2026-08-09 Jacob - Prevailing in prayer

The speaker discusses the concept of prevailing prayer using the stories of a woman named Mira and Jacob from the Bible. Mira, facing a severe drought in her village, digs persistently for water despite skepticism. Jacob, fearing his brother's vengeance, wrestles with a man until he receives a blessing that transforms his life. Prevailing prayer is described as earnest, persistent, faith-filled intercession that moves God's heart and changes situations. The importance of not giving up and relying on God's promises is emphasized. Good morning everyone. Over the past six weeks we have been preaching on growing in our prayer life and it's been a really wonderful time so if you have not been following us it would be really nice to go on to YouTube because we are on YouTube to listen to all the talks before now. Today we are looking at prevailing prayer, growing in our prayer life, prevailing prayer. So each of the weeks we have always picked up a case study character in the Bible and we walk through that character and see how what we learn from that character and the kind of prayer that they prayed and today we are looking at Jacob. So when you look at this picture what do you see? What do you feel? What do you think? It's like a garden. Yeah, dry, parched, yes. Really, really dry. It's good. You're right. So this is a picture of somebody's land and the person I'm about to tell the story of is called Mira. So in her small village they were experiencing a severe drought. The crops were drying, the ground was cracked, the well was completely dried out. The young woman called Mira refuses to give up. She remembers an old map showing a massive underground spring beneath the village square. She picks up a shovel and a pickaxe and she decides to start digging. On day one she digs through the topsoil. It was very dusty and dry but she keeps on digging. After about five days she hits the hard clay. She knew that her shovel and pickaxe isn't doing anything much so she changes her tool and she keeps on. After some time she meets hard rock. At this time the people in the village thought, is Mira okay? Why are you even doing this that it is not yielding anything? Mira's hand is beginning to blister. Actually at this time it's all blistered but she continues. She wouldn't stop and she wouldn't stop because she has seen a map and the map tells her there is water there. So she decides to continue. While she was going on and on with the hard rock she strikes one, strikes twice, 50 times, a hundred times and there is nothing. And sometimes it feels like we are in a very dry place and it seems like everything you're doing nothing is bulging. Dry, dusty and those that have started up with you are asking you what exactly are you still doing here? It's dry. Why don't you find an alternative? But not Mira. She continues. We'll stop with Mira and go on to Jacob. So he is the guy of our interest today. Just for you to know Jacob, he is the second son of Isaac and the grandson of Abraham. 20 years before he had defrauded his brother of his birthright with the help of his mom, story for another day, and ran away. He ran away because he was very afraid of his brother who has threatened to kill him. And trust me, when Esau says he's doing something, he would do it because he was a hunter. So Jacob ran away and went on to stay with his father, with his uncle rather, excuse me. Jacob is a man that is quite intelligent or should I say he's clever. He knows his way around. So he knows how to do things and how to make things work for him. But during his journey Jacob has also met God and has had some encounters with God along the line. And at some point he has become really great. But at this point of his life God said to him, Jacob I want you to pack your things now and go back home. And this is where we leave off the start of this story. This is in Genesis chapter 32 verse 22 to 32. So at this point Jacob has taken his family to a point where they were moving. Remember he is really afraid. That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants, his 11 sons and crossed the fold of Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, let me go for it is daybreak. But Jacob replied, I will not let you go unless you bless me. The man asked him, what is your name? Jacob he answered. Then the man said, your name will no longer be Jacob but Israel because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome. Jacob said, please tell me your name. But he replied, why do you ask my name? Then he blessed him there. So Jacob called the place Penel because it is because I saw God face to face and yet my life was spared. The sun rose above him as he passed Penel and he was limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip because the socket of Jacob's hip was touched near the tendon. May the Lord bless the reading of his word in Jesus name. Amen. Prevailing prayer. I believe that this word prevailing prayer came from verse 28 of the chapter we have just read. In the King James version it says, and you had your power with God and with men and you prevailed. It means that there is something that he did that made him prevail. And to prevail means to triumph or to win, to overcome, to convince, to