Look at how 1Cor. 14:4, 28 puts it;
“A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally in the Lord.”
As he speaks (prays) in tongues, the spirit refills him with more strength. So he can stay on without getting physically tired. Then, also when you pray in tongues, you are talking to God directly through the spirit encoded words. Who can understand God more than the Holy Spirit? The Spirit surely knows what, how and when to make requests to the father. He knows the will and programme of God more than humans do. So, we must begin to pray in tongues, pray in the spirit. In fact, what I understand as praying in the spirit is praying His word and praying in tongues. Or you can tell me more.
Please, also permit me to clarify something here. I would like us to know that there are three forms of speaking in tongues that I found in the bible. One is the speaking in tongues as an initial evidence of being baptized with the Holy Spirit. Two is speaking in tongues as a gift of prophecy. This is the one that requires interpretation. And some are also given the gift of interpreting tongues, according to the scriptures. Then, the third is the one we are discussing here; communicating directly and privately with God. This is the one that the bible said that it is only the Holy Spirit that can decode what you are saying; because your spirit is sending an encoded message to Him directly. And this in what we have called praying in tongues, praying in the spirit or groaning in the spirit.
Pray Until Something Happens (PUSH)
Anyone that is involved in spiritual warfare like the midnight prayer and other forms must have this principle as a banner. Once you know what the will of God is, you must be ready to pray until you see the manifestation or until God tells you clearly that He has answered your prayers. There are so many examples from the bible, but we will just mention two – Daniel and Elijah.
Daniel 10:12-13, “Then he said, don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. But for twenty-one days the Spirit Prince of the Kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the Archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the Spirit of the kingdom of Persia.”
This biblical record gave us a rare insight into some of the activities that go on in the spiritual ream. Daniel was fasting and praying to God. And immediately he began to pray, on the first day, God sent Gabriel (a high ranking angelic being that stands in His presence) to go and deliver the answers to Daniel’s request. As Gabriel was coming, a powerful demonic principality blocked his way and he could not come through to meet with Daniel. Gabriel was there with the demon until another strong archangel – Michael (the Spirit Prince of Israel) came to his help. Only then could Gabriel go to dispatch the divine message to Daniel. Wow!
This is indeed a very rare insight into some of the actions and reactions that go on every day on our behalf in the spirit realm. Now, what if Daniel had prayed for 3 or 4 days, waited for some answer and had given up? Maybe Gabriel would have gone back to heaven and there wouldn’t have been any need for God to send Archangel Michael as reinforcement. Then, Daniel and the people of Israel would have also remained there without any solution to their predicaments.
Without knowing the struggle that was going on his behalf in the spiritual ream, Daniel continued praying and fasting for 21 days, and at last the answer came. Thank God that he stayed on. He endured. That is the mark of an intercessor.
Sometimes, when we pray, we trigger off fierce struggles in the spiritual realm and this can cause delay in receiving immediate responses to our requests. And because we don’t often see what happens in that realm, we get desperate or fall into despondency. We must learn how to persevere in prayer if we must be champions and veterans of spiritual warfare. We must develop the capacity to endure, recognize, ambush and demolish our enemies. I have earlier said that we must persevere, persist, and then we will prevail. And this must be the attitude of a midnight warrior.
Elijah
This man wielded so much spiritual power when he was here on earth that he locks and releases the dew and rain at will. Fire, death, and the laws of supernatural multiplication and velocity also obeyed him. But he once demonstrated that an intercessor must be ready to persist until he/she receives the desired results. Look at what happened after that great contest at Mount Carmel.
He had locked the rain for several years and now he came back to restore it. But that must not happen before his contest with the 850 satanic priests in Israel. After winning and slaughtering those demonic priests, he immediately informed king Ahab that rain was coming. In fact, Elijah clearly said that he was already hearing the sound of a mighty rainstorm and immediately went into prayer.
After the first prayer, he sent out his servant to go and check the rain. His servant went, came back and told him that he saw nothing. Elijah kept sending him until the seventh time. It was at the seventh time that the servant said that he saw a little cloud rising from the sea. And the prophet of God shouted. Then, the rain came.
Now, the lesson is that this great man of God had to persist in pray for seven times before he saw the physical actualization of his vision. He did not give up or show any sign of discouragement. Remember, he had already heard and seen the rain in the spirit and needed to birth it in the physical. We must learn how to pray until something happens (PUSH).
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Let us pray for revival. Let us pray for the release of those in captivity. Let us pray to dismantle the dominion of the demonic forces of darkness. Let us pray against the spirits behind the false religions. Let us pray that the glory and power of God will come down in His Church. May God strengthen us in the name of Jesus!
