PUSH: Persevere Until Success Happens Through Prayer (2 page)

D
R
. R
OD
P
ARSLEY

Pastor, World Harvest Church

Columbus, Ohio

That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next…meanwhile the joyful anticipation deepens. All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it is not only around us, it’s within us.
—R
OMANS 8:18-25
T
HE
M
ESSAGE

I
t is amazing to me what great things come forth from the tiniest of packages; things you can’t see, or perhaps even imagine, all begin in the obscure darkness of the smallest of containers. There is incredible power and beauty resident in what may seem like a dormant cocoon—nature’s womb of beauty and incubator of divine purpose and splendor. Like a grain of seed that is sown in the ground, life begins to stir, silently pushing against the confining barrier, and after what seems a lifetime of waiting, breaks through to grow into something magnificent. Heat, gravitational opposition, and pressure cooperate with God’s symphony of life. Energy is ignited. Life is triggered. A mysterious internal mechanism gives forth to a brand new creation—a unique expression of the Master Creator. A new form emerges, pressing and pushing outward—reaching upward—straining toward the light. Energized by the silent force of metamorphosis, a new creation emerges—bursting forth from what seemed dark and confining.

Everything you see began in seed form. You began as a seed—like a butterfly hidden in a cocoon; only you were hidden in a womb. All we are given in this life are seeds—seeds of potential, seeds of ideas, seeds of dreams. The key to a meaningful and joy-filled life is learning to unlock the potential of the seeds of possibility we’ve been given; to see beyond the exterior surface—or interior walls—of a mundane, nondescript cocoon, into new paradigms of power and majesty. Imagine the butterfly, once a caterpillar—a slow-moving worm—that undergoes such a process. Imagine the paradigm shift of having once been limited to crawling along the ground—then after a season of toil, being stripped of everything familiar, hidden in obscurity, imprisoned in solitary confinement, and then fighting with every ounce of strength to escape…finally emerging with wings to fly! Each of us must undergo the same process in our lives. We are all like the butterfly that must struggle to break through temporary confines in order to spread our wings and take flight. Earth is our metaphorical chrysalis. There will be seasons of toil, letting go of what we hold dear, of obscurity and confinement, and fighting to break free. It is how we become more. It is how we grow our
spiritual
wings. It is how we learn to fly and soar to new heights in God.

Each of us must learn to give birth to our own potential, purpose, and destiny in some of the most challenging circumstances. We must learn to embrace God’s wisdom and His provision of grace that helps us to push through barriers. We must learn to yield to the capacity-and-character-building process that ultimately strengthens and enables us to become more than we were before. To give birth to new possibility, new hope, new life. In order to do that, we would do well to learn from midwives who understand the birthing process—who understand the inner workings of the womb and the process of labor and delivery, because like a cocoon, the womb is an incubator of unlimited potential.

It is for this reason I have written
PUSH—
as a field guide for those who want to overcome their struggles, to push past barriers and tap into new realms of possibility; for those willing to learn how to persevere through prayer.

I have taught a great deal on the correlation between intercessory prayer and giving birth. Originally, I titled this book,
The Anatomy of Intercessory Prayer: The 26 Wombs of the Spirit
, because, as you’ll read in the chapters ahead, I explore in detail the anatomical process of praying until the solution materializes—or more accurately,
persevering until success happens
through prayer.

As we go deeper into the book, we will discuss what I have designated as twenty-six wombs of the spirit; each I believe will open new doors of revelation to help you embrace the powerful potential residing in each “womb.” My intention in writing this book is to provide you with a literary midwife to help you push through your circumstances and bring forth all that God wants to birth in and through you. I hope to help you see with new eyes all that is possible, to build your capacity to conceive, believe, and achieve more, and to give you a new mindset and paradigm for turning problems into possibilities—and to see each as a new opportunity. My desire is to help you see that the pain and darkness you thought were working against you are the very crucibles from which new life emerges.

As I’ve read about the lives of great achievers, I have learned they all have one thing in common. Each one had to overcome some kind of challenge that threatened to derail them and cause them to abort their purpose. Had they followed the road of least resistance or given in to their emotions, our world would not be as rich and vibrant as it is today. Although we may not recall the names of each individual who has contributed to the progress of humanity, had they not followed the inner promptings of destiny and purpose—that small seed of potential lying dormant within them—we would not have the discoveries, inventions, art, technology, innovations, treatments, cures, or beauty that make up all that is good and life-giving in human civilization as we know it.

I have no doubt that God is the source of all inspiration. After reading so many biographies, it has become clear to me that throughout history, those who have made the greatest impact did so by faith. They had to push beyond the known into the unknown. They had to find hidden reservoirs of strength in order to surmount the seemingly insurmountable. Like so many I’ve had the privilege to read about, I too have had to dig deep into the reservoir of my faith to muster the energy and courage to face challenges, overcome obstacles, and push beyond my comfort level in order to accomplish a specific goal.

