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Don’t Stop Praying
Pray without ceasing ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:17
The word, cease, means to stop, to be interrupted, to let go, to pause or to take a break. If the writer is telling us to not stop praying, prayer must be very important. It is so important that the enemy (through men) tried to stop Daniel from praying. Daniel prayed three times a day and gave thanks to God daily (Daniel 6:10). These men were so threatened by Daniel that they created a law that stated if anyone prayed for the next thirty days, he would be cast into the den of lions. I know that they were only trying to trap Daniel because they were jealous about his promotion, but what’s interesting is that the attack wasn’t just against Daniel, but the attack was against PRAYER.
James 5:16 tells us that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. The word, avail, means to be a force, to be effective and capable of producing results. That’s what your prayers do. It produces results. When you pray, you pray the solution to the problem. Your prayers tear down whatever the enemy built. This is why you shouldn’t stop praying. Think about it. If your prayers weren’t effective, the enemy wouldn’t try to stop you or distract you from praying. If your prayers weren’t powerful, he wouldn’t try to convince you that God is not going to do what you’re asking and believing Him for.
Daniel heard about the decree and he knew the consequences of disobeying this law, but he never stopped praying. None of us have ever been threatened to be thrown into the den of lions, yet we will stop praying over the smallest things. Some of us have stopped praying because God didn’t give us what we want when we wanted it. Daniel wasn’t like that. He kept praying and I believe that his prayers and thanksgiving delivered him out of that den. Some of us don’t really pray until a problem arises. Daniel, on the other hand, prayed before there was a problem and I believe his prayer of faith shut the mouths of the lions. Whatever you do, don’t stop praying because your prayers today can stop the enemy’s plans tomorrow and in the near future.
Be encouraged!
[Scripture reference: Daniel 6]
Speak To It
When God told Moses that He was sending him to bring His children out of Egypt, that was a prophetic word. That was a promise. But when Moses obeyed God and did what He told him to do, Pharaoh refused to let the children of Israel go.
At first, Moses was discouraged. It seemed like what God said wasn’t going to come to pass. But instead of being upset with the enemy who was opposing him, he was angry with God. Why did you send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people, neither have you delivered your people at all (Exodus 5:22-23).
That’s what the enemy wants us to do. He wants us to blame God for something he did. He wants us to think that what God told us to do isn’t working and that it will never work.
Had Moses not obeyed God and confronted Pharaoh and speak to him again and again, what God said would have never come to pass, but he kept speaking to that ‘mountain’ until God removed him.
I know some of you are getting a little weary, but this is not the time to quit and this is not the time to be silent.
Don’t stop speaking to whatever is trying to block you, stop you or hinder you. Continue to say what God said. If you don’t speak it, you will never see it. God has given you a mouth and wisdom (Luke 21:15). Use your mouth to create and use your heart to believe what you want to see.
You have been talking about it long enough. Now it’s time to speak to it.
For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be removed, and be cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he says shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he says (Mark 11:23).
Stop Mourning Over What God Rejected
And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill your horn with oil, and go, I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons (1 Samuel 16:1).
Stop mourning over the people that left you. You’re about to enter into a new season with new people.
Stop mourning over what you lost. God can and will restore.
Stop mourning over the relationship GOD rejected. That wasn’t the spouse He chose for you anyway.
How long will you mourn over what God rejected?
The reason why you feel hurt, unloved, unwanted and disappointed is because you think they rejected you, but they didn’t reject you. God rejected them.
And God would never reject something without providing something better.
Be encouraged.
Let Us
Jesus went into the ship with His disciples and said, Let us go over to the other side of the lake. Had Jesus told them that in the midst of the sea they were going to face a storm, some of them would have probably gotten off the ship.
Shortly thereafter, a strong wind came, the waters began to fill their ship and the disciples began to panic and worry. But Jesus was sleeping during the storm. So, they woke Him up and said, Master, master, we perish.
Wow. Did you hear what they said?
They told Jesus that they were going to die, but Jesus had already told them before they got into the water that they were going to make it to the other side.
Has God ever sent you a word and at first you believed Him?
Maybe He told you that he was going to restore your relationship with your child.
Maybe He told you that one day you would own a business.
Maybe He told you that nothing was going to separate you and your spouse.
Maybe He told you that after many miscarriages that you were going to conceive and give birth to a healthy child.
And then something happened. A storm came and now you question what God said. So, instead of saying what God said, you say what you’re feeling at that moment.
It will never happen.
I’m not smart enough.
I don’t think my husband/wife and I are going to make it much longer.
I’ll never carry a child to full term.
When Jesus woke up, He rebuked the wind and the raging water. He then turned to the disciples and asked, Where is your faith? God has dealt to every man the measure of faith (Romans 12:3) and to receive what God has said or promised, it will require YOUR faith as well as your patience and obedience.