Prayer Groups and Meetings in the Bible
The early church in Acts of Apostles always met to pray and that was why God released His power and presence upon them. Praying together draws down the ‘Corporate Anointing’ from the throne of God. It also unites the believers.
Let us see Act 1:14-15,
“They all met together continually for prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus. During this time, on a day when about 120 believers were present, Peter stood up and addressed them as follows.”
Again in Act 16:13, 16, we also saw that the early Christians had a particular place where they regularly met for prayers.
“On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank, where we supposed that some people met for prayer, and we sat down to speak with some women who had come together.” and “One day as we were going down to a place of prayer,”
They had a place for prayers and they met regularly. Now tell me why the glory of God would not come upon them. No wonder today’s church has not been able to witness the same level of anointing, glory, and authority as the early church. The early church had places of prayer and they met regularly!
This coming together by the early believers to pray and fellowship precipitated the baptism of the Holy Ghost and ‘explosion’ of the early church. That simply means that, there are things that God will not do for His people unless they come together to pray and fellowship in unity and love.
The bible also said that they (the believers) were in one place and in one accord and God said, “Yes, this is the best time to give them that eternal and wonderful promise I made to them.”
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“And when the day of the Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven…
“Then they that gladly received his word were baptized and the same day they were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”
Acts 2:1-5, 41-42 (KJV).
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The believers prayed together regularly and the promise and power of God came down. As a result three thousand converts were made in one day. If you also read down that story, you will find out that love, joy, favour, signs and wonders also came upon the church. When believers come together to pray in one accord (in agreement and harmony), there is nothing that they would not be able to achieve.
The devil knows this very well and that is why he will do everything to bring confusion and disaffection amongst Christians and even amongst the ministers. He knows that a united prayerful church is a great threat to his kingdom and his clandestine operations.
The church must come together; we must present a united battlefront against our common enemies – Satan and his agents. We want to see more of interdenominational fellowships, interdenominational prayer groups and meetings. Jesus said, “I will build my church (not my denomination) and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” The more people you have praying in unity, the greater the anointing.
God said in Leviticus 26:8,
“Five of you will chase a hundred and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand! All your enemies will fall beneath the blows of your weapons.”
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Did you get that? The more the believers, the greater number of the enemies they will pursue. And He also gave the assurance that the enemies will fall for us. Praise God!
National Prayer Meetings in the Bible
In the bible, national prayer meetings were variously called to seek the face of God or His intervention in the affairs of the people. We will mention just two of them because of limited space:
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When three nations Moabites, Ammonites and the Meunites declared war against Judah, King Jehoshaphat quickly summoned a national prayer meeting at the Temple in Jerusalem. God heard their prayers, fought and defeated their enemies. “Jehoshaphat was alarmed by this news and sought the LORD for guidance. He also gave orders that everyone throughout Judah should observe a fast. So people from all the towns of Judah came to Jerusalem to seek the LORD.”
2 Chronicles 20:3-4.
And in the book of Esther, the people of Israel found themselves in a very precarious situation. An irrevocable death decree was hanging on them, not because of any crime, but for the envy of their enemies. Please can we just read the story? It is indeed an interesting one:
“Then Haman approached king Xerxes and said, ‘there is a certain race of people scattered through all the provinces of your empire. Their laws are different from those of any other nation, and they refuse to obey even the laws of the king. So it is not in the king’s interest to let them live. If it pleases you your majesty, issue a decree that they be destroyed, and I will give 375 tons of silver to the government administrators, so that they can put it into the royal treasury.
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“The king agreed, confirming his decision by removing his signet ring from his finger and giving it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite – the enemy of the Jews. ‘Keep the money,’ the king told Haman, ‘but go ahead and do as you like with these people.’
“On April 17 Haman called in the king’s secretaries and dictated letters to the princes, the governors of the respective provinces, and the local officials of each province in their own scripts and languages. These letters were signed in the name of king Xerxes, sealed with his ring, and sent by messengers into all the provinces of the empire. The letters decreed that all Jews – young and old, including women and children – must be killed, slaughtered, and annihilated on a single day. This was scheduled to happen nearly a year later on March 7. The property of the Jews would be given to those who killed them. A copy of this decree was to be issued in every province and made known to all the people, so that they would be ready to do their duty on the appointed day. At the king’s command, the decree went out by the swiftest messengers, and it was proclaimed in the fortress of Susa. Then the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa fell into confusion.”
Esther 3:8-15
