Persevere in Prayer
A few weeks back as we celebrated the National Day of Prayer, I blogged about reasons why we should pray. Most of us know that we should pray, even if it is only out of some obligatory understanding. Others of us desire to pray and do so because we love God and have seen Him work in our own lives. But do you ever get discouraged in the process? Have you ever prayed for someone else and grown impatient waiting to see a breakthrough in his or her thoughts, decisions, or circumstances? Whether we’ve been praying for a prodigal child, a spouse struggling to find peace, or a friend needing to change direction, we can hit times where we want to give up.I hope that seeing specific examples in God’s word of how the Lord responds to our cries will encourage you to never give up…
1. He answers prayers for others out of mercy for us!In Matthew 15:21-28 we see a Canaanite woman come out to Jesus and beg him, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon” (15:22). What jumped out to me was that this mom asked for God to have mercy on her not her demon-possessed daughter. This woman did not say, “Have mercy on my daughter.” If you are a mother, you totally get this. Sometimes you are much more burdened over your children’s situation than they are. They may be perfectly happy in their sin, or oblivious to where the enemy is tempting them to go, while your heart is breaking. Our God gets that and is gracious enough to answer out of mercy to our own cries.
2. Sometimes a second request is part of His planHow did Jesus respond to this mom that was begging for her daughter’s freedom from demon possession? Initially, scripture says, “He did not answer her a word” (15:23). This is not exactly the reaction we are looking for from the King of Kings! But the story does not end there. The woman returns to Jesus’ feet and a second exchange between the two leads to Jesus saying, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire” (15:28). The woman’s daughter was healed instantly because the Lord saw the woman’s faith. Is the person you are praying for indifferent to God? Antagonistic towards God? Your persistent faith can be enough to move God to act.
3. God acknowledges and prepares us for discouragementI love how real our God is. He never tells us to fake being spiritual. He doesn’t even sugarcoat life on earth. Instead, He specifically tells us that we will face discouragement but He also tells us not to give up. In Luke 18, Jesus tells a parable of a godless judge giving a favorable verdict to a believer simply because she persisted. Before the parable, Luke sets it up saying, “Now He [Jesus] was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart” (18:1).
We live in a sinful, fallen world but we serve a perfect and merciful God. Don’t give up praying for those who God has burdened your heart to lift up to Him. God alone puts a burden on our otherwise selfish hearts to pray for others. Don’t allow God’s unseen activity to cause you to doubt He is at work. Press on! Also, if you have someone you would like me to pray for with you, please let me know. We stand stronger when we stand in prayer together!