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We all have personal needs and face difficult circumstances… relationships, finances, rejection, etc. Much of the time we can simply go to our Father and ask, and we get the answer. As we mature in the Kingdom our lives start having more impact and the level of warfare increases. We can suffer chronic or reoccurring patterns that we’ve prayed for and complained about for years – and nothing changes. The good / bad news is that those situations probably won’t change until we pull the curtain back on what’s really going on.
It feels like God is not answering – God always loves us and has a heart to show us His mercy and grace. He is not judging us or inflicting hardship on us. Good things are from God’s blessing (James 1:17). It’s equally true that the devil doesn’t care about our personal needs or happiness. If there is something in our lives or even prior generational issues that give the enemy a legitimate right to make accusations… they just might stick!
For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. 11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Rev 12:10-11 NIV
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 1 Peter 5:8-9 NIV
Here’s the new – We also have an advocate in Jesus who is continually making intercession for us (the saints) before God. So the scene in Heaven before God is that the accuser is making accusatory claims against us and Jesus is giving testimony in favor of us.
At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Rev 19:10 NIV
What settles the debate before God isn’t our personal suffering or our needs. Our case is won when we align ourselves with God’s purpose in our lives and respond to the accusations. We each have a unique calling and purpose from God that has Kingdom significance. It is even written down in a book before we take our first breath.
Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Ps 139:16 NIV
Prayers to break off the accusations and the delays, and suffering that goes with them, are answered from God’s perspective, not ours. Our personal case is won when we leverage our Kingdom purpose as a basis for answered prayer. The devil couldn’t care less about our suffering. Our Father cares about our suffering, and when we are first saved He delights in answering the cries of His children. But as adults in the Kingdom those cries start to sound like whining. Personal needs follow Kingdom purpose. We often get that backwards.
Spiritual maturity is a place where we realize everything that happens isn’t always about us and our needs. When we put Kingdom first, everything else falls into place. Notice that “pagans” run after personal needs. Putting “self” ahead of “Kingdom purpose” is a form of idolatry that can substantiate an accusation and leave us vulnerable to attack; It deserves repentance to move our prayer from “delayed” to “done.”
For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matt 6:32-34 NIV
You want something but don’t get it… You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. James 4:2-3 NIV
The accusation might sound something like this, “He’s not worthy of your blessing God. His prayer is a selfish request for a life of ease. He doesn’t care about your Kingdom.” The answer might be something like, “Lord your calling on my life is _____, and I release your Kingdom provision to see it through. I declare all of my shortcomings (personal and generational) covered by Jesus finished work on the cross.”
Example (rejection) – None of us likes rejection – it’s always painful and hurtful. It would always be high on our list of things for God to remove. But if we sign up for our purpose in the Kingdom, there is a high probability that we might occasionally run into some rejection! …very high! We have to have a Kingdom theology that supports the fact that our purpose might be a path to persecution and prosperity… To rejection and promotion.
You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings — what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted… 2 Tim 3:10-12
Do I know my purpose? – What determines my outlook, attitude or faith for the future (alignment) is my ability to reconcile my lot in life with my purpose. Our lives are often messy for a season, but those who can see their Kingdom purpose always come through. It’s not magic, or even strictly God’s power alone. Kingdom victories come from wise warfare… leveraging our purpose over the accusations.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. Rom 8:28-30 NIV
And when great victories, promotion, acclaim and prosperity do come… it’s our Kingdom purpose that puts it all in the context of humility. God is always frying much bigger fish than just us… yet He’s calls us friend and Kings and includes us in everything He does – amazing! It’s our privilege to be chosen on His team, to be given some land to steward, and to be seated with Him to shape this world after His image so that nations and people are blessed and discipled. This Kingdom stuff is fun – I don’t care what the price tag is. I’m choosing it again and again.
Coaching releases the desires of our hearts and overcomes the boundaries that hold us back. This approach to intercession (leveraging purpose) addresses the spiritual warfare behind the scenes and exposes the accusations and strategies of the enemy… and answers them with Jesus’ own testimony about us in the spirit of the prophetic.