successfully convince somebody or persuade somebody. And so which means that if we take all this, there could have been a struggle, there could have been a goal. Why were you even fighting? It's also between two or more people and then there is an outcome. So going still to Jacob, we see a few things in his life from the story. The Bible says that he was left alone after he has sent gifts and he has sent his possessions away from him and he has crossed the Jebuk river. We have to note before now he had prayed and asked the Lord to help him because God said to him, stand up and go. He obeyed God. From the beginning of the story when God said to him, pack your things, it's time to leave, he obeyed. But there was something that was not quite right. He was very afraid. He was afraid of his brother. Now it wasn't just him that was involved here. He had children, he had family, he had possessions, he had worked for 20 years and everything that he was, he might just go and meet disaster. He wasn't sure of what he was going to meet. He was very much afraid. But at this point, the Bible says that he crossed the Jebuk river, sent everything away. So it's a place where he was on his own, probably to pray, maybe to strategize, maybe to plan because that's who he is or maybe just to stay with God. But he was in a place of total surrender because in the beginning he has told the Lord before, help me. So he invited the Lord to him and this is where the wrestle, the man came to wrestle with him because he was already open to what the Lord would do with him. The Bible says that he wrestled with him and he said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. Are there areas in our lives where we feel that is a constant wrestle, a constant struggle? We have to note that Jacob had prayed earnestly before opening up to an encounter, not just consciously inviting a wrestling match, but the Lord actually came to him at this time. Jacob would not let go because probably he was tired of carrying a burden of fear that he has carried all through his life. He has always been afraid of what will happen to him and we will ask to ask ourselves, maybe there is something that you have been carrying as a burden all through and is not letting off. And so probably you just told yourself, well I have prayed about this and I have left it. It is possible that he engaged in that battle because he felt, if I do not do it now, I might not be able to do it again. This is the breakthrough I am looking for. I need to break free from this fear. I need to break free from this feeling of being afraid. I need to break free from this feeling of being inadequate. I need to break free from the troubles that I am going through. I need to break through this hard ground. Probably that was why he stayed. But the point is that he recognized that there was an issue and he had to deal with it. He demands a blessing in this point. At this point he starts, he demands a blessing. I am very sure and I am convinced that Jacob did not know that the blessing that he is demanding would extend through generations. He probably was just praying for himself and like God, lift this burden from me. Help me find favor in sight of my brother. But the blessing that he got eventually changed the course of nature, changed everything, changed his generation. He did not just change his name but he changed the things that he birthed. And sometimes you have, probably you are praying for something and you have been praying a long time but you do not know the weight of what you are praying about. You might not understand why is it so hard? Why am I in this so long? Why have this taken so long? It is possible that the breakthrough that is coming your way is not just for you. It might not even be just for your generation. It might be for generations yet unborn. Jacob stayed on and then he blessed him. So how do I explain what or how do I define what prevailing prayer is? Prevailing prayer is then an earnest, persistent, faith-filled intercession. It comes with an attitude of surrender yet of dissemination not to give up. It is a prayer that moves the heart of God and changes situations on earth. It is not because there are prayers that do not change the heart of God but for this one there is something going on. Stay there and prevail in prayer and that is what the Lord is calling us to do this time. Are there areas you have recognized in your life that things are not yielding and you are almost giving up? It is not the time to give up. It is the time to go back to say, Lord, I want this to work. And how do we do this? We play on God's promises. The Bible says, the Bible says, then the Lord said to Jacob, return to your father's house, to your grandfather, to your relatives and I will go with you. In Genesis chapter 32 verse 12, Jacob calls God back to his promise. He says, but you promised me. You said to me, return, I will go with you. God does not renege on his promises. He never fails. The Bible says that God is not a man that he should lie. He is not a human that he should change his mind. Has he spoken yet failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through? And the answer is no. He honors his word more than his name. What is the word of God? What is the promise of the