Can Satanic Forces Hinder Prayers Of Believers?

The New Testament presents a sharp contrast against the Old Testament way and manner of praying. That would suggest that the experiences in prayer under the Old and New Covenant are entirely on different scales...

Prayer is a major and broad theme of Christian living and worship. But this does not suggest prayer is complex or complicated. Except of course, we make it so. Primarily prayer is fellowshipping with God our father. Prayer is we, God’s children, briefing God every second about our daily affairs. Out of that divine communication our request for God’s assistance is born. Asking and receiving is secondary to communicating with our father in payer. Our priorities on prayer should be right. Now on asking and receiving, can satanic forces hinder prayers or receiving answers to prayers?

Based on three passages of scriptures there is a notion that satanic forces operating in the airwaves (first or/and the second heaven) right above us can snatch answers to prayers before it manifests on earth, and can also serve as interference hindering our requests from ascending up to the throne of our heavenly Father. Except we pray rigorously and intensely, which makes our prayers too Hot for the enemy to hijack, our prayers will go nowhere.

1. Daniel's experience in Daniel 10:12-13.

2. The phrase spiritual wickedness in high (places) in Ephesians 6:12.

3. The prince of the power of the air mentioned in Ephesians 2:2.

In the New Testament there are more than five (5) reasons we don't get answers to prayers. But these hindrances are solely influenced by believers. There is no single account of external factors hindering our prayers in the New Testament.

Some of these factors are results of:

1. Believers not asking (James 4:2).
2. Believers having wrong motives for asking: lusting and coveting (James 4:3).
3. Praying in faithlessness (James 1:6-7).
4. Without proper understanding and interpretation of The WORD of God (John 15:7).
5. Not observing the principle of agreement (Matt 18:19 and 1Pet 3:7)

Understanding the principles that govern prayers under the Old and New Covenant will help us see why no New Testament scripture agree with the notion that satanic agents hinder our prayers.

Principles That Governed Daniel's Prayers

1. All Jews couldn't pray except they looked toward the direction of Jerusalem where the temple was sited.

Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and HIS WINDOWS BEING OPEN IN HIS CHAMBER TOWARD JERUSALEM, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.  Daniel 6:10

2. Daniel’s act of prayer in Daniel 9:2 was according to the provisions of the Old Covenant which states that: If they (Jews) sin against thee, (for there is no man which sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them over before their enemies, and they CARRY THEM AWAY AWAY CAPTIVES UNTO A LAND FAR OFF OR NEAR: [37] Yet if they bethink themselves in the land whither they are carried captive, and TURN AND PRAY unto thee in the LAND OF THEIR CAPTIVITY, saying, We have sinned, we have done amiss, and have dealt wickedly; [38] If they return to thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, whither they have carried them captives, and pray toward their land (Jerusalem), which thou gavest unto their fathers, and toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name. [39] THEN HEAR (harken) thou from the heavens, even from thy dwelling place, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive thy people which have sinned against thee. 1Chr 6:36-39

The New Testament Contrast

The New Testament presents a sharp contrast against the Old Testament way and manner of praying. That would suggest that the experiences in prayer under the Old and New Covenant are entirely on different scales.

1. We are not distant from the temple of God like Daniel was because we are God's temple –God indwells us. Therefore we don't need to look toward a geographical landscape to pray. We can pray in all places in all directions.

 I will therefore that men PRAY EVERYWHERE, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. 1 Timothy 2:8

2. We don't need a thrice daily schedule to pray like Daniel. We don't need to wait for a time of prayer to bring our requests to our Father in prayer. All believers are to pray without ceasing, without stopping, without tiring.

Pray without ceasing. 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Blessed be God for that. Yet, it's an amazing thing that some believers think Daniel was the real prayer warrior than they can ever be.

If the principles of prayers (asking) changed under the New Covenant, there is bound by necessity that variations exist in the outcome (receiving). God granting us another way and manner of prayer must mean that the first was fallible. Will the Lord Jesus have taught so much on prayer if there was in existence a perfect way of praying? If we are being taught by God in flesh (Jesus Christ) how to pray, why should we expect the same hiccups Daniel experienced in prayers?

