Now there was one, Anna … a widow of about eighty-four years,
who did not depart from the temple, but served God
with fasting and prayers night and day.
Luke 2:36–37
Your faithfulness allows God to reveal greater insight to you than to the less faithful. Faithfulness brings opportunities to you that are not given to the unfaithful. God takes pleasure in answering prayers that come from a faithful heart.
Anna had been a widow for many years. In her day, a widow had little status in society and was virtually helpless on her own. Anna spent her time, day and night, in prayer and fasting in the temple. As she prayed, she yearned to see the Messiah. God chose few people to encounter the Savior when He was born, revealing His Son only to those whose hearts were faithful and pure. Anna was one of those few. Jesus would later say to His followers, “It has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given… . Blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear” (Matt. 13:11, 16).
Anna continued faithfully in prayer until her prayer was answered. The answer to her prayers did not come immediately. In fact, it came near the end of her life. But God honored her faithfulness. God's redemptive plan to send the Messiah included answering the prayers of a humble widow.
Faithful praying may mean a lifetime of waiting to receive an answer. God is looking for intercessors who are willing to continue to pray and to believe until they see God's answer. - Blackaby Experiencing God Day by Day
PUSH has been used in prayer circles for years. Pray Until Something Happens. Funny, even the suggested words knew that one.
Where is it ever written in Scripture to really give up on someone? Physically yes it may be time to step away from toxic people and situations, but then we drop things off and basically say "Not my problem!" Is that how we truly view how God said to handle things? Isn't that where we pick up the shield of faith and begin earnest prayer?
Quite often in life, in countless ways, we are presented with difficult times and people. Where does Jesus go in what we read in Scripture? To prayer. The Disciples are granted the power to have authority over demons. They run into a particularly difficult case. They didn't do an "Oh well! Not my problem! I tried!" And write them off. No, they brought the situation to Jesus.
It's disturbing to see Believers give up on situations and people as if it were a "Not my problem!" kind of thing.
So what it's a difficult situation.
So what there's work to be done.
The parable of the Good Samaritan vs the Pharisee and the Priest. Seeing people in trouble or turmoil and our reaction is to be one of them vs being the Good Samaritan ought to give us pause.
Both the Pharisee and the Priest both did the "if I ignore it, maybe it will go away. I might have to get my hands dirty!".
Look at this further. He knows the good he ought to do and does not do it, sins. James 4:17.
I know of people who would rather walk away than get dirty knees from being on them in praying for people who have issues with God. They write people off as lost vs realizing that as long as God has granted them the ability to breathe, that there is hope. Scripture tells us that hope is only lost when they no longer are among the living.
So you know of people who are having trouble. Ignorance is not bliss. Out of sight out of mind is not the answer.
For me, personally, I hear the screams of people trapped in sin that I daily pray for. This isn't me going crazy or anything it's a daily reminder that Spiritual warfare is real and that God hasn't given up, neither should I. It's war. It isn't for us to decide who is worthy of God's Salvation and who is not. When people do THAT, then they are really playing God.
It matters not how big or how small the battle is. It's still a battle. Spiritual warfare is going to escalate the closer we get to the Rapture. In the New Testament we are compared to soldiers. Soldiers fight for the one whom enlisted them. They don't choose which battles to agree to fight in. Where their Commander in Chief, Jesus, says to go, they go.
Prayer is the most powerful opportunity for us to change lives for Christ. I have personally seen prayer create situations where God enabled people to meet in the Spiritual world that could not in the physical world. God made it happen. Reconciliation happened.
Jesus told the parable of sending workers into the fields. There were no excuses. You wanted paid you worked.
We claim we want that crown of righteousness to return to Jesus, we are given opportunities to earn it.
What are you doing? Playing the Priest, the Pharisee or the Good Samaritan? Will you go the extra mile in prayer? I am praying for two specific people. Demonic activity has them trapped. I know that God hasn't given up on them because He still wants me to keep praying for them. They are still alive and still worthy in God's eyes.
We are a people of cop outs. Don't have time. Too much effort. Looks like too much work. Pharisee and Priests.
Pray without ceasing is the command. Not the suggestion.
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