Lord to you concerning that situation that is so stressful? Concerning that which you have been praying about? From my story, mirror change tools. What are the tools you need to change? What are the ways? Probably you have been, you have probably been praying one, maybe praying the prayer of gratitude. And you see, the point is that for Jacob, when he prayed forth, he prayed. You know, it was a good prayer. But by the time he stepped again to have this wrestle, it was another kind of prayer. It's possible there was no peace or maybe God just brought the bonded back again to him. And it happens like that for us sometimes. That you have prayed about something three months ago and suddenly it comes up again. Like, because the Lord wants you to bring his word to him concerning that is not settled yet. The struggle and the burden and the tension that you feel inside means that there is more to be done. It's not a time to just leave it. Give his word back to him for your health, for your family, for your children, for anything that concerns you, even for the burdens and the intercessional burdens that you have. You look around and there are things that are breaking your heart. What is the Lord's word in that? The Bible says that the Lord is willing and he is able to bring his word to pass. Stand upon his word. Rely on him. Hold on to him. In his word and his character, you get everything. Secondly, you see, pressing in earnestness, pressing in focus. Jacob said, save me, Lord, for I am afraid. That was sincere. Tell the Lord how you feel. I am tired. I'm frustrated. I am stressed. I feel like I'm being needed. Tell him, just be sincere. We don't need to cover things up when we are come before the Lord. So in this prayer is one that you do with sincerity, in honesty, in humility, like the woman, the Syrophoenician woman, when the Lord Jesus said to her, I cannot heal your daughter because you can't give the bread of the children to the dogs. She said, well, even the dogs can eat from the crumbs of the master's table. That was humility and that showed forth a lot of faith. Believing in the word of God and pressing into the word of God and then walking with it. Be focused. There are so many things we are praying about, I know. But for this kind of prayer, there are some things that you want to bring to the Lord and you keep bringing back. So you press in with focus. We keep walking, we keep pressing in, we keep praying. And lastly, what I want to bring up is persisting in prayer. I like this picture a lot because it shows me what prayer, persistent prayer, prevailing prayer looks like. You see here, there are so many trees and this man is focused on this one. I don't know how long he has been hitting on this tree or he has been using the axe on this tree. But the point is that he would continue until this tree falls. Jacob said to the man that came to wrestle with him, I will not let you go unless you bless me. There are some of us that need to say that to the Lord. I will not let you go until this situation changes. I will pray until something happens. I will pray until I feel peace. I will pray until I have a release. I will pray until the joy returns. It is persistence. The Bible says, ask and you will receive, knock and it shall be opened to you, seek and you will find. I like this version, ask and keep on asking, knock and keep on knocking, seek and keep on seeking. It is not a one off, it is a continuous prayer, continuous seeking the Lord. Like I said, sometimes it is in seasons. You would have asked about something or you have knocked and he says, oh hold on and you leave it for a bit and then you go on back to read after some time. Sometimes it is a reading, where are you at the point. Sometimes he wants us to keep on knocking for days on end. It is possible, sometimes you have prayed about something three months ago and he brings it up again and says, pray about it. Give him his word. Persist in the place of prayer. This is a word that came last week and I am so glad because it seems like God is actually bringing that to us at this time, that there is need for persistence in the place of prayer. We don't give up. Prevailing prayer is a prayer that persists. We have some examples of people that prevailed in prayer and this is not just all the examples we have really. Daniel, the first day he started praying, he had an answer. However, the answer did not get to him. He prayed another 20 days for the Lord to release an angel and the Lord released an angel to help him out. So sometimes the breakthrough is already there but you can't see it. Why? Because God is sovereign. He knows the spiritual and the physical realm. But what he wants us to do is continue praying until we see the result. The persistent widow kept coming back and coming back and coming back that gave me justice. But you see, if the judge eventually gave justice, he said, if not for anything for my peace, let this woman just let me be. But God is a good father. He said, if you as men and women can give your children good gifts, how much more? Who is God? He can give you even more. If you ask your child, say, I need this for school for next week. You might not have it right now. You can ask, say, please wait, I will try and get it for you because