So praying specifically for a situation is not about convincing God, because God is already convinced and was probably the one that stirred you to pray!  But it is about getting the Kingdom through the resistance put in place by the Satan, the god of this world.  The struggle, as portrayed in the bible, appears to be a genuine one – God doesn’t seem to be playfighting with satan & his army, but the struggle is a genuine one, a fact that some find disturbing to their view of what God should be like.

In battle, forces typically attack in waves (battallions, regiments) or build up and group forces to release them all at the same time – I wonder if each time you pray is akin to another wave of attack or a build up of forces to be released when there’s enough that they won’t be forced back easily (further pondering: in flesh and blood war there’s little point in sending 10 men into 1000 enenmies – even though the 10 men have almost countless targets to hit, its more likely that the 100 guns pointed at each one them will be more effective than their gun – it’s better to send forces in when you have a bigger force, or at least more even).

In Daniel 9 it took 21 days for the angelic messenger to get through because the demon Prince of the Persian kingdom resisted him – of course that doesn’t mean one big demon like some kind of end of level baddie in a computer game, it means the demon prince and his forces resisted the angelic messenger, (but the messenger broke through).  Another pondering: It’s quite possible too that the demonic resisting forces didn’t know of the angel’s business, they may simply have seen an angel in their territory (ie the world), and attempted to resist him completing the cause as they often successfully do when we pray and but then give up when we see no breakthrough when we expect it.

So how long does it take for the Kingdom to break in? That depends on the resistance the Kingdom encounters and the support you provide it (still choosing comfort over conflict ?). So when you’re petitioning God your objective is not to convince Him of the need, not to pursuade Him to act – it is us that require convincing & persuasion – but we are to war against the resistance to God’s will.

2008 Note: Even with this new warfare perspective I’m not convinced of the merit of directly warring against resistance to God’s will.  Even Micheal preferred to say “the Lord rebuke you” to the devil.  I am a huge fan of Ole Hallesby’s humble approach to prayer, sharing our concerns and letting God know what we lack rather than directing spiritual principalities and commaning and binding this power and that.