Praying With Perseverance

1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, 'Give me justice against my adversary. 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.” 6 And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"    (Luke 18:1-8, ESV)

Although God loves you more than anything and so desires to bless you, you find yourself petitioning God for the same prayer request time and time again, often for years, before receiving an answer. There are times you give up asking due to being discouraged or thinking God does not want you to have the request. You must remember this could be a time of testing your faith, as your repeated request remains unanswered. As you stand on God’s word and the name of Jesus, as you rest in the knowledge that the Holy Spirit speaks on your behalf when you make your request to God, then His will be done and real faith can never be disappointed. Remember repeated prayer is required to receive a blessing as every petition has influence with the Father who willingly wants to give to you the desires of your heart. Every answer to prayer is a teaching process for us, teaching patience or most of all teaching faith. You may ask why God, who is all-powerful allows you to wait for an answer to prayer. Even at times when you are in a personal conflict or crisis, keep in mind that God who is all- powerful is also all knowing and you may not be ready for the answer to your prayer. Think of the timing of answered prayer this way: like the child who eats a piece of fruit before it is ripe and gets a belly-ache, you may not be ready for God’s blessing. He will wait until you are ready just as the ripened fruit is ready to be eaten. From a spiritual point, God moves in your life to prepare you for His answered prayer by teaching you patience, perseverance, and faith. Before He can answer your prayer there may need to be some correction in your life.

For Thought:
1. Did you know that God desires to give good things to His children but He often waits to see your faith blossoms with the results of your prayer is why He waits?
2. Have you come to realize that by perseverance in prayer, you learn to trust God and depend on Him more?

As you seek the Lord in prayer today, ask God to forgive your lack of faith and to give you wisdom in remembering to keep a daily prayer journal with written prayers and answers to them. Then earnestly pray those prayers daily. 
 
9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.    (Galatians 6:9, ESV)

Andrew Murray: “It is in persevering, confident, and praising prayer that the soul grows up into full union with its Lord in which it can possess the blessing in Him.