by David Brenneman
“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” Luke 11:9-13.
"I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs." Luke 11:8.
"So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God." Acts 12:5.
"With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints," Ephesians 6:18.
"Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;" Colossians 4:2.
"pray without ceasing;" 1 Thessalonians 5:17.
"rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer," Romans 12:12.
"Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart," Luke 18:1.
Was praying a short prayer this morning about what to write about this morning and all of this came from a short search.
Myself included, how often are we practicing persistence in prayer?
How many of you have considered that last passage as Jesus teaching exactly what He Himself practiced with His Father in Heaven?
How often have you prayed once, perhaps not really with your whole heart, and moved on in your day?
This message is as much for me as it is towards all who would be reading it.
How many have made prayer lists and forgotten them?
On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your persistence in prayer?
How often are we waiting for the Lord to answer before we rush headlong into a situation?
Is it your habitual practice to pray?
Worst yet, have you told someone you would pray an yet either offered a very lame excuse for a prayer or didn't at all?
Knowing your enemy is a crucial part of Spiritual Warfare.
Your enemy and mine knows the extreme value in disrupted communication.
He knows what answered persistent prayer does for a Believer's faith.
He knows.
He also knows that the less we pray that we will quite often not take him seriously. We will just adapt and just forget to pray. Convincing ourselves that what we would pray for or about that God's too busy or wouldn't think was important enough to deal with or handle.
He knows. He knows that it isn't just keeping people buried in situations that can keep them from thinking about praying to God for help.
He also knows that, for many people, keeping them busy with things they enjoy will keep them from a active fervent life of prayer.
Stop and consider what Jesus was doing when He was teaching His Disciples the value of persistence in prayer.
The Disciples who became the Apostles were teaching the early Church the extreme value of persistence in prayer. So what happened? Satan's tactics happened. Subtle advances here and there, then get each generation to accept it.
It's going to hurt to persist in prayer sometimes. Giving up something for you and I to gain what can only come through prayer.
Dig out your old lists or begin new ones.
Have that same attitude as you have always seen in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior with regards to persistent prayer.
Unless you get a resounding "no" from the Lord you keep on praying.
Unless you get an answer to prayer you keep on praying.
Don't entertain excuses to not pray.
"I need my sleep" is an excuse not a reason.
"But I'll miss the game" is an excuse not a reason.
"I will miss my show!" is an excuse not a reason.
We, you and I, need to practice persistence in prayer because God's Word says unmistakably that it's for us to be doing.
All NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission.
New American Standard Bible
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