On the other side is what God prepared for you. On the other side is what you have been called to. The moment Jesus and His disciples got to the other side, they met a man who had lived in tombs, wore no clothes and had been possessed by demons for a long time (Luke 8:27). On the other side are people waiting on you to become who God created to be. On the other side are people waiting for you do what God told you to do. They have heard and now they are waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God.
One of the reasons why some of us haven’t gotten to the other side yet is because we allowed the storm to stop us rather than to make us. You gave up too quickly. You chose to go back to what feels safe and comfortable rather than to go forward. You’re trying to avoid the storm because you want everything to come easy, but God wants to use the storm to build your faith and to make you for where He is taking you.
Another reason why we haven’t gotten to the other side is because we stopped believing what God said. When Jesus spoke to the disciples, we know that they believed him because they stayed in the ship when He got in it, but the moment they saw the wind and the raging waters, they didn’t think or believe that they were going to make it to the other side.
But if Jesus says, Let us, then that is a sure indication that whatever you’re about to go through, you’re not going to go through it alone. Jesus was only with them, but the good news is He is in us.
And if He says, We are going over, then we are going over AND to the other side – but it will only happen according to your faith.
Be encouraged.
[Scripture reference: Luke 8:22-27]
Pray Without Ceasing
I don’t know if my sister is still doing it or not, but for awhile she was buying a lot of hair products for hair growth. And I mean a lot. One day I was asking her about one of the products she had on her dresser.
I don’t know if it works or not. I didn’t use it long enough. I started and then I stopped.
Does that sound familiar?
When something doesn’t happen as quickly as we would like it to, this is what some of us do. We get weary, we stop believing and we stop doing the things that we started doing.
The reason why some of us haven’t seen results or haven’t seen certain things come to pass is because we got distracted along the way. We started making daily confessions and then we stopped. We stopped fasting. We stopped doing what God told us to do. Some of us decided to set up a time to pray every day, but then something else became more important and it took the place of our prayer time.
When Peter was in prison, the church prayed for him and they prayed without ceasing. They didn’t stop praying just because nothing had happened yet. They prayed until their answer knocked on the door.
The angel told Daniel, You words were heard and I have come for your words. If the church had stopped praying, the angels would have stopped working.
Peter needed a miracle. He was in a situation that he couldn’t get himself out of. He was bound with two chains between two soldiers and there were guards at the prison door. Now, Peter wasn’t worried about his situation. He was sleeping. He was resting, but because the church remained faithful, consistent and persistent, an angel appeared to Peter in prison. It was the angel who took the chains off his hands. It was the angel who led him out of a door that he wasn’t supposed to go through.
I’m not saying that the church never grew weary, but in spite of what it looked like or how they felt, they kept praying. Without ceasing means they never stopped. Our problem is we just don’t give God time to work. If nothing happens when we think it should happen, then we assume that God doesn’t love us or that He has forgotten about us or that He changed His mind about what He said.
Let’s become the church we read about in the book of Acts. These people probably needed a miracle in their own lives, but they kept Peter’s name before the Lord. I know God doesn’t sleep or slumber, but they gave Him no rest until Peter was released from prison.
They were like the widow who went to the judge daily until he gave her what she asked for. They were like the person who went to a friend’s house at midnight to ask for bread, but the friend told him that the door was shut, he was in bed and he wasn’t getting out of bed. But because of their friendship (John 15:15) and because he refused to return home without getting what he asked for, the man got out of bed and gave his friend what he needed.
There are some things that we need to stop doing, but praying isn’t one of them.
Pray without ceasing.
[Scripture references: Acts 12:1-16; Luke 18:1-8; Luke 11:5-13]
Be Persistent
persistent: enduring with a firm hold of something in an unwavering manner; continuing in spite of opposition, obstacles or discouragement
There are forces at work doing everything they can to stop your prayers from coming true.
Be persistent. ~ A. R. Bernard
Then he said to me, “Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was standing in opposition to me for twenty one days” (Daniel 10:12-13, AMP).
“Do not be afraid, Daniel. From the very first day that you began to pursue understanding and humble yourself before your God, your words have been heard. I have been sent in response to what you’ve said. I would have been here sooner; however, for the past 21 days the spirit prince of Persia opposed me and prevented my coming to you” (Daniel 10:12-13, VOICE).
Stop Trying to Fix It
Underneath my car is this thing called an undercar cover or shield and let’s just say that thing has been through a lot.
One night, I got too close to the parking lot bumper and the cover split in half, but someone from my church came over with their tools and fixed it for me.
Then another night, an animal ran in front of my car as I was going home. Again, it tore the engine cover. I did everything I could to hold on to that cover. I even used duct tape.
Well, some time had passed, but I eventually ordered a new engine cover. The parts and labor was a little over $200.
My car was finally fixed and it looked good.
