Warrior Church Home Fellowship Study

Dr. Kevin Zadai 02-19-2023

The Thing We Don't Understand About Prayer is Time

"As we adhere to the revelation that God is perfect and unchanging, we do not diminish in our faith."

~Kevin Zadai

So, dear friends, don't let this one thing escape your notice: a single day counts like a thousand years to the Lord Yahweh, and a thousand
years counts as one day.
2 Peter 3:8 TPT

DISCUSSION:
You may be thinking, what an interesting title, "The Thing We Don't Understand About Prayer is Time." I believe God is working in your life, constantly revealing His favor and mercy. Every single one of us needs to be experiencing God's favor and goodness because He is always good. He wants to help us; He's not leaving us. So one of the things that we don't understand about prayer is the time factor. There is a delay that happens in prayer, which is what we will discuss today.

Growing up, I thought answers to prayer should be instantaneous. I was impatient, wanting to see results in every area of my life. It was difficult to discipline myself to be diligent and consistent. For this reason, the Lord may have inspired me to start running every day. Since I was a young child, around the age of 9, I faithfully ran about two or three miles a day until I started college. I don't think I missed a day in all those years. On weekends I participated in races, excelling as a long-distance runner. During track season, I would also run for our high school team. What I learned was that I was neither patient nor diligent. I wanted things to happen right away, and if I didn't see immediate results, I wanted to quit and do something where I could get quick results. For this same reason, many Christians don't persevere.

Believers get hurt, frustrated, and disappointed. How we deal with adversity and hardship translates to how we walk out our faith in God or our lack of faith. When people lack diligence and consistency, they lack faith in that area. Abraham waited many years for the promise that God had given him, and it wasn't easy. He was almost 100 years old when he had his promised child. If it were any of us, we would have expected Sarah to be pregnant the next day. We find many stories in the Bible that we think were instantaneous but were not. More often than not, God's promises took many years to be fulfilled.

IF GOD PROMISES, THE CASE IS SEALED
I want to encourage you with what I saw on the other side. Once God speaks, even though we may feel the pressure of our needs, it will happen.

Many people do not understand the faithfulness of God to keep His promise no matter how long it takes.

• If we discover a promise from the Bible that God has given us, then that's the end of it.

• The case is sealed, and it is just a matter of time before God's word manifests.

• The bottom line of what I saw on the other side is that you must latch down on the promise of God until you see fulfillment.

• You grasp God's word, take hold of it, and don't let it go until it manifests in the natural.

• You receive it by the Spirit instantly, but then you must wait.

Think about the fact that to the Lord, 1000 years count as one day. When I was in Heaven, I saw this to be the case. They are not even keeping track of time up there; they go from one revelation to the next. In Heaven, there is a constant flow of revelation of Who God is. There is total peace and rest because you are not working to make things happen; you're completely resting in God.

One thousand years pass before your eyes like yesterday that quickly faded away, like a night's sleep soon forgotten.
Psalm 90:4 TPT

Psalm 90:4 is another reference confirming God's perspective on time. Peter may have received the revelation in 2 Peter 3:8 from reading this Psalm.

STAY FOCUSED IN THE END TIMES
Now, may the God of peace and harmony set you apart, making you completely holy. And may your entire being—spirit, soul, and body— be kept completely flawless in the appearing of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One. The One Who calls you by name is trustworthy and will thoroughly complete His work in you.
—1 Thessalonians 5:23 TPT

In today's ministries, Paul's letters to the Thessalonians are neglected; however, he gives tremendous insight into the end times. We must remember that God has already essentially locked in the end times. We can see that He has already established the way the end unfolds because the Book of Revelation was written. I believe that we are supposed to pray that we will walk in the power of the Spirit and confirm that God's plans will happen for us. Our entire being—spirit, soul, and body—must be involved, for God has already established His plan.

Now regarding the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we plead with you, beloved friends, not to be easily confused or disturbed in your minds by any kind of spirit, rumor, or letter allegedly from us, claiming that the day of the Lord has already come. Don't let anyone deceive you in any way. Before that day comes the rebellion must occur and the "outlaw"—the destructive son—will be revealed in his true light.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 TPT

Now may the Lord Jesus Christ and our Father God, Who loved us and in His wonderful grace gave us eternal comfort and a beautiful hope that cannot fail, encourage your hearts and inspire you with strength to always do and speak what is good and beautiful in His eyes.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 TPT

I am not concerned with hoping that God's plans happen or that God heard my prayers. Based on the end-time scenario that Paul talked about in his two letters to the Thessalonians, some events must happen, but they haven't happened yet. He said until these things happen, we must continually work and do what the Lord has told us to do without being concerned about anything else. So if that is the case and Paul is praying that our whole spirit, soul, and body would be enveloped and overwhelmed with God's presence, then this is what we should be praying for, too.

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
Matthew 24:14

I am basing what will happen tomorrow on what God has already told me in his word would happen. It is not meant for us to interpret the end times or when Jesus will return because Jesus doesn't even know it. For example, I do not look for a timeline of when certain nations will invade or these different scenarios that people discuss. I don't even think about that. I focus on what the Lord said, until the Gospel is preached in all the world, the end will not come. Paul clearly stated in many places in Thessalonians that Jesus would not come back until certain events happened, even though the people were expecting Him to come back then. So really, Paul was saying that all these events that are supposed to take place cannot happen while we, the Church, are here.