Why Satanic Forces Could Delay Answers To Daniel's Prayers

Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Daniel 10:12-13

Just the same way righteousness was imperfect, so the prayer life of those under the Law carries with it the imperfection of that dispensation. As the sacrifices of sin were imperfect so their understanding of prayer was imperfect. Just the same way the temple made of hands was temporal and imperfect so they prayed with imperfect human knowledge of the Spirit realm. Therefore under the Law we read of many accounts of angelic beings stepping into earthly affairs, and through their ministration they lent support to humans, granting them brief understanding of spiritual realities so they could get answers to prayers.

For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God. Hebrews 7:19

Three Reasons The New Covenant Guarantees Unhindered Prayers And Answers

• THE NAME OF JESUS IS EXALTED

Therefore [because He stooped so low] God has highly exalted Him and has freely bestowed on Him the name that is above every name,that in (at) the name of Jesus every knee should (must) bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, And every tongue [frankly and openly] confess and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Phil 2:9-11 Amplified

While the arch angel Michael had to stand against the prince of Persia for many days because all authority was not committed to him, once and for all Christ was glorified over all beings; angels and demons subject to His Lordship. For this reason prayers or answers to prayers are not dependent on the efficiency of the ministry of angelic beings but the authority vested in the name of Jesus.

• WE ARE ALWAYS IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame BEFORE HIM in love. Ephesians 1:4

And hath raised us up together, and MADE US SIT TOGETHER in HEAVENLY PLACES in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:6

We sit exactly where Christ sits (at the right hand of God) far above all principalities and powers, out of their reach and realm. We are not beneath spiritual wickedness in high places neither is the prince of the power of the air above us. If Christ is above them all, guess what? We are above them all. Thank God Christ is FAR above them all and we are too. Our prayers are offered directly before the presence of God and not into the air or atmosphere. This knowledge need to sink real deep into our minds.

If we are spirit beings in earthly cocoon (body), it would imply spirits are not bound by geographical distances. Therefore, as spirit beings we are not praying from earth to heaven and our prayers do not need to travel through the airwaves of the first and second heaven. Hallelujah! Thank you Heavenly Father. The realm of the spirit is our home. We live there, our being is fused there because we are true worshippers (John 4:23-24).

There exists no barrier or distance between us and God our Father. Jesus bridged the gap, that great gulf that once existed between God and man. Our limited understanding of the spirit realm is why we think we are speaking from a distance to God.

Do you not discern and understand that you [the whole church at Corinth] are God's temple (His sanctuary), and that God's Spirit has His permanent dwelling in you [to be at home in you, collectively as a church and also individually]? 1 Corinthians 3:16 Amplified

• THE FATHER'S LOVE

And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. John 16:23, 26-27

Answer to prayers is a guarantee and an assurance of God's love to us (believers). If we ask our Heavenly Father anything (based on His will) in the name of Jesus, the word of God assures us that we will get an answer. This assurance is despite the fact that the prince of power of the air still operates. Irrespective of spiritual wickedness in any realm, answers to believers’ prayers cannot be hindered by any devil, except we do not operate upon the guidelines of prayer under the New Covenant.

And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, IF WE ASK ANY THING ACCORDING TO HIS WILL,HE HEARETH US: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that WE HAVE THE PETITIONS THAT WE DESIRE OF HIM. 1 John 5:14-15

BELIEVERS CONFESSION

I am not living under Daniel's dispensation, I am not praying in Babylon or towards Jerusalem. I live in the realm of God's Spirit, that’s where I have my being. I am a child of God, I am the Temple of the Living God. I sit together with Christ, together with him I am far above all principalities and powers. I am in the very presence of God where I commune with my Heavenly Father. My Father is present within me. He teaches me how to pray. He energises me by His Spirit to pray unhindered and uninterrupted to Him. When I pray, My Heavenly Father who hears me always, guarantees the answer to my prayers because He loves me just as Jesus is loved by Him.

Nonetheless, Daniel had an amazing prayer life relative to the dispensation he lived in; we would have a more fruitful prayer experience if we stick to our own dispensation of perfection and Better Promises. If the vision, dream and book of any man do not tally with the report of God as found under the New Covenant, it does not move me. The report of God is GREATER. I’ll abide by the WORD of God.