PREVAIL

Why no revival?  
Why, in the midst of increased prayer movements, is evil rising to record heights?
Why no Holy Spirit power in the church?
Why so few victories, deliverances and salvations? 

In the following passages of Scripture, it is one word that can undo all the evil and do all for His glory -- it is the word PREVAIL.

Half-heartedness can never obtain what can only be done through whole-hearted efforts.  And in the realm of prayer, 'saying' prayers, or prayers of repetition do not prevail with God.  Prayers of self, prayers sporadic, are no where near spiritual significance of prevailing for prayers of God's heart.  Such prayers that prevail are prayers that are constant, 'without ceasing' and continual.   We must understand that the failure of the church for this age, for this nation, for this time in history is found in this one word, we did not prevail.  The following Scriptures will be a guide, lesson, and leading for us to ponder on what it means to 'prevail with God'.   

 PREVAIL - 67 times used in Scripture:
"And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wreslted with my sister, and I have prevailed:  and shall his name Naphtali."  Genesis 30:8

"And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh. . . as he wrestled with him" Genesis 32:25

"And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel:  for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." Genesis 32:28

"because the famine prevailed over them" Genesis 47:20

"And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. . . and he prevailed against Chushanrishathaim" Judges 3:10

"And the hand of the children of Israel propsered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan." Judges 4:24

"And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel" Judges 6:2

"Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him" Judges 16:5

"So David prevailed over the Philistine" I Samuel 17:50 

"Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so." I Kings 22:22

"Thou art our God, let no man prevail against Thee"  II Chronicles 14:11

"thou hast begun to fall thou shalt not prevail against him" Ester 6:13

"Arise, O Lord, let not man prevail" Psalm 9:19




IN each of these passages of Scriptures, it is a lesson to learn who prevailed or didn't; what prevailed or didn't.  And all of it to be found in this lesson for each of God's children that we prevail in prayer for God's kingdom and glory.  Anything short of this is failure.   Is the church ready to confess before the Lord, that we have failed our Lord in this nation, for our families, and for His church and kingdoms work?   No we are not.  Yet the evidence is stacked against us and we have not prevailed for our Lord.

What evidence is in His court:
--the recent FL school shooting killing 17;  we have known of this evil since 1999 at Columbine, and yet with almost 20 years elapsing this evil surges, there is no prevailing for safety, for deliverance;
--evil multiplies in the headlines, things that have never been thought of, discussed, or imagined, yet it is happening daily;  abuse, neglect, children being robbed of being naive and innocent all the while the church knowing of this in their cities, in their communities, in their churches, yet the number grows;
--souls perish;
--every foundation of society is eroding and crumpling;
--hell advances;
--police officers being gunned down, shot & killed;  and officers shooting innocent people;  an evil that erodes order and unleashes chaos & anarchy;
--the church does far less than what it could or should be doing in reaching the nations and finishing the tasks.

Now the Lord has promised throughout Scripture with the power of prevailing prayer.  In Jeremiah 33:3, 'Call unto Me, and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which thou knowest not."   Is God a liar?  Does He speak half-truths?   No He does not; He speak whole truth.   And if God said it, He is able and willing to do it.   So if God is willing and able to answer, then it must be on how we are calling unto Him.   He wants us to prevail for His Name sake and for His glory.

Yet, when confronted with such a question on the church and the individual Christian of whether they prevail or not, it is met with hostility.   Is it in honesty that answer that questions?  Because the moment that I write this, or ask this question, immediately there is a defensive mechanisms that rises up by church leaders and individuals that they are doing all that they can do.  And that answer, is not answering the question.  What is the question?  Are we prevailing for our Lord?   And we are not prevailing in regards to the lostness, to the evil of our day.

Instances of history where the church did not prevail:
--ISIS;
--aboartion;
--LGBT agenda;
--Germany, HItler and the killing of 11 million in WWII and 6 million Jews;


I.  Let us examine first these that prevailed with God.

I think it to be highly noted of several example in Scripture where it is stated that they prevailed for God, or for the purposes of God.

1.  Jacob prevailed;  As he was alone, and that night he wrestled with the angel for all was hanging in the balances of life and death for his family and for himself.   There wrestling with the angel to extract from him a blessing, a pronuncement of 'You have prevailed'.   And how much more did the angel say this, 'You have prevailed.   Not only with men, but with God'.

2.  Moses prevailed;  The children of Israel was leaving Egypt and headed to the promised land.  Satan uses the vessels of men to attack and do his dirty work for him.  Throughout the old testament we see from Genesis through the times of Dave, the children of Amalek were used as agents for evil.  Here ins this battle they were attacking Israel, God's chosen people.  But the prophet, Moses, was there to safeguard and keep Israel.  To know that the battle is dependent on one man is astonishing!  Do we see that the future of our world, nation, families and churches may depend on us whether or not we prevail?  For Moses was at the center of this.  If his arms were raised there was victory for Joshua and Israel;  but if his hands went down, the Amalekites and evil prevailed.  Aaron and Hur came to help and stay his hands up for victory.  But brethren, how long has our hands been down? how weary have we become?  The enemy has prevailed for the letting down of our hands.




II.  These are the prayers by the saints that cried to God for Him to prevail, and not men, nor Satan.





Started:  February 13, 2018

Continued:  2/16; 2.17;

Finished: