Persistence In Prayer

Luke 18:1-8 says, " Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying: "There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, 'Get justice for me from my adversary.' And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, 'Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.' " Then the Lord said, "Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" 

This woman was not going to stop going to the judge until he responded to her request. This parable is an excellent picture of what we can do as we prevail or persist in prayer over the issues that we face. Persistence by definition is to go on resolutely or stubbornly in spite of opposition, importunity, or warning. In other words, don't give up no matter what obstacles seem to be in your way.

In this parable in Luke 18 the judge states that "though I do not fear God nor regard man..." he decided he was going to respond to the persistence of this woman. God can be moved by the persistence of our prayers. Moses, Abraham and even Job are excellent biblical examples of persistent prayer. I want to make sure I say here that there are no guarantees that any person can give you for your persistent prayer, however, the prayers of righteous men avail much. Even if the outcome is inconsistent with what you want to happen in the situation. We grow in our relationship with God as pray, even if we don't get the answers we seek.

The outcome of your prayer is not a metric for who God is. God is God, and God God according to Psalm 100 in the Message Bible. In other words God is Sovereign. In his Sovereignty, God can be moved. We can persist to the point that we move God to respond to our prayer request. Hezekiah thought he was going to die. The word of the Lord came and said as much, but because Hezekiah cried out to the Lord, God gave him an additional 15 year. Persistent and prevailing prayer in this case availed and Hezekiah got his 15 years.

What are you praying for that needs an answer from God? How much time have you invested in crying out to God? Have you wearied him with your persistence or have you given up out of frustration? If you have something that needs an answer, get back on your knees or just open your mouth and start praying. Talk to God, and tell him. And then trust him to respond. He will!

Father, in the name of Jesus, I ask that you hear the prayers of those who read this blog post and who have a need to see you move on their behalf. As they come with their heart issues, their life issues, I pray that you will work a miracle in their life and give them a testimony of your goodness. I thank you for many answered prayers as your people cry out in faith knowing that you will respond to their prayers.

Dear Jesus I Love You!

"Dear Jesus I love you..." is how I opened up my prayer journal entries for years. I am not sure where it came from but it seemed like a great way to remind Jesus that I loved him. I still remind him as often as possible about my love for him. How might you open your prayer journal? There is no rule of thumb, but I do recommend that you find something unique between you and God.

If you have never journaled, try it. You may find it useful in your daily quiet time with the Lord. I do recommend prayer journals. It is a great way to track your prayer requests, as well as a great way to track what God may be saying to you. Today there are all kinds of ways to journal. You can create a blog - an electronic journal and make it private or public, or you can do it the old fashion way, and purchase a journal. Than take time daily to write out your prayers. You can use anything from a notebook to an actual bound book or journal for your entries.

I began journaling in February 1990. I didn't really know what journaling would do for me when I began, but what I have learned over the years is that it is a great way for me to see the struggles I have been through, the successes I have experienced, and the answer to the prayers I have received over the years. My most important journal is missing, but I am ok with that 5 years later. I trust that it is either destroyed or someone is learning a lot about how to develop an intimate relationship with God.

If you are developing a prayer life, I encourage you to find a way to journal. You will find it to be a great release and a great way to track your progress on your journey with the Lord.

Prayer - Your Declaration of Dependence

Prayer is your declaration of dependence on an unseen God. So many of us live our lives doing what we do, doing what we believe we need to do with no input from the one who created us - God. That I believe is a mistake. It is so easy to go about our lives doing what we do well, ignoring issues, allowing things to frustrate us, developing relationships, or walking out of relationships without taking any time to check in with God to find out what he desires for our lives. Independence is what we strive for and celebrate in this life, yet in God's economy, dependence is critical.

The word dependence means the state of relying on or needing someone or something for aid, support, or the like. In this case, my argument for prayer is that when we pray we are declaring our dependence on an unseen God, the creator of the universe. Prayer is about communion with God. It is about connecting with God, learning how to hear him, listening to him, two-way communication, intimacy. I will be writing about all of this as we journey through the mystery of prayer.

Jesus, God's son, invested hours in prayer on a daily basis. According to John 5:19, "The Son can do nothing himself, but what he sees the Father do..." He only did what he saw the Father do and he only said what heard the Father say. This is dependence. Jesus was not an independent thinker. He relied on his relationship with Father God.

Where was this seeing and doing taking place? It was in the place of prayer that Jesus got his direction for the things he did while on the earth. Daily dependence on the Father was how Jesus lived. If that is so, than how much more should we depend on our God for the decisions we make.

A year ago, I wanted to start a prayer blog. It took me a year, but here we are - that is what this will be - A Declaration of Dependence - Prayer - a blog about prayer. I will write about prayer, I will pray, I will answer questions about prayer and in the process, I trust I will learn more about prayer than I know today. I trust that this blog will encourage you to pray. If you have questions, you are welcome to ask. I look forward to dialog about the importance of prayer, or even your frustrations with prayer.