you know he is a need. And you will get the best for your child. God can do more than our parents. God can do more than people that love us so much. He is willing, he is able to help, he is willing, he is able to provide. He is willing, he is able to answer our prayers if only we persist. You see, there are some breakthroughs that will only come by prevailing prayers. Elijah, on the Mount Carmel, after he had prayed about rain and rain had not, rain eventually came, but before rain came, he was there and he was praying for a long time and he kept asking his servant, go and check. The servant went once, twice, three times and by the time he came back on the seventh time, he said, I see a small hand. I see a small, a cloud like a small fist. He said, that's what I need. For some of us, what we need to see is that small fist, that small cloud and that is what you need. In my story, Mira, after her hundredth blow on that rock, there was a thin line. It didn't seem like anything to anybody, but it was there. Can I encourage us? Like there are so many trees in this forest, there are so many prayer bodies that you have. And you see, like this man, he did not keep going from one to the other, looking for the one that is easiest. He stayed with this one. Maybe if he needs to, he would go to the other one, but he would come back here and he would keep courting. That is because every swing is a prayer and every prayer matters. Each last prayer you prayed and the one that makes this tree fall, all depends on the prayer that has been prayed before. I also see George Muller, the Bible, well not the Bible, I read about him and he prayed for 63 years for his friends. 63 years, he was praying for salvation for his friends. In the first 10 years, 4 of them gave their lives. The last one actually gave his life to Christ when he was being lowered into the grave, but the thing is that he continued to pray. Now it is not about how long we pray. Somebody prayed for 21 days, 63 years, 7 times, it is not about how long. It is about how much we are aligned to the will of God, how much faith we have in what we are doing and how much we are coming back to where he says we should pray. And it is not like, oh God, I am going to pray today and if you don't answer me, something, something will happen. You don't play, you don't throw tantrums with the Lord, no. He is not up for manipulation. You don't just sit down and say I am praying because, no. There is a surrender from your heart. There is a heart posture, complete surrender, there is an attitude to it, there is giving God back his word, there is pressing in and there is persistence. And this is from the first story I was talking about, 101 and that was the final blue. Water gushed out and everyone was very happy, but the people that were criticizing her and the ones that everybody was very happy about was water. You see, there is this beginning and the end, the before and the after, they don't look alike, they look very different. Who would have thought that here, that water could come out from this place? Who would have thought that the situation you are facing right now, that it would be different? Who would have thought that? And that is fate. Pray and ask Lord, give me somebody to come alongside me. It could be thick, there are some that is really thick, some it is really dark, some really deep. But God is always there with us. He has promised he will never leave us nor forsake us. All we need to do is pray on his words, remember his promise, his character is one that never leaves us. Pressing in faith, focused, determined, in sincerity and in humility and persist in prayer. There is something we say in my country, push, pray until something happens. The something that will happen probably, when the answer comes, it might not be the way you thought the answer would come. It could just be peace, it could just be joy. But he has, he is sovereign, he knows how to answer you. What happens when we engage in prevailing prayer? Because it has to be consistent, ongoing. He forms us. Jacob went to bed whole, he woke up in the morning limping. I'm sure his wife would be asking him, what happened to you through the night? He had an encounter. There is always an encounter that changes us, works patience in us, works goodness in us, changes our character, helps us to become who God wants us to be. In this period he is forming and forging us, making us more malleable, forming us into a masterpiece. That is what's happening. He grows our faith. Because the tree that fell last week, and you are picking up a new tree, you know that instrument, it works. I can actually leap over a tree, I can bend arrows of bronze. All those things, you see that it grows our faith and then grows us in prayer. For what you have experienced before, you can use that to encourage others, you can use that to pray more. So yes, this is us persisting in prayer. And my prayer is that if you have had prayer projects that you have left unattended, I think the Lord is calling you back and saying, you see that one that you were praying about, pick it up again. That intercession, it's time to go back there. That child you have been praying for, keep praying. Don't be weary, don't be tired, continue to pray. Come Holy Spirit.