Praying To Obtain God's Best

The unseen world of faith and the Spirit influences the world that we see, live, and breathe much more than most people care to admit. I'm not claiming that the 90% invisible universe of "dark matter" is the same as the unseen world mentioned in the Bible. But, we need to explore some truths about the unseen world that affects our waiting on God to answers our prayers. The truths include:

1. Manmade dogmas that dominate our view of the unseen world.
2. God isn't bound by traditions He didn't invent.
3. God reveals His mysteries to those who wait on Him.
4. Prayer changes things first in the unseen world, then manifest itself in the seen world.

(We already discussed the first two of these truths in our previous lesson. We will look at the two remaining truths in this lesson.)

Truth #3

Though God does not change, many of His ways remain undiscovered.

Let me be clear: God will not contradict His Word. The many add-on religions (Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, the Unification Church, etc.) all purport to bring new truths that restore Christianity to its original, "lost" form. But, what they really do is to add errors that contradict the Bible.

Yet, there is room for many mysteries about God that do not deny His Word. John indicated there were things Jesus did or said which the gospels could not contain: "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written" (John 21:25).

And the Lord indicates that, just when we think we have Him figured out, how far from the truth we stand: "'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," declares the Lord, 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8-9).

Many of the undiscovered things are stored up for those who wait upon the Lord in prayer: "For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, Nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him (Isaiah 64:4).

"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter" (Proverbs 25:2).

Faithfulness leads to revelation, and revelation leads to intercession: This is a foundation stone for intercession. God didn't withhold information from Abraham that led to his successful intercession on his nephew Lot's behalf (Genesis 18:17-32).

Truth #4

When we don't see immediate changes in the visible world, we assume that our prayers aren't effective in the invisible world.

God works in hidden places, behind the scenes, despite the circumstances and below our perceptions. Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, beyond what we are able to ask or think...I will tell you great and mighty things that you do not know, stand and see the salvation of the Lord-- these words describe God's intentions towards those who engage Him in prayer. We must make room for God to be God.

The problem isn't with God's promises, but with our patience. We don't give God time to fulfill His promises. Why turn to God's promises when we have plastic (e.g., credit cards)? Can we go without long enough to receive His promise?

If faith is a seed, then how long does it take to go from a seed to a fruit-bearing tree? That's how long it takes God to answer the prayer. Like a sapling, which looks different than a mature plant, the initial manifestation of the fruit can be overlooked or taken for granted. We can't see the roots being produced underground.

The same thing occurs in the unseen world, beyond the surface of the soil, beyond the veil that separates the visible from the invisible world. It's the iceberg analogy. The tip of the iceberg is what we see in the natural; yet, since 90% of an iceberg is underwater, invisible to the naked eye, so 90% of the substance of our fruit is hidden beyond the veil. The 90% in the supernatural supports the 10% seen in the natural; that's why it takes so long for the supernatural to manifest in the natural.

The genes hidden in the seeds are the plans of God hidden in the dream: Both germinate under the proper conditions. It's up to us to arrange the proper conditions.

Seeds are planted in the ground. That's the work that we do in the heavenlies, in the hidden place, the place of the spirit, the place of the supernatural. When we see fruit of our work in the natural, in the seen place, it's the visible result of what we previously planted in the unseen world.

Prayer cultivates the heavenly grounds you stand on in the unseen world. We must stake our claim in the unseen world. We must have flag-raising ceremonies, to declare to all, and plant a flag--this is the territory that's ours, and we're going to defend that ground until the crop comes up. We can hoe, plant, water, fertilize into the ground, until the seed breaks forth. How many properties lie abandoned in the Heavenlies, waiting for a believer to claim them or waiting for their rightful owners to return?

Your prayers build up the answer to your prayers in the unseen world. Eventually, the unseen answer become so heavy that it falls into the seen world: "Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth..." (Revelation 8:3-5).

One great danger is that, in our haste for an answer from God, we mistake a weed for God's answer to prayer. They may both be green, they grow, they even flower, but a weed's a weed. Ishmael was a weed Abraham mistook for the flowering of God's promise.