Warrior Church Home Fellowship Study

Dr. Kevin Zadai 02-19-2023

And now you know what is restraining him [from being revealed at this time]; it is so that he may be manifested (revealed) in his own appointed time. For the mystery of lawlessness (that hidden principle of rebellion against constituted authority) is already at work in the world, [but it is] restrained only until he who restrains is taken out of the way.

2 Thessalonians 2:6-7 AMPC

o Concerning the end time, what should our focus be?

YOUR LIFE IS A PRAYER

Make your life a prayer.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 TPT

Paul talks about our lives being a prayer, so essentially all of us are on display. I don't even think about subjects that most people are bothered by because until the Spirit does what he wants to do through all of us, the end can't come. I was surprised at how little we understand concerning the end times in which we are living.

So your life is supposed to be a prayer. In other words, you are the answer. We must continue functioning as the Church and do God's will as the Holy Spirit empowers us. If you are going to sit around and wonder what will happen next in the timeline of prophecy, you are essentially in a mode of waiting for God when He is waiting on you. We don't want that to happen. Your life is supposed to be a prayer, meaning you should be living out God's intention. You are an answer to someone else's prayer.

And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and

in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward Heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into Heaven? This same Jesus, Who was taken up from you into Heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into Heaven."

Acts 1:7-11

Right after Jesus spoke those words in Acts 1:7-8, the disciples saw Him lifted up in the sky and disappear in the cloud. The angel said that just how He left is how He'll come back.

Stay focused, knowing Jesus' words apply to us today.

• We know He's coming back just the way He left.

• Jesus was lifted up on a cloud; therefore, He will come back on a cloud.

• We believe His promise, yet think about how long ago that was, over 2000 years.

• We have an assignment now to preach this gospel message.

The end of time is at hand; however, certain events in the sequence will not happen until we have completed our assignments with the power of the Holy Spirit. The whole body of Christ on the earth must be involved, which entails all of us getting together, building each other up, and then preaching this message.

FRAMED WITH WORDS

Faith empowers us to see that the universe was created and beautifully coordinated by the power of God's words! He spoke and the invisible realm gave birth to all that is seen.

Hebrews 11:3 TPT

To understand the concept of "time," we must realize that God framed the universe with his words. Think about how long ago God framed the world and all the positive and negative events that have occurred since that time. And yet God hasn't ceased or diminished in any way. Yet people often have the perspective that God has changed, backed off, or become less powerful. Just because people are not always healed right away doesn't mean God is not the Healer. It just means that we deal with aspects of time in this broken world. I always encourage people to believe in God's promises, stay in faith, and support each other in the family of God.

Remember that God started this whole universe with words, and everything is held together by His word. We see all these scientific laws at work strictly because God spoke the world into existence. Our world is sustained by God's word, even though we see the diminishing of certain systems due to its broken state. Earth is not the eternal realm, so the gravitational field, oxygen levels, the potency of fruits and vegetables, and other aspects of creation continue to diminish. Our world is broken now, but it was perfect when God originally formed it.

As we discuss how God's word framed the creation, we can gain an understanding of prayer.

• When you come to God in prayer, you are approaching an eternal Father that set everything in motion perfectly at one point.

• As we adhere to the revelation that God is perfect and unchanging, we do not diminish in our faith.

• Purpose in your heart not to accept anything less than what God has said.

• The period from taking your stand until the answer is called "time."

• Fulfillment comes when the spoken word manifests and breaks through into this realm. God is the only One that can do that.

Your faith is what is required of you, but God does the rest. Though it may seem like it is taking longer, God will supernaturally answer in His perfect timing. When you feel frustrated in your heart, understand that we are eternal spirit beings, yet in our minds and emotions, we are very impatient. We don't want to wait; we want answers to be instant. Instant results rarely occur in this broken world, so the revelation of how time works in prayer will improve the way you wait to receive your answer.

PRAYER:

Father, in the name of Jesus, thank You so much for everything You're doing. Lord, thank You so much for the answers to prayer. We thank You, Lord, that You are working supernaturally on the other side. Lord, grace us to have the patience to wait on You and understand that the realms of the spirit are faster and more instantaneous than the realms of this physical world. Lord, teach us and help us to be able to deal with the differences. Encourage us, by your Spirit, that you are working things out, that you will answer our prayers, and that you will help us. In the name of Jesus, amen.

1. Paul's letters to the Thessalonians explain that certain events must occur before Jesus returns. Why is it important to understand this?

2. Since the New Testament church, people often got off track by trying to figure out the timeline of prophetic events. Why is that dangerous, and what should we be doing instead?

3. What do 2 Peter 3:8 and Psalm 90:4 reveal about God's perspective of time?

How does this understanding help us to persevere in prayer?

4. Hebrews 11:3 reveals that God framed the world with His words, setting everything perfectly into motion. What should our perspective be as we wait for a supernatural breakthrough in prayer in the world's broken state?