Perseverance

After thirty plus years of being a Christian, I sometimes still think that if I just said the right words, God would quickly jump to do what I ask. How silly.

Unanswered prayer has to be one of the biggest tests of faith, especially if the requests are clearly in His will, the answers would glorify Him, and I know that He is entirely capable of doing what I ask. Silence. What is the silence about?

Sometimes I tell Him that if there is anything that needs to change in me before He can answer my prayer, then change me. He usually answers that prayer. But when it comes to changing the lives of others, the process seems out of my control. Why does He tell me to keep praying?

For today: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5, NKJV).

The Lord teaches me that the real enemy is not people, it is “spiritual wickedness in high places.” Nor am I trying to persuade God to do things that would clearly honor Him; He wants that more than I do. This prayer battle is more about bringing down strongholds and whatever has exalted itself against the knowledge of God.

Strongholds are just that. I remember how my mom used to build up the strongholds called “worries” in her mind. She would get a notion of something that could happen and repeat it over and over until it was a certain fact in her head, a stronghold. Even if the opportunity came and went and the worry never happened, she was convinced that it would come back and get her.

It works the same with those “arguments and high things” that “exalt themselves against the knowledge of God.” The truth about God is challenged with an notion as simple as, “God doesn’t care.” Then every event is run through that grid and seen as ‘proof’ until the person has a wall built around them, a wall that the goodness of God cannot penetrate. In their mind, God is the enemy and that’s that.

The flesh fights those ideas with debate, argument, logic. They might seem to succeed—some will agree just to be polite—but those tactics do not bring anyone’s mind into obedience to Christ. Only the Holy Spirit can do that, and my part is to give Him His weapon.

Instead of fighting lies with arguments God tells me to bring these spiritual strongholds down with spiritual weapons. The weapon is the “sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” Often that Word cannot be said to those with a wall around them; they won’t listen or cannot ‘hear’ it. Because of their stronghold, I must pray it, that is pray using Scripture, and trust God to use His weapon to reach the hearts of those deceived by lies about Him.

Prayer is not asking God to make things go my way, to make life more comfortable for me, to have Him do what I want. It is standing with Him in battle, fighting the good fight, until the inevitable happens—Jesus wins.