Prevailing Prayer

We must prevail in prayer until God answers. In Numbers 14 we see Moses' power with God. Probably one of the greatest dialogues ever recorded between man and God is this one commencing with verse 11, where God speaks very directly to Moses complaining of the lack of response and the disobedience of Israel. Their lack of faith prompts God to say, "How long will they not believe Me, despite all the signs which I have worked amongst them?" As a result, He threatens to destroy the whole nation. But in verse 13, in one of the most amazing scenes in Scripture, Moses dares to argue with God! He says, "If you do so, then the Egyptians will hear and tell the other nations, all of whom have heard and seen the miraculous deliverance and mighty signs which You have worked in their midst. They will not blame Israel for their lack of faith and disobedience, but will blame You, saying that You did not have the power to deliver them." Then Moses demonstrates the power which he has with God as intercessor saying, "Pardon the iniquity of this people!"

God answers, "I have pardoned, according to YOUR word," verse 20. Moses 'made it happen'! Do you see what the intercessor has done? Moses as the intercessor has challenged God so that instead of turning His back on His people because of their weakness, because of their sin, because of their failure to evangelise and their failure to win the world, God says, "Because of the intercessor I will renew My Covenant, I will renew My Power, I will renew My Glory. I will send the Power of My Spirit on them, backslidden as they are, fallible as they are - because you have stood before Me!"

Then God says in verse 21, in confirmation of the further power of the intercessor (especially when compared with Elijah who called down God's fire in 1 Kings 18), "All the earth shall be filled with the GLORY of the Lord!" This Glory is the FIRE which surrounds God, and it will fill ALL the earth.

God is calling on you to pray for your nation! 'If My people will humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven...' God is talking to you and me, not to the sinner: God is wanting His people to repent! When we pray, God says, 'I will answer!' - That is the Covenant we have with Him. When Solomon based his prayer upon the Covenant, what happened? - 'When Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven... (2 Chronicles 7:1). God will heal and restore your nation because you prayed!

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Don't let your praying go down a sinkhole

This year I have taken a lot of time to pray. I found myself asking the question we all ask, WHY? Why this? Why that? And I was asking, why is it that people pray and don't get an answer? Last year I read an unusual story in the newspaper: A family went to bed in their house at night, with their car outside on the drive. In the night the ground opened up, the car was swallowed, and in the morning they found the car 10 metres down at the bottom of the sinkhole! God used this story and said to me, "I'll tell you what's wrong when you pray. You start praying, and I'm over here waiting to answer. But instead of praying your way through, you stop in the middle, and the ground swallows you up! You stop praying just when I'm about to give you what you ask!!" We pray and we pray, and then we say, "Oh God isn't going to answer!" – And then we give up! And drop down the sinkhole! But God is there, waiting to give the answer and we've given up!

How have I learned how to pray? – Through trial, through tribulation! When I was just a young pastor, a man in my church was dying of terminal cancer. We prayed and God raised him, totally healed him, I saw the cancer coming out of his body! This wasn't healing – they had cut out parts of his body; God remade him! I was just a young man. When the son saw the power of God in his dad, God filled that boy with the Holy Ghost and he went on to preach the Gospel! That's the power of God – He changes men!

But what changed MY life a few years later was when I had throat cancer. I was a pastor and evangelist, but now I couldn't preach! I refused treatment, saying I believe in a God who answers prayer. I prayed three months, believed I was healed, so went back to the doctors. They said, "There is no God, there is no miracle, your cancer has become so big, on Monday we will operate and remove your voice." Did I say to myself, God doesn't answer prayer, God can't remove this, can't work miracles...? What kind of a God do YOU have?! Is He powerless? Or is He the greatest God in the whole world? MY God is the God of the Bible, powerful, glorious and who works miracles! There's no God like Jehovah! But I wasn't healed!! What did I do? I said, "Oh God, teach me how to pray!" I was a preacher, and evangelist, I had seen miracles of healing! Now I was on my face before God, "Oh God, is something wrong with me? – There’s nothing wrong with You Lord, it must be me! – Oh God, heal me!" Still nothing happened. Then I changed my prayer, saying "Oh God, if You want me to remain in my church, live in England – don't heal me! But I believe You are a God of power and authority, who can change the world! If You want me to leave my church, step out in faith, go to Russia, then I need a powerful miracle – HEAL ME!" That night God healed me! Next morning I went to the hospital, the surgeons examined me roughly, three times. And they were angry with me and accused me, "Who did it? What hospital, which doctor? We can see the scar where they cut the cancer out with a knife!" But I said, "His Name is Jesus! He can do what you can’t do!" But now I had made vows to God, so I went to my church and told them, "The good news is that God has healed me. The bad news is, goodbye..." I had made God a promise! How can we expect God to keep His promises, if we can’t keep ours? I stepped out in faith, and with no salary, no money, I bought a piece of land, built myself a new house – with no money – my own staff don't understand how I do this, nothing's changed in all the years – and I bought a brand new tour bus for the Bible smuggling – which cost two times the price of the house! Why? Because if God could work that miracle and heal me – now I had learned something – then nothing is impossible! Absolutely nothing! 

Let My people go!

Speaking to Russian Holocaust Survivors living in Israel David said, 'I have been many times to Carmel where Elijah called down fire from heaven. Scripture is history - here in Haifa we are in the vicinity of the place where it actually happened! We marvel that Elijah could work such a miracle as when he challenged the prophets of Baal, saying that the God who answered prayer, and would send fire on the sacrifice, would be the true God - 1 Kings 18. Today we have the same challenge - Israel is surrounded by followers of 'Baal', but the God of Israel will again prove that He is the true God. Elijah poured twelve barrels of water on the sacrifice so that it would be impossible for it to catch fire, then he called upon the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel - who answered by fire! This fire burned up the sacrifice, the water and even the very stones. What kind of fire was it? 45 years ago I stood on that site with a friend who was an eminent archaeologist. He had picked up a piece of blue stone, which he sent to the Atomic Research Centre in Britain; they found that this stone could only have been formed by an atomic explosion. That is when I realised that the God of Israel is the greatest God in the universe, who has authority and control even over nuclear power! But He loves you and has the ability to defend you and deliver you from your enemies. Even if it needs miracles, if it is impossible, God will always deliver Israel. Don't be afraid of the future.

'I want to show you miracles from your own history, and how important that history is in your life today. Your Scripture records in Deuteronomy 4:32 that when you were afraid and facing danger, the greatest miracle ever seen on the face of the earth was when God took you out of Egypt, and brought you to this promised land of Israel. It was a phenomenal miracle - only your God could do it!

'But your prophet Jeremiah refers back to this miracle, saying there will come a day when you will forget this great miracle of deliverance, because God says, "I will do a greater miracle when I bring the Jewish people from the land of the north - from all the lands where I have driven you!" God said, "I will do a greater miracle, when I deliver you from Russia, than when I delivered you out of Egypt!" For over 50 years I have been visiting Russia. Why? Because if I wanted to see the greatest miracles on the face of the earth, I had to go to Russia. And it was there that I actually saw God work miracle after miracle. He's your God, He's brought you out of Russia, into this land - He's a God of power, of love, of deliverance. This greater deliverance is happening now - here in Israel!'

'When Solomon prayed, God answered him and said, "If My people, who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray, I will forgive their sin, I will heal their land, I will deliver them. I will be their Father, I will deliver them forever and ever, for eternity." Israel is the land of God, you are the children of God - and He calls you to come Home! Not just to Israel, but to come to Him as Father.'