30 Days For A Breakthrough

Today we continue on the theme of 30 days for a breakthrough. I shared yesterday on the subject of Esther waiting 30 days before she was summoned to the court and about our breakthrough with the Supreme Court. Today I will share my testimony of what praying for 30 days did for my son. The significance of 30 days may not be a biblical foundation assuring us of a breakthrough in prayer, but it has been a significant number in my own life. I share it only as a possible point of faith as we enter into the 30th day of our 40 day fast.

Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.”22 And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. 1st Kings 17:21-22

“As we look at all the unholy chaos in the world at the close of the twentieth century, we sense that new levels of faith and prayer will be needed to reach this next generation – something close to raising the dead. Elijah’s revolution is a prayer revolution. Before he prayed for a fire to fall from heaven, he prayed to raise a fatherless child from the dead.”  -Lou Engle ‘Fast Forward

In the Bible, the first person raised from the dead was not a king or a priest or a general. It was the only child of a poverty-stricken widow who had been on the verge of starvation not long before. Elijah took the boy to the upper room, laid him on the bed and stretched himself over the boy three times, crying out to God for his life. The “upper room” of prayer is still God’s answer for dead individuals. May “upper rooms” arise all over this nation, where saints would stretch themselves out in prayer for a dead generation in order to turn them back to God! It took perseverance to raise that dead boy back to life.

One family’s “upper room” prayer changed the life of my dear friend Che Ahn. While still a teenager, Che threw himself into the rebellion of the 60s. As a Korean hippie and drug pusher, a turn was needed. A young girl in his neighborhood saw Che and told her father about him. This family felt a burden for his salvation and at every mealtime, they prayed for him. Soon afterward, Che encountered Jesus in a remarkable way. Since then, he has led thousands to Christ. 

Many years ago I had lost my teenage son’s heart. I longed for him and I know he longed for me, but we couldn’t find each other. He was headed in the wrong direction and I feared darkness would overtake him. I was desperate to see change and breakthrough in his life, so I set my face to fasting 31 days on only water, stretching myself out over him (so to speak) in prayer. On the 31st day, my son came to me and told me that he was having dreams of revival and of the coming of the Holy Spirit; it was the breath of life entering to his spirit; it was the beginning of me getting my boy back from the dead; it was a 30 day breakthrough. It took Elijah three times to spread himself over the boy, and it took me 30 days of prayer and fasting. 

Dear brothers and sisters, let’s go to the upper room and stretch ourselves out over our children, over immovable obstacles, and over spiritual veils that hide His face from our hearts. Let’s believe God for a miracle in this 30 day window. If we don’t see a miracle, we still believe and we will never stop praying until heaven has lit up our darkness.

Prayer
Father, we pray for the spirit of Elijah to come on a generation of mothers and fathers who want their kids more than the world wants them. Release a mighty grace of fasting on fathers and mothers who will stretch themselves out over their kids struggling with sexual confusion, drug addiction, lack of purpose, or sickness. Release an Elijah revolution in our day stronger than the death culture of suicide. God, I pray in this 30 day window that all across the world, many of us that are fasting will celebrate breakthroughs and shout praises to the God of miracles. Amen.