Daniel 10:12-13, “Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. [13] But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.”
Ephesians 6:12, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
We are engaged in a battle for souls; the souls of the unsaved and the saved. Just because you are saved does not mean the battle is over. The enemy wants you to backslide and go to hell. He wants to frustrate you by depriving you of all that the Lord has promised you.
There is a raging battle against forces of darkness. They are merciless and ruthless, and they fight dirty.
They programme suffering and pain into the elements: the sun, the moon and stars to exercise control over nations, families and individuals. Occult people and false religions chant incantations and release curses into the stars to rule and control the politics and economies of nations. These stars can fight people. Judges 5:20, “They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.” From today they will not fight you!
As you can see in the case of Daniel, it’s not just important to get through to God, God must get through to you. This Scripture, Daniel 10:12-13, highlights the most critical part of our supplication; the waiting period. Many things happen during this period that makes many people to miss their answers. The heaven was blocked on the way down.
There are two things that block heaven: sin and Satan. Sin is dealt with through confession and repentance while the devil is removed through acidic and corrosive warfare prayers.
It is not the cloud that blocks the heavens, it is the devil and his demonic cohorts. In a sense, a blocked or sealed heaven is a situation in which demons block our prayers from ascending to heaven and answers from coming down. That means stagnation and suffering.
They employ various tools in carrying out this assignment.
Doubt. Doubts arise from the deceptions of the enemy. Revelation 12:9. The serpent got Adam to doubt the instruction of God about the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 3:1-5). (Begin with praise and worship
1. He got Abraham and Sarah to doubt the promise of God concerning having children in old age. This is the devil’s favourite tool. Satan can get you to doubt your salvation, righteousness in Christ, the promises of God; anything! He will make you to doubt God’s vision for your life. You cannot receive from God, if you doubt His promises (James 1:6-8). But here is the worst thing the devil can get you doubt: Mark 11:23, “For verily I say unto you, That WHOSOEVER SHALL SAY unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and SHALL NOT DOUBT in his heart, but shall believe that those things which HE SAITH shall come to pass; HE SHALL HAVE WHATSOEVER HE SAITH.” You have to believe that your prayers are answered. God has confidence in His words. He expects you to believe yours too. Jesus, when He said no one will eat from that fig tree again, had complete confidence in what He said. You must have confidence in your word. You are no longer looking at the circumstances when you have spoken the Word over a situation. I ministered deliverance to a young man one day and commanded the devils to leave, but in the physical it appeared nothing had happened. His was a case of mental imbalance. I told my assistants to watch over him and I went back to my office. I had confidence in the words I spoke. He became normal an hour later.
I ministered to a woman with cancer and told her to go that she was healed. She believed it, I believed it and she went home. The healing manifested a day later!
2. Distraction. He uses many different tools today to distract people either from praying or studying the Word of God or reading books that will benefit them and move them closer to God or their goals. Top on the list today is Social Media. I’m not condemning social media but too much unproductive time spent on it. People can spend hours on Facebook, but will not spend minutes in prayer or studying the Word of God. The next is TV. People spend hours watching movies that contribute nothing to their development or the achievement of their goals. Many watch movies or stay on social media far into the early hours of the morning instead of worshipping or praying or planning their success. The devil also uses sports these days to prevent people from attending fellowship, especially when their country or favourite club is playing. For others, he uses legitimate excuses like family, work, etc. Don’t get me wrong, spending time with family and working are wonderful things, but there is a time for everything (Ecclesiastes 8:6). When God gives you a job, or a wife or husband or children, that must not become an excuse for cutting fellowship or prayer. Some men and women are distracted by counterfeit relationships that will lead nowhere. Some people have been in courtship for over five or seven years and there no plan for a wedding yet!
3. Delay. Delay usually forces many people to stop expecting what Mark 11:24 says they have received when they prayed. Satan’s plan is to keep you running in circles to wear you out, run you down with self-doubt until you run out of confidence and abandon your dream all by yourself. He has used the tool of delay successfully against many believers. Even Abraham fell for it. Daniel on the other hand persisted in prayer until his answer came. You must understand that delay is not denial. God has promised to answer our prayers, but He didn’t promise to do so according to our timetable.
4. Denial. Delay can turn into denial if not properly managed.
5. Disobedience. Besetting sins. Isaiah 59:1-2. This is very dangerous. Besetting sins can be very difficult to deal with but it must be done.
6. Disillusionment. Depression. A disillusioned or frustrated believer cannot praise God or worship Him from the depth of his heart. Failure to praise and worship is often responsible for closed heaven. It is a terrible thing to be operating outside of the gates of heaven instead of inside the courts of heaven before the throne of God.
7. Disloyalty to church, spiritual leadership, etc. Rebellion. Pride
To pray through is to break through these barriers.
Join us every Service this month in the powerful series currently going on; the theme is BREAKING THE ASSIGNMENT OF FORCES OF STAGNATION. Put an end to delay.
(To be continued next week…)
Bishop Dr. Charles Olowojoba is the General Overseer of Dayspring Bible Church Worldwide with HQ in Abuja, Nigeria & President, Dayspring Christian Ministries Int’l.
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