What we missed about prayer
Imagine if you had a child wander off into the forest.
After searching for her for an hour, you would likely involve other people. You would become very focused on that. You would cancel your other plans for the evening, right?
Search and rescue operations can take all night. If a person is lost—especially your own child—you don’t add this type of search into a daily schedule.
Imagine a parent saying, “I’ll search for her every morning for 30 minutes.” That’s insane. That isn’t searching, that’s called not caring. That kind of parent doesn’t deserve to have a child at all.
Priority. That’s what seeking the wandering child should be. You don’t say, “I’ll give this project a couple hours.” You will search for your child for 8 hours, or 12, 18, 36, or however long it takes until you find her.
When Jesus says, “The person who seeks will find,” He is not talking about a person who seeks for something in prayer on an occasional basis.
The literal Greek, according to the experts, could be translated more like, “The one who seeks and keeps on seeking will find.”
Of course this is part of His teaching on prayer.
Do you seek for what is needed in prayer like you would search for a missing child in the woods?
Too many times, we do not have the persistence to stay at it until we get it.
Jesus also said, “Ask and keep on asking.”
Imagine a beggar or panhandler on the side of the road who only came out for 15 minutes a day. That is not going to help them get on their feet.
They have to stand by the lamp pole and hold up their sign and stare through your windshield all day everyday if they are going to get the food they are willing to work for.
Pray like that.
Jesus also said, “Knock and keep on knocking.” Why? Because the person who knocks will get the door to open.
Imagine living next door to a relative. One day your plumbing backs up and you cannot use the bathroom in your house.
You go to your relative’s door at 5 AM and start pounding on the door.
“Go away, I’m trying to sleep!” you hear from the other side.
“I’ve got to go!” you shout back, and keep pounding on the door.
Is there a sound more annoying than an incessant knock on the door?
They open it finally. Not because you are a relative. Not because they care that you need to get to the bathroom. They open it because you would not stop knocking.
Pray like that.
Jesus told a story like that and said that the person inside the house only answered because of the knocker’s persistence (Luke 11:8).
Our Father knows what we need.
We do not pray to inform Him of our needs.
He cares for us as children and loves to give us what we need and more.
Yet, we must persist to get the answer.
I don’t know why.
All I can figure is that this is the bridge between the earthly kingdom and the Kingdom Above.
When our Lord is reaching to give willingly to us and we are reaching persistently until the answer comes, miracles happen.
Too often our prayers are not answered because we are not seeking. We rarely ask and keep on asking. How often do you keep knocking until the door opens?
Jesus was not saying, “Daily prayer for an hour is irresistible.” He said persistence, where nothing else matters until the answer comes, is what does the job.
Let’s pray the way He said to do it.
This applies to everything, including receiving the Holy Ghost (Luke 11:13). This is how I was filled with the Spirit as a child. I could not think of anything else but being filled. I persistently sought Him for two weeks.
How have you experienced rewards for your persistence in prayer? Please leave a comment!
What if you pray and the Lord says, “Yes!” But nothing seems to change? Let’s talk about that next time!
9 Comments
Amen, this is great stuff. I have experienced this when I would pray with my lips and not from my heart. it’s true about lip service. any one can say things just so others will think that you mean because you said something and have no effect. but turn it around and you are desperate about something you use all of what you have from deep with in you and express from your heart. that’s when you move God’s heart. like the Bible says the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availth much.
Yes, the real measure of my prayer is if it is accomplishing something!
I recall an occasion where I had a couple of really sick boys. My husband and I sat down to pray. After a bit he left. He was rather confident that everything was going to be ok. I was not!
I said, “God, I’m not leaving this spot until You let me know it’s going to be ok.” I stayed and interceded until I got complete peace and confidence from God. It took probably another hour but He came through!
Although my boys weren’t instantly healed they came through just fine and from that day, about 8 years ago, to this day, they’ve never gotten strep throat like that again.
Jesus is the healer!
Awesome!
Yeah we are faced with many souls that need salvation. Suddenly these are real faces. People who got newly baptized relatives that have gone astray and badly needs getting back to the fold, yes persistence in prayer and boundless time in prayer for their salvation. Thanks for this message..
Great thought here….mirrors the words of scripture. The “effectual” fervent prayer of the righteous availeth much. Much as the woman who visited the unjust judge day after day, sometimes we must continue to visit the Lord each day with our issue until he answers.
Yes. I doubt she pestered the judge on Monday and then left him alone until Friday. Stay at it!
It’s contrary to my flesh but I have found that when I persistently pray in the will of God and link it with fasting, he responds. He filled a young person in our church with the HG after I sought him that way after a prolonged season of no harvest.
That is awesome. Fasting is a form of persistence. Thank you for sharing.