The Man Who Knocked At Midnight
Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight wanting to borrow three loaves of bread…if you keep knocking long enough he will get up and give you what you need…So I tell you “Keep on knocking.” -Jesus in Luke 11:5-9 NLT
The story that Jesus tells, “The man who knocked at midnight,” is also my story.
In this work on Prayer Mountain Dallas, I have stayed up late at night so many times seeking an answer from God, I am like that man persisting with the police knock, the midnight DEA bust down the door call. That department in Heaven which handles the Daily Bread prayer request line knows me all too well. I won’t go away.
There is more to this process than we know. Our persistence is not due to the fact that Heaven is closed for the night. God’s not in bed. He never slumbers nor sleeps. His cell phone never goes direct to voice mail: “Your call is important. Please leave a message.” No. Never. Something bigger and better is happening.
How often the Lord resorted to seasons of prayer in the early hours of the morning. He is a pattern and example for us on how to face our daily pressure points. He spent quality time alone and shut in with the Father.
The process of fighting discouraging words, devils, distresses, and deadlines can work for our good if it drives us to imitate Christ’s habit of seeking God in prayer.
A.W. Tozer wrote a classic study on revival, Born After Midnight. He suggests that most spiritual breakthroughs are the product of prayer meetings. Not just any prayer meetings, but those tarrying services wherein saints persist in prayer past midnight. It is not that the Lord is slow to hear our prayers. But such a drawn out process does a deep work in us seekers. Those prayers before sunrise are profoundly deeper and more effective than we realize.
The Lord hears all prayers of faith—whether short or long. Still, praying through the night watches in rich seasons of prayer helps us see the invisible and then do the impossible.
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