Looking into the Unseen

I recently had the privilege to participate in Celebration NW. It was inspiring to be gathered with other folks from the Newfontiers family of churches. It was a great event with activities for the whole family and punctuated with great teaching. Terry Virgo spoke in the first two sessions and spoke of the need for truth and a commitment to walk in it. John Lanferman spoke on prayer and made a stirring point that caused me to sit up and take notice. He said “A church that does not pray, is happy with what they can accomplish through the flesh.” I am struck how many times we don’t stretch our faith and reach for the really big things in God. There is a reality that we are in a spiritual conflict, and the enemy of God is doing every thing in his power to thwart the plans of God. There is no way that we can accomplish the vast mission that we have been given without prayer. How quick we are to give up when we don’t see immediate answer to our prayers. I was reading in Daniel 10 where Daniel had been praying for 21 days with out seeing any result. Then an angel appears and tells Daniel what is to come. What strikes me is that we get a glimpse of the struggle that takes place in the spiritual realm. The angel says that God had sent him the first day that Daniel prayed but a angelic principality withstood him. For 21 days the conflict raged, until God sent Michael the arch angle to intervene. Many teachers have built large amounts of doctrine on this account and that’s is not my intent here, but I do believe this account gives us a peek behind the curtain of the natural to see the battle that rages in the heavenly. How many times do we pray and not see an immediate answer and our faith fails. We begin to doubt God and His intent for us. If we understand that there is a very real adversary, and that our chief weapon is to pray in faith, we will see things happen! We can be confident in the fact that God hears our prayers and moves on our behalf. In my own heart I have committed to pray big prayers, the ones that seem impossible, that only God could pull off.