Then, one day as I was driving to the movie theater with my son, I saw something in the road. It looked like Spanish moss. But, instead of swerving to the right or left, what did I do? I drove over it and apparently it got caught in the cover and pulled it as I was driving. The next thing I heard was the sound of something dragging on the highway.
My new cover was damaged again and that was money that I couldn’t get back.
So, I let the cover drag as long as I could because I wasn’t getting this fixed again. When it was time for my next oil change, a young man (from a different auto shop) looked at the cover for me.
Minutes later, he comes in the waiting area holding the cover over his shoulder. I’m waiting for him to tell me the price of the parts and labor, but he says nothing. So I said, What is it going to cost?
He said, Nothing. You don’t need it. You can drive without it.
And you know what? He was right. I was trying to fix something that really didn’t need to be fixed. I didn’t need the engine cover to drive the car and it didn’t stop me from reaching the places I needed to go.
Why am I telling this story?
Because sometimes we try to fix situations that God can only fix and we try to change people that only God can change. We try to get to certain places in our life, holding on to things or people that was more of a burden than a blessing. And the enemy will use ‘what we think we need’ to get us off course, to keep us going in circles, to pull us away from the voice of God and to lead us in the wrong direction. Such distractions have cost many of us too much time and too much money.
I learned three things from this car as it relates to my life:
1) I can’t fix it.
2) Not everything needs fixing.
3) There are some things that only God can fix.
A Time to Speak
I was listening to a sermon recently. Well, just a snippet. In his message, the pastor talked about how he had always preached about the conversation between Eve and the serpent in the garden as if Adam wasn’t there and he often asked the question, Where was Adam?
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat (Genesis 3:6, KJV).
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it (NIV).
The pastor went on to say that based upon the above scripture, Adam wasn’t absent, but he was silent. After listening to the message, I thought about myself as well as the body of Christ. Is this the present-day church? Have we become silent? Have we become weary and stopped saying what God said?
And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die (Genesis 3:2-3). Both Adam and Eve heard God say the same thing. Adam knew that what the serpent said was not what God said, but he said nothing.
I know that some things will take place on the earth because it is written and the scriptures must be fulfilled, but what about those things that we have allowed to happen on the earth because we stopped speaking or stopped praying. Instead of waiting until something tragic happens and posting ‘Our thoughts and prayers are with you’ on social media, how about we bind, cancel, rebuke and pray against evil plots and plans before they happen? Our community, our nation, our leadership and our children – our future – need us to speak up. They need us to pray.
I know what it’s like to stop speaking the word or praying for things I was believing God for. The reason why I stopped was because it seemed like nothing was going to happen. Maybe it’s God’s will. But years later, I realized that the reason why those things didn’t come to pass was because I stopped speaking. You have not, because you ask not (James 4:2). I gave up – not because I was tired, but because I was lazy. Things weren’t happening fast enough and I got discouraged while waiting, but let me show you why it’s important to keep speaking and to keep praying.
Bless the Lord, you his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word (Psalm 103:20).
After Herod had killed James, he had arrested Peter, but the church never stopped praying to God concerning Peter (Acts 12:5). The night that Herod was planning to bring Peter to trial, Peter was sleeping, but the saints were praying. While he was sleeping, an angel of the Lord appeared, struck Peter on his side and told him to get up. When he got up, his chains fell off his hands. The angel then told him to clothe himself, put on his sandals and follow him. They passed the first and second guard. When they approached the iron gate that led to the city, the gate opened on its own. After walking down one street, the angel left Peter.
And when Peter had come to himself, he said, Now I know that the Lord has sent his angel and has delivered me out of the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews (Acts 12:11). Many had gathered together to pray on his behalf and while they were praying, the answer to their prayers (Peter) knocked on the door (Acts 10:12-13).
Something does happen when we pray.
Another example is when Belteshazzar (Daniel) fasted and prayed for understanding. It didn’t seem like anything was happening, but he didn’t stop praying. Finally, God sent an angel to Daniel to let him know that from the first day he spoke, his words were heard and that he had come for his words. God had already answered his prayer, but there was a fight going on for 21 days (Daniel 10:12-13). While the angel was fighting to get the answer to Daniel, there was another fighting to block or to keep the answer from getting to Daniel.
Some of us thought that God didn’t hear us, but He did hear you. The enemy knows he can’t stop God so he’s trying to stop you – from believing God and obeying God. He wants you to give up, but this is not the time to faint. This is the time to pray. Men ought always to pray, and not to faint (Luke 18:1).
If you have stopped speaking God’s word, start speaking again. It’s not that you are waiting on the angels to do something, but they are waiting on you to say something. We aren’t always obedient, but His angels are always obedient and they are ready to do what God said. They know His voice and they are waiting to hear the voice of His word. It’s time to give God’s word a voice.
It’s time to speak.
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