DAY 18

DAY 18: ‘Knocking in Prayer’ brings Spiritual Breakthrough and Protection

This type of prayer is an act of warfare, and is powerfully demonstrated in the Old Testament book of Daniel, chapter 10, ‘So I [Daniel] turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting…While I was still in prayer, Gabriel came to me…He instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding.” …Then he [Gabriel] continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days…”’ This implies that God began to answer Daniel’s prayers from the moment he started praying, which serves as an encouragement for us not to give up, even when we don’t immediately see an answer. There can be a spiritual battle going on in the heavenly realms and we need to play our part to see the breakthrough, ‘For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the dark powers of this world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armour of God… And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s power. Pray also for me…’ Ephesians 6:12-13a, 18-19. We have all the necessary weapons to engage in this type of prayer; we can put on the full armour of God, as described in Ephesians 6, we can apply the blood of Jesus into situations, we have the name of Jesus that we can declare over situations, and we have the Holy Spirit who can lead us into deep intercessory prayer. Using the gift of Tongues is particularly powerful when we don’t know what or how to pray.