Saturday, September 1, 2007

The "Prevailing Prayer"

When there is a life or death matter whether in sickness, danger or a seemingly impossible situation, it is time to pray without ceasing until you know your prayer touched God and the answer is on the way to you.

In Acts 12:1-11 is an account of a life or death matter that concerned Peter, the disciple of Jesus. King Herod had put him in prison and planned to execute him after the days of Unleavened Bread. The account reads that Peter slept between two soldiers bound with a chain to each of them and two more soldiers kept the door of his cell. All doors and the gate leading out to the city were securely locked. Every precaution had been taken to be sure Peter did not escape. But then the scene changes with the words, "....but prayer was made without ceasing of the Church unto God for him." (Acts 12:5.)

The emphasis in this story was that there definitely was an urgent need to pray that Peter's life would be spared whether anyone could hear the urgent cry of his need or not. Peter still had a destiny to be filled. Peter did not have a fax or a cell phone to talk with the believers who met to pray. He was depending on the the Holy Spirit to keep them informed. The Holy Spirit has the best system of communication known and available to man today and He shares it with those who have a life or death matter facing them or with those who are willing to pray.

In spite of every known precaution being taken to secure Peter, when the Church prayed, the Holy Spirit worked and God moved. No precaution was strong enough to hold back the answers to their prayer. The prayer group probably prayed in shifts. Some probably prayed throughout the night while others slept. Others may have prayed throughout the day while the first shift slept. We really do not know how they prayed except it was without ceasing until Satan's plan was broken and defeated, until they touched God and an angel was dispatched to bring Peter's deliverance. The key word is "until."

At times, praying until you hear from God as the prayer group prayed for Peter, will make the difference whether you receive an answer or not. At other times you will be able to pray only once and have the assurance your prayer was heard immediately. One is a spirit of intercession sent by the Holy Spirit to hold back or break the power of evil for a given situation. The other is the prayer of faith that reaches out in faith and returns with the answer.

With God all things are possible. All is ALL! There's nothing more than ALL but God chooses to make all things possible when we accept an assignment to pray and stay with it until we have a witness in our heart that we have prevailed. Prayer will always open a way to bring the answer to every part of any of our conflicts, desires or needs, too.

Several years ago while I was still serving as a missionary in Korea, I began to feel troubled about my daughter during one February. When I called the family from Korea she always said everyone was well. Her three babies were a joy to listen to on the long distance call. But somehow my troubled feeling would not leave no matter how much I prayed. Usually I was able to pray through anything and know that God had answered but this time seemed to be different. March came and nothing changed. April, May, June and July came and the need seemed to grow stronger with a feeling of foreboding, a strong inner certainity of danger. By December there still was no change but now my times of prayer went into intercession. I refused to be comforted until the heaviness lifted.

One day in December I determined I would pray until I heard from God no matter how long it would take and sometime during that night peace came at last. The foreboding was still there but I knew whatever would happen, my daughter would live through it. The following February she and her husband went on a skiing trip and you can believe I followed them in my thoughts all the way to Colorado and all the way back home as I reminded the Lord that He promised she would live through the unknown that was ahead of her.

On the flight home, my daughter and her husband said they felt uneasy but agreed they needed to remain seated. About fifteen minutes before landing, suddenly a passenger got up, went to the emergency door on the side of the plane and to the horror of everyone,he swung the large handle until it opened the emergency door. Fortunately, two pilots were sitting nearby who grabbed him quickly. The plane began to descend and the oxygen masks came down as the plane lost pressure! Amazingly the plane landed safely minutes later without one problem! Later, when they called me in Korea, my daughter said, "Oh Mom, you won't believe what happened on our trip!" I said, "I probably will, tell me." While she was recounting the incident, I had a vision of her walking to the restroom and at the moment the door swung open, she would have been sucked out of the plane, falling head down then sideways, with her blonde hair flying in all directions. BUT... God had intervened because I chose to pray UNTIL I prayed through. For many months, I felt again and again that God gave her back to me only because of prayer! To God be all the glory!

As for Peter, an angel was dispatched to bring deliverance. Though guards were placed at the door of his cell, they did not awaken when the angel walked through the locked doors. As the chains fell off Peter they still did not awaken. As the angel and Peter left the prison, every door and the gate to the city opened to them. When the angel had filled his assignment, Peter was free because the Church had prayed "without ceasing" until their assignment was finished.

God has not changed! All things are still possible to Him that believeth, to those who will prevail in prayer until they have the answer! May God move on us until we develop a greater prayer life to meet the challenges that face us today!

1 comment:

curiousbluecat said...

Thank you for your testimony. As far as I am aware, I do not think it us possible for doors on flights to be opened mid flight due to the difference in pressure between the inside of the plane and the atmosphere outside. Could you provide more details about the flight that your daughter was on?