I have lived long enough to know that life is dynamic and not static. Nothing and no one remains the same—we are constantly changing and growing. Growth requires us to build our capacity to become more than what we have been. Even when it feels like we are stagnating, the most challenging thing can be to take that next step forward. We are always challenged to push ahead and press toward that higher calling.

Therefore, in order for you and I to face those challenges, to maximize our potential—fulfill our purpose and realize our dreams—we must remain in peak spiritual, physical, and mental condition so that we can push beyond thresholds of comfort and pain into new places of power in God. If you dare to believe that God has something great in store for you to do, to accomplish, or to achieve, you must be prepared to persevere in spite of your setbacks and challenges. This book is written to give you that extra push—to help you give birth to your dreams and accomplish your goals.

Like Calvin Coolidge, I have learned:

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.

As Winston Churchill said, “Never, never give up.”

Within the pages of this book, you will find biblical examples and biographical sketches of individuals who had to push through adversity, obstacles, rejection, and even bankruptcy in order to realize their dreams. Each one of these individuals has become an inspirational gift to the world, and it is my honor to share their insights with you. Had they not pushed passed their own insecurity, disappointment, frustration, failure—or just the fear of failure—into the promise of their destiny, who knows how dark and empty the world would be today?

If you have picked up this book, could it be possible that on the one hand, like these men and women, you are “pregnant” with a world-changing purpose, a bestselling book, a groundbreaking invention, or an awe-inspiring talent—or perhaps, on the other hand, the earth is pregnant with you? See Romans 8:19-28 Refuse to allow circumstances, challenges, disabilities, rejections, fears, or doubts to abort it.

Just when the caterpillar thought it couldn’t possibly become more than it already was, and move past its current circumstances, it pushed beyond the confines of its chrysalis. Drawn upward by the rays of the sun, it leveraged its enormous potential while yet in the throes of a great struggle—it overcame being bound and restricted to emerge a beautiful butterfly. You see, the butterfly was always hidden within the DNA of the worm—but struggle was required to build the strength necessary to be transformed and birthed anew.

No matter what circumstance you find yourself in today, your destiny, purpose, success, and prosperity have been incubated long enough. It’s time to PUSH…
Persevere Until Success Happens
through prayer!

The winter solstice has always been special to me… as a barren darkness that gives birth to a verdant future beyond imagination, a time of pain and withdrawal that produces something joyfully inconceivable, like a monarch butterfly masterfully extracting itself from the confines of its cocoon, bursting forth into unexpected glory.
—G
ARY
Z
UKAV

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
—S
HAKESPEARE’S
Hamlet

H
eaven wants to deliver something through you. It is pregnant with the plans and purposes of God. These have grown to full term and are bearing down to be delivered through the Body of Christ. Today, with the world in the state that it’s in—with governments crying out everywhere for assistance—I believe the earth is poised to give birth to the kingdom of heaven. For that to happen, however, we must understand the anatomy of intercessory prayer.

We often pray as Jesus told us in Matthew 6:10—
“Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”—
yet we don’t fully understand how to give birth to God’s will in the earth. Jesus instructed His disciples,
“As you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand’”
(Matthew 10:7). In Matthew 13:31-32, Jesus went on to teach,
“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed…which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”
We carry the seeds of heaven within us; they grow through the study of God’s Word and the exercise of our faith, and then the promises and purposes of God are at last manifested through our laboring and travailing in prayer.

Prayer is the process of giving birth to heaven’s seed. We understand that when God told Abraham,
“In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed”
(Genesis 26:4), He was speaking of his future descendent Jesus Christ, but that seed lives within each of us who have
“been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible”
(1 Peter 1:23). We are born of and give birth to the promises of God through prayer.

John described the Church in Revelation as a pregnant woman:
“I saw a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant, and she cried out because of her labor pains and the agony of giving birth”
(Revelation 12:1-2 NLT). According to
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary of the Bible
, this woman represents the Church, “clothed with the sun, justified, sanctified, and shining by union with Christ, the Sun of Righteousness.”
¹
The Church is called to give birth to the kingdom of heaven in the earth.

Think of Elijah in 1 Kings 18:42, kneeling in a birthing position,
“when he bowed low to the ground and prayed with his face between his knees”
(NLT). Everything that is created is a result of the birthing process. Paul wrote to the Romans:

All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy
(Romans 8:22-25 MSG).

Even as we are being enlarged as a Body,
“the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs”
(Romans 8:22). More than at any other time in history, we are on the threshold of global transformation. Heaven is indeed pregnant with the fullness of all things. Yet, as God inquired through His prophet Isaiah,
“Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once?”
(Isaiah 66:8). Time is required for a seed to germinate. Solomon wrote that while God
“has planted eternity in the human heart…even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end”
(Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT). Yet God went on to declare through Isaiah,
“Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery? …Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb?”
(Isaiah 66:9). Although we can’t know the exact due date, we can be assured of delivery—but not without the pain of labor and travailing in prayer.