One of my supporters is quite old now. She has been a prayer partner with my mom for years. She was there in Long Beach with Dawson Trotman at the founding of the Navigators after WWII. When I asked her what one truth about prayer she’d like to pass on to me, she said, “The secret of praying through an issue.”
“What is that?” I asked.
“That means praying about an issue until God gives you peace in your spirit that it is accomplished.”
Turns out, this is a discipline that former generations understood better than we do.
Missionary to China, J. O. Fraser practiced this powerful reality. He said this:
“We must be prepared for serious warfare, ‘and having done all, to stand,’ we must fight through, and then stand victorious on the battlefield. Is not this another secret of many unanswered prayers, that they are not fought through?
If the result is not seen as soon as expected, Christians are apt to lose heart, and if it is still longer delayed, to abandon it altogether. You know the name they give to places in England when the building (or whatever it is) is abandoned, when only half of it is completed- So and so’s ‘Folly’. I wonder whether some of our prayers do not deserve the same stigma.
Luke 14: 28-30 applies to prayers as well as towers. We must count the cost before praying the prayer of faith. We must be willing to pay the price. We must mean business. We must set ourselves to ‘see things through’ (Eph. 6:18, ‘In all perseverance’).”
We must particularly learn to pray through issues of spiritual warfare. David Smithers writes, “Wrestling with demonic spirits is a daily reality of spiritual survival. Spiritual warfare is not learned in our leisure time, but is thrust upon us as we begin to threaten the kingdom of darkness.”
Boy, this has hit home! We are in the stance of threatening the kingdom of darkness. My son, left this summer and now wants to return. He has walked in unholy places and believed the lies of the enemy…tonight we talk to him…we will make our stand…The Father has given me a peace. I desire to stand united with my husband in this and welcome the prodigal son home. satan cannot touch him for God’s hand reigns supreme over Devin. Praise God…Thank you Seth for this very timely and needed reminder.
good stuff here seth, I was talking with the Lord during a walk today asking this very question. Lord, how long do I pray for Gena, for Linda etc etc… and he said, until it is done.
Kind of makes me think about praying for my future husband, it is not like i am going to pray for a week, and then stop if i am not married. I will pray till it is done.
I like the addition you have here, I see that – when it is done – is when you have peace in your spirit. That may mean when the Lord introduces me to my husband, or when he shows me my life is not meant to have a husband, if that is his will.
Very nice. Thanks for all our your words, prayers, vision, and obedience to God.
-Kelly
Thanks for the reminder. It is so easy to give up and not pray as much as we need to when things don’t happen in our timing. It is nice to know that if we don’t give up neither will the Lord! Thanks for the encouragement.
Caroline
Ps. 56:3
i hope this site is still active ,also if 2 agree so does the father
I think we wrestle more against principalities and powers within our own minds. Jesus defeated Satan at the cross with his resurrection… so in a sense, the battle is over and done with. Now, we wrestle against the toughts of doubt, fear and uncertainty that are brought to bear against us by the enemies of the soul. If we refuse to accept defeat in our heart, there’s no power in existance that can whatever we’ve prayed and asked for from becoming part of our experience in the “solid” world!
I agree but on the same token I thought it wasn’t necessary to pray for the same thing over and over again, as it showed a lack of trust in God. That if you asked him for something once, you can be rest-assured He heard you. Peace.
God delights in the holy boldness that will not take No for an answer to prayer. It is an expression of great faith and nothing pleases God more than faith
Matthew 15:28 Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
God does not always grant our first request, He wants to train us and make us strong by compelling us to pray hard for the best things. He makes us pray through.
Jesus asked more than once:
Matthew 26:44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
Prayer giants keep praying until they pray it through and obtain what they want. We should be careful about what we ask from God but when we do pray we should never give up until we receive it or it becomes clear that God says No.
If we received everything instantly or miraculously we would not build up our faith or grow in the spirit.
Luke 18 (Amplified)
1ALSO [Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not to turn coward (faint, lose heart, and give up).
Praise the Lord! Praying through really works – for salvation, healing, deliverance, etc. Don’t be fooled by those who tell you just to “name and claim” everything and to stop praying before you get that peace in your spirit. The Bible doesn’t tell us just to ask once.
Keep writing. God bless you.
Faith is the opposite of fear. Fear is an emotion that tries to enter immediately once a person has a problem The key is to pray through all that fear and receive the peace of God which passes all understanding. Once you have that peace you can be assured that God is listening and you can trust that God can handle your problem. Actually what happens is that you seem to “forget” about the problem because God has it all under control.
I have always heard that once you pray, You should not prsy sbout thst problem anymore because God has heard you and if you continue to pray that you would only be babbling,.
Shirley,
I don’t pretend to have this issue mastered. Scripture doesn’t give us a precise procedure for this issue. If we relate our conversation with God to the kind of conversations we have with people, we see that usually it takes a while before we exhaust the matter. I guess a key is being able to hear the voice of God.
the word of God lets me to know that you ask, seek, and knock and he will answer. it implies that we can pray more than once about the same situation.
another thing i want to share is that when you pray for someone and not sure for how long. you keep praying until you no longer feel a burden for that person.
The trial of our faith is more precious than gold. I have a prodigal son who was raised in the faith and has walked away. My heart breaks. I hang onto the verse, “Peter, Peter (my son’s name inserted here instead), Satan has asked to sift you like wheat – but I have prayed for you Peter (my son’s name inserted) and when you are converted, feed God’s sheep.” Jesus said we would do greater things because He goes to the Father. Therefore – if He can pray Peter’s repentance – I can pray my son’s.
The children of Israel took the promise land by fighting for it. God wants us to fight the good fight – standing on His promises. The fight is fixed – we win! If our faith was never tested – is it really faith?
The powers of darkness have already been defeated because of the precious blood of Jesus. We are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. When praying for the souls of people – don’t take no for an answer. God is not willing for any to perish.
The moment we pray, he answers but like in Daniel our answers are held up.
For me 13 years until it came to the place of life threatening and serious business.
Praying through is painful, but necessary. He always leads us to freedom.
For me, I had to separate from people and be in the word for days and weeks (months). I did not like it and it seemed that I did not know what I was doing. No one seems to know about Traviling in the spirit.
I wondered why I had prayed in the Holy Spirit so much in these last few months, but no answer. It kept leading me into more depression or urgecy, but it was to lead me to groaning in the spirit where there was warfare.
for me it was a 13 year answer. So see we often avoid that negative zone, but now I am in the the higherst form of intersession. I hear it brings tremedous results.
But before you can do this, you must know how Satan hinders prayers, and you must also know what to do when your prayers seem unanswered. And these must be in place first.
God Bless you
Nora
Sounds like you are doing well at this. Contact me if you get this email please Juanita Yoder
Do you know of any books written about “praying through”???
Karen – None that are focused on that topic. Leith Anderson’s “The Jesus Revolution” covers it from a biblical perspective. Check out his blog:
http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/entry/1570/praying-through-the-problems
Hello. Can u please tell me more about praying through? I scream very loudly in tongues it is frightening at times. But it has felt mechanical.
There’s this kindle book on amazon (HAS A LONG TITLE)
Prayer: Win The War Room Battle Through The Power Of Prayer!!: How To Pray, Pray Through And Experience Answered Prayers That Will Change Your Life Forever
by James Revie
what are the ways Satan hinder prayer