you need to prevail in prayer1

7/25/2019 You Need to Prevail in Prayer1

1/6

1

WesleyL. Duewel

TOUCH THE

WORLD THROUGHPRAYER


2/6

2

26

You Need to Prevail in Prayer

To be a Christian is to be a praying person; certainly allChristians pray at times. Such ordinary praying is ajoyous blessing, but there are times when extraordinarypraying is called for. And even more mature Christians oftendo surprisingly little of this kind of praying. is It is the person

who practices prevailing prayer, however, who wields powerwith God and with men.

There is an essential interrelatedness between prevailingprayer, prayer warfare, the binding of Satan in prayer, andusing the command of faith to move mountains for God.All may be involved in a given situation. All are related to

Christ's victory at Calvary and to the power of the HolySpirit. In some situations the Holy Spirit guides into onelevel of prayer and then may deepen and intensifythe praying as one moves from level to level. Paul, in hischallenge to spiritual warfare, urges believers to "pray inthe Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and

requests" (Eph. 6:18). Christ would teachyou each of these

divine strategies to use at His direction.

*Why is prevailing prayer necessary?

*What experience have you had with prevailing prayer?

*When have you prevailed in prayer?

*How much do you desire to learn how to prevail in

prayer?

These are very important questions.Your success in prayerwill be determined by the depth of your desire to practiceprevailing prayer.


3/6

3

Why Is Prevailing Prayer Necessary?

To prevail is "to be successful in the face of difficulty,to completely dominate, to overcome and triumph."

Prevailing prayer is prayer that pushes right through alldifficulties and obstacles, drives back all the opposingforces of Satan, and secures the will of God. Its purpose isto accomplish God's will on earth. Prevailing prayer is prayerthat not only takes the initiative but continues on the offensivefor God until spiritual victory is won.

In many situations, before prayer is answered, people musttake certain actions. Whether they are saved or unsavedpeople, human beings cannot control others' willsbecause God has given usfreedom to choose. In additionto human influence, the Holy Spirit and Satan are influencingthe thought life of human beings.

The Holy Spirit speaks directly through God's Word,throughother people's words, and often through angels who suggestthoughts without the person being aware of the source. Hemay prepare circumstances that exert pressure or makecertain actions possible. Similarly, Satan, the master ofdeception, tries to influence the thought life of people,

whether through the actions or words of others orthrough demonic suggestion.

Prevailing prayer is necessary in the following situations:

To oppose Satan in his battle for souls. When you prayforan unsaved person to yield to Christ, you are praying inharmony with God's will, with the ministry of the HolySpirit,

and with the assistance of God's angels. Butyou are alsopraying in direct opposition to Satan and against the actions of allhis evil spirits.

Even when we are sure we are praying in accordance


4/6

4

with the will of God, we are often met with surprisingresistance. God never overpowers the human will. Hespeaks to conscience, but a person's conscience may bedeadened. Satan's prime battleground is the humanmind, and his demons must be resisted and driven away. Inthe case of a sinner, it is comparatively easy for Satanto get a hearing for his suggestions. Serious prayer isnecessary to offset his diabolical schemes.

To overcome the satanic seduction of Christians.

Even strong believers are subject to demonic suggestion. On

one occasion Satan succeeded in persuading David to takea wrong action by "inciting" his mind (1 Chron. 21:1). Heguided Peter's thought processes in an encounter withJesus,and Jesus instantly realized that Peter was unconsciouslyvoicing Satan's suggestion (Matt. 16:23). Satan also injectedevil thoughts into the minds of James and John (Luke

9:55-56).Sometimes even the most spiritual may temporarily

lapse into uncharacteristic displays of weakness. Thecritical word spoken in a committee meeting, the maliciousgossip whispered in conversation, the lack of faithevidenced in decision-making may actually have

originated as a suggestion from one of Satan's demons.If Satan could penetrate even the mind of Christ,

tempting Him for forty days and forty nights (Matt.4:1-11), then we should not be surprised that we need toprevail in prayer.

To protect yourself or others from direct satanic

attack.

Job was not the only one who was attackedphysically by Satan. One wonders, however, if Job's trialsmight have been lifted much sooner if his three"friends" had been praying Christians! The thorn inPaul's flesh was a messenger of Satan (2 Cor. 12:7). Luke


5/6

5

13:10-17 tells of a woman crippled for eighteen years bySatan. In Mark 9:17-20 a demon spirit robbed a boy ofspeech and caused convulsions.

Near-fatal accidents have often convinced Christian workersthat Satan was trying to destroy them. In the mountains ofIndia, while en route to ministry, our Christian co-workershave suddenly been confronted by wild animals. A newgroup of believers was frightened one New Year's Eve bya trumpeting herd of elephants, who had demolishedtheir simple church structure on three previous occasions.

Over Whom Do You Prevail in Prayer?

You must prevail over yourself. Prevailing prayer canbe exhausting work. Many Christians are so spirituallyfrail,sickly, and lacking in spiritual vitality that they cannotstick to prayer for more than a few minutes at a time.

Such people are too spiritually weak to know how to praywith real soul travail.

Others are so carnal that not only does their physicalnature shrink from prayer, but their carnal nature fearsprayer involvement, holds back from prolonged praying,and finds a multitude of excuses for not prevailing in

prayer. A Spirit-filled person is hungry to pray, rejoices in extratime for prayer, and is eager to sacrifice other things in orderto pray more.

Many people need to confess their prayerlessness and askGod to deliver them. I urge you to claim God'svictoryby faith over your prayer defeats, inner hesitations, and

prayerlessness.You must prevail over Satan.

Satan and his demons donot want you to learn the secrets of prayer. They fearyour prayer more than your witness and your work. Theywould rather have you to be busy for God all day than to


6/6

6

pray for one hour.

Spiritual victories are normally won in spiritual warfare.We see so few great spiritual victories because we fight so

few prayer battles. We are powerless andfruitless because weengage in prayer so casually. We have never learned prayerwarfare. If you are unwilling to fight, don't expect great

victories (Eph. 2:2; 6:11-12; John 14:30; 1 John 4:4;5:19).

Daniel's prayer was granted, but for twenty-one days his

answers were delayed by demon powers (Daniel 10:12-13). If Daniel had not fasted and fought the prayer battlethe full three weeks, if he had stopped one dayshort of victory, we would not have the great tenthchapter of Daniel. If you ask for something in God's will anddo not persevere in prayer, you may never receiveGod's answer.

You must prevail before God. Not only mustyou prevail over yourself and over the powers ofdarkness, but God will also test your earnestness anddepth of desire.

Jesus tested the Greek woman whose daughter was

suffering from demon-possession (Matt. 1.5:21-28). AtfirstJesus kept silent, and the disciples said, "Send her away, forshe keeps crying out after us" (v. 23). But she pressed hercase before Jesus until she prevailed and received totaldeliverance for her little girl.

In Gethsemane, Jesus prayed three hours until He

prevailed. His prayer agony was so great that God sent anangel to strengthen Him.

You will learn many spiritual lessons because of God'sdelayed answers to prayer. Perhaps these delays arefor thepurpose of teaching you how to prevail in prayer.

you need to prevail in prayer1

Documents