People who provoke the favor of God with prayer.
- Abraham
The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanliness of my hands, he recompensed me.
Psalms 18:20
Abraham provokes the favor of God on the altar of prayer. The situation was so bad, but due to prayer, God turned things around. God will never abandon his words. He said, Call unto me, and I will hear. In the situation of Sodom and Gomorrah, their evil was so great that they saw angels and wanted to commit sexual sin with them. The angel that visited the house of Lot and the people ran after them and wanted to commit sexual sin with them. That is to tell you the level of sin going on there. But when God told Abraham in verse (Genesis 18:20),
And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin is very grievous,
I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.
And the men turned their faces from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.
Genesis 18:20-22.
Abraham did not give up. Job said I will wait until my change comes; that was what helped Job; he kept on praying, and in Job 23, God sent him a messenger. He tarried on the prayer altar. Abraham asked God if He would destroy the righteous with the righteous, so there are still righteous people. God asked if I could find 50. God is waiting for you to have the seed of Abraham to pray over that situation. Use your time to pray over things that should not be. Whatever you are desperate for, you can experience, and what you don’t value, you cannot attract. Abraham prayed, and he got a result.
- Jacobs prayed for favor:
And Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him.
And he said, Let me go for the day break.And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
And he said unto him, What is your name? And he said, Jacob.
And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
And Jacob asked him and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that you ask after my name? And he blessed him there.
And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
Genesis 32:24–30.
He prayed to God, and God heard him. The meaning of Jacob is suplanter or thief, and God changed his name to Israel, meaning the prince of Elohim. He didn’t get this from a beer parlor; he got it from the altar of prayer. So you call the owner of every situation, just like Jacob did, and have the result.
- Jabez:
And Jabez was more honorable than his brethren, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bore him with sorrow.
And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh, that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him what he requested.
1 Chronicles 4:9–10.
Jabez provokes the favor of God through prayer. When Jospeh’s mother gave birth to her last child due to pain, she gave the child a bad name, but Jacob changed it instantly. But I named him Benjamin, meaning the son of my right hand. Rachel stole the father’s idol, and she knew the power of the tongue. Maybe someone has given you a bad name. Don’t accept the statoscope. Jabez was named the child of sorrow. Everywhere he goes, they call him sorrow, and that name was following him. Everything in life works, even though, by divine plan, he was supposed to be at the top, but nothing seems to be working around him, and each time they call him, they pronounce negative things into his life, not until he prays.
- Esther:
Esther 4:4-17.
By prayer, heaven opened for favor for Esther. By the decree of the king at that time, if you go to the king without being called, they will cut off the head of that person, including the wife of the king. The reason he made that law was that there was a co-attempt to kill him; his bodyguards wanted to kill him. So it’s natural for him to make that decree to prevent him from being killed. The spirit of unsettlement hides under natural circumstances. Don’t let the devil hide under any natural circumstances to take advantage of you. Esther prayed, and favor came down.
- King Hezekiah:
He had an infection, and he looked at it as natural until his health started coming down gradually, and then the well-respected prophet in the land came to him and told him he was going to die. Someone else could have asked for his will to be written since the words are coming from a person like the prophet Isaiah. But Hezekiah cried and prayed to God, and God heard him.
In those days, Hezekiah was sick to death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came unto him and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live.
Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall and prayed unto the LORD,
And said, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.
Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying,
Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David, thy father; I have heard thy prayer; I have seen thy tears; behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.
Isaiah 38:1-10.
In Luke 18:1–18, Jesus said the woman kept going to the judge to avenge her, and the judge had to avenge her because of her consistency. Your consistency in the place of prayer means that you are holding forth until the manifestation of your prayers because you are in the cocoon now, and if you come out, you might miss the way. Don’t be too much in a hurry; don’t be angry with God.
Prayer uproar:
Every activity of the spirit of unsettlement in my life, health, family, and career, I curse in Jesus name.
O Lord, help me.