Prayer is our lifeline to God. I think it is pretty incredible that we can talk to God about anything at any time irrespective of wherever we are. With prayer, we can send messages from our physical world to the spiritual realm and receive answers to our prayers, sent from that same spiritual realm to our physical world. At the heart of prayer lies the belief that there is a God who loves us and cares for us and can bring us the answers we need. This in itself is faith – the substance of things hoped for (when we pray, we hope for a response from God) and the evidence of things not seen (We pray to an unseen God believing he will provide solutions to our problems and answers to our questions, not knowing and perhaps to some extent, not caring about how He orchestrates these results we hope to receive).
Indeed, prayer is an act of faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God: for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6). The hard thing about prayer is a lot of the process is out of our control. Apart from the part where we open our hearts to express our desires to God, we pretty much have nothing else to do than to wait and trust. This combined action of waiting and trusting until the receipt of God’s promise to us is what it means to be steadfast and it is easier said than done.
To be steadfast is tantamount to being fastened to the truth of God’s word; to stand on it and to hold on to it until its manifestation is tangible in our lives. The supernatural controls the physical and usually, execution occurs first in the spiritual realm before manifestation pans out in the physical and sometimes, it takes a very long time for that translation from the spiritual to the physical to occur.
In Genesis chapter 3, after man had fallen, we see God say that He will create an enmity between the serpent and the woman, and between the woman’s seed and the serpent’s seed, the seed of the woman will bruise the serpent’s head, and the serpent shall bruise the seed of the woman’s heel. This is a spiritual statement made by God foretelling the birth of Christ and his death on the cross as well as the final swallowing up of the enemy; in essence, God’s redemption plan. Many generations trod the surface of planet Earth before Christ was born, He died on the cross, fulfilling God’s prophecy and we are still holding on waiting for the return of Christ towards the utter destruction of the enemy when death will be cast into the lake of fire (Revelations 20:14). Fundamentally, it takes time (sometimes short, sometimes long... from a human perspective) for results which have already been established in the spiritual realm to become concrete in the physical. And as such we are encouraged to see the things that be not as though they were.
Contrary to what it sounds like, waiting on God is not passive, it is in fact very active because as previously mentioned, there is the need to wait and trust; there is the need to remain steadfast. But how do we do this? Jesus, when he found his disciples sleeping when they were meant to be praying said that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41) and according to Proverbs 13:12, hope deferred does make the heart sick but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. What acts can we engage in to keep us trusting and not fainting?
How do we remain steadfast so we can see our longings fulfilled?
Continue to Pray. There is the need to continue to pray until we get our desired result or until we feel at peace within ourselves with a knowing that our prayers have been answered. The persistent widow in Luke chapter 18 kept knocking on the not so nice, nonchalant judge’s door until he succumbed to helping her get justice against her adversary. The judge was getting worn out by the widow’s continual knocking that he had no choice but to help her. Our God is loving and He loves justice (Isaiah 61:8-9), there is no way he would leave us hanging. We would not have to knock for long before He would open the door for us. Daniel wanted further understanding of a dream he had and decided to pray and fast about it. He continued in this manner until he was visited by the angel Gabriel who was ready to provide him with answers to his prayers from the time he (Daniel) decided to humble himself and pray. The angel was unfortunately delayed by the principality over the kingdom of Persia for 21 good days.
There are moments like this when we have prayed for so long but haven’t received answers to our prayers, we sometimes feel like giving up. The truth is the forces of heaven are fighting for us even though we cannot see it. This story provides us with a glimpse of what sometimes happens behind the scenes when answers to our prayers may be delayed, encouraging us to continue to trust and more importantly, continue to pray.
Be Aligned. This is the part where we put our houses in order to be able to receive the manifestations that God has for us. Preparation is a huge deal when it comes to God. Five of the ten virgins in Matthew chapter 25 were not ready for the bridegroom’s arrival. Unlike the five wise virgins, the five foolish virgins didn’t have enough oil in their lamps and were not quick enough to acquire some oil in good time before the arrival of the bridegroom and therefore got left behind. The bridegroom was the answer they were waiting for but they missed Him.
The children of Israel prayed to be free from the yoke of bondage but were they really prepared to be free? An 11-day journey ended up taking them 40 years. Lack of preparation on our part could mean that we altogether miss out on the answers to our prayers because we cannot handle the delivery, or it may take longer than necessary for us to have the complete freedom and delivery of what we desire.
For us, the act of being aligned might mean choosing to forgive someone or maybe starting to study in good time for the exams we are praying to pass, it could mean choosing to sharpen your skills even if you don’t have the platform to showcase them yet or maybe simply shutting your mouth while God fights for you.
Stand. “Having done all to stand, stand therefore...” When I think of standing, I think of being faithful. This is easier said than done. Sometimes we have done all we can to pray and to also prepare ourselves to receive what God has for us but we wait… and we wait… and we wait… and it seems like our answers are continents away from us. In these moments, we choose to trust the sovereignty of God because He is who He says He is. He is Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever more (Hebrews 13:8). His promises are yes and amen (2 Corinthians 1:20). Let God be true and every man be a liar. If God has promised something, He will surely bring it to pass. God promised Abraham a son when he was 75 years old. That promise did not come to pass until 25 years later when Abraham and his wife Sarah were super old.
God works in mysterious ways. His ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts. This is our confidence that when we ask for anything according to his will, he hears us. We trust that He works everything together for our good so we stand.
Prayer is a weapon of spiritual warfare:
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints - Ephesians 6:13-18 KJV
https://www.bible.com/1/eph.6.13-18.kjv
