to our prayers in the unseen realm. This chapter of Daniel draws the curtain back just a bit.
Secondly, n a microwave world, we want everything instantly, but in many cases, there must be an element of persistence and endurance in our prayers. I think anther important question is what would have happened if Daniel had quit praying after two weeks assuming that his prayer was not going to be answered? Would Michael have come to take up the fight? Would the angel have been able to complete his assignment? I believe Michael came because Daniel continued to pray and petition God. As we pray and declare God’s word over situations, more power is directed to that situation. If we stop praying, a prayer that has been approved may not see its completion because we faltered on our end. We hear lots of testimonies about rapid answers to prayers. We need more testimonies about answers to something that has been prayed about for years.
Faith endures. Remember Abraham. God personally promised him a son in his old age. Abraham was excited as well as Sarah, but the promise did not come quickly. In fact, it was twenty-five years before Isaac was born and each passing year made the promi9se seem all the more impossible. God encouraged him for time to time that the promise was in the pipeline but it had to be hard to maintain faith and keep praying into the promise. In a moment of weakness, Abraham and Sarah tried to see the promise fulfilled in the natural way through Hagar but that was a disaster. But still, the wittier of Hebrews assures us that they both continued in faith (some days more than others) until Sarah herself conceived. Twenty-five years was a long time…but their prayers were answered.
In Matthew 7, Jesus taught, “seek and you shall find, ask and it shall be given to you, knock and the door shall be opened.” The verb tenses in that verse are present progressive which means they can and should be translated as “keep on seeking, keep on asking, and keep on knocking. Again, we love overnight answers to our prayers, but some will require persistence and endurance.
Even when God says yes, there may be demonic opposition. In addition, hearts have to be prepared, character needs to be matured, pieces have to be moved on the chess board so that outcomes are orchestrated without violating anyone’s free will. That all takes time. I have known several people who prayed to be married, prayed for an amazing job, or prayed for a leadership position who would have scuttled the marriage, gone after worldly wealth and fame with their, or would have damaged an organization or a church if promoted too soon because they were not ready to steward the answers to their prayers. God wasn’t saying no, he was just saying not yet.
The lesson is to pray with faith, but be willing to continue to pray until there is breakthrough or until God shows you something else. The patriarchs were commended for their faith because some died without seeing promises fulfilled for their children, but still believed God would answer their prayers even after their death.
Bottom line…pray with faith, celebrate the prayers answered quickly, but then be prepared to continue to pray for weeks, months or even years if the desire is from God and worth pursuing for long time. Some of us stopped praying after a while because we thought answered prayer came soon. We may need to pick that prayer up again, dust if off and pursue it again with faith.