PASTOR OLUWASEYI OSANYINBI
Most people often pray because they are in trouble. However, we must get beyond praying just because things are not working well. When our prayers are not answered, it means they did not get to God. Our prayers may not get to God if we do not pray according to His will or if there are forces contending with the answer like in the case of Daniel and the Prince of Persia.
HEBREWS 11:6: “6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.“
There are certain realities that we must come to understand about prayer. Prayer involves our imagination. You don’t pray outside your imagination. When we pray, we must realize that God exists and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him. Though we may not see God face to face, we must always walk in the truth that He is. We must realize that He is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. We don’t receive because we often pray amiss. For us to believe God for harvest, we must pray right.
GENESIS 1:1-14
There is water above the firmament and there is water below the firmament. God was said to have created light in verse 4. In that verse, God saw that the light was good and He separated it from the darkness. It is interesting to note that in verse 14, God called forth lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night. There are different layers of heaven. The heaven we see is called the First Heaven. There is a Second Heaven where Satan fell to when he was thrown down from the Third Heaven where God dwells. The Third Heaven is the heaven of heavens. Adam fell because he lost touch with Third Heaven operations. He fell to the earth and became an earth man. He was cut off from Divine transactions. When Adam fell, his spirit died. Man cannot find God without the Spirit.
No demons can come to the earth without man serving as a portal for them. In the same way, the Holy Spirit will not operate without the instrumentality of man. When people make all kinds of sacrifices, they are inviting demons. The only way we can deal with such demons is to go back to the throne of grace to obtain judgement in order to challenge their authority. Men open portals to demons through sin. Blessings may not come through if we don’t understand the nature of the warfare we are into.
Jesus, being the son of God, was expected to operate in the heavenly realms like God. When he came into the earth, He had to become the son of man so that He could have legal rights to operate in the earthly realm.
DANIEL 10:12-13: “Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.“;
LUKE 11:21-22: “When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace:22 But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.“
The Prince of Persia withstood the angel that brought answers to Daniel’s prayers because there were forces that strengthened the prince to oversee the affairs of Persia. As ordinary as geography and climate may seem, they are controlled by both good and evil spiritual forces. We must find a way of cooperating with angels that have been sent to minister for us. However, we must be very careful so that we will not delve into the occult. Elijah obtained judgement to shut the heavens over Israel so that rain would not fall for three and half years. By so doing, he released angels that could hold the rains.
If you are going to invade a strong man’s house, you must engage superior forces. The best way to disarm a spiritual strong man is to remove his seeming legal rights by standing on the finished work of Jesus on the Cross. Jesus built His Church on the Rock and the gates of hell can never prevail against it (Matthew 16:18). Gates are portals. The gates of hell are oppositions to the operations of God. Samson dealt with the Philistines because their gates could not deter him.
If we get our operations right, we will shut down evil portals while opening the good ones. The Church will have more and more harvest if the appropriate portals are opened. We often struggle because certain evil portals remain open while certain good portals are closed. When the right portals are open, angels find it easy to descend and ascend bringing blessings. As Christians, we have the advantage that we are portals ourselves; we can reach out to heaven and make things happen on earth.