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Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Persistent Asking {Luke 10: - 11:36}


October 2, 2018

How often do you pray the same prayer?  Your heart desires… your lost child, friend, or parent to return to the Lord.  Or perhaps physical healing for yourself or a loved one.  Or yet provisions to feed your family and friends.

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We have read so many examples in the first two Gospels of faith healing people.  They have at times gone through great lengths to find Jesus.  Pushed through crowds.  Removed roof tiles.  Yelled in the streets.  Just to name a few.  Luke 11:9-13 are verses that always remind me to be direct and be persistent in my prayers.

We see Jesus many times go into the wilderness to be alone and pray.  We see Him praying so intently that His sweat becomes blood and comes out His pores.  And I asked myself as I read these verses if I am willing to bleed for my prayer requests.  I have to admit, some of the things I have prayed for in the past embarrassed me when I thought about them under this condition.  But am I willing to push through crowds to find Jesus?  Am I willing to ask someone else to pray for my requests?  Am I willing to go out into the wilderness, alone, to make my request to my God?  Are my knuckles bleeding from my persistent knocking? 

As I looked more into these verses I found there are three things we must do when we pray to God.

First, we must humbly ask according to His will, not our own pleasures.   If something we ask for is contrary to God’s plan, no amount of persistence will force Him to give in.  When requesting anything of God, most people often stop asking when He does not immediately intervene.  Human nature is easily discouraged because we think on a physical plane; but with God all things are possible.  We need to be optimistic that God has heard and will respond in a good and faithful way (1 John 5:14-15).

Second, we must seek to know our true motives and God’s will regarding the request.  We seek to find out what we must do to strengthen our faith with works.  (1 John 3:22), Do God’s promises include the blessing we ask for?

Third, we must knock.  We must persevere, be persistent, pressing the matter until we receive it.  We should faithfully go to God repeatedly, until He responds to our prayers and grants what we ask of Him – if it is according to His will.

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But what is God’s will?  Has He given us a blank check to ask anything of Him?  So many people misunderstand this, but 1 John 5:14 says, “And if we know He is listening when we make our requests, we can be sure that He will give us what we ask for.”  Real prayer is communion with God, and what is necessary for communion?  Common thoughts between His mind and ours.

We need God to fill our minds and hearts with His thoughts.  Then His desires will become our desires flowing back to Him in the form of prayer.  “And even when you do ask, you don’t get it because your whole motive in wrong – you want only what will give you pleasure.”  James 4:3  If we ask for own pleasures, we are not asking according to His will and, we will not receive.

Jesus said, “At that time you won’t need to ask me for anything.  The truth is, you can go directly to the Father and ask Him, and He will grant your request because you use my name.”  John 16:23  But that does not mean we have carte blanche.  To ask God for anything in the name of Jesus Christ, it must be in keeping with what He is.  To ask in Christ’s name is to ask as though Christ Himself were asking.  Therefore, we can only ask for what Christ Himself would ask.  We obviously need to set aside our own will and accepts God’s.  Jesus also says in John 8:29, “And the One who sent me is with me – He has not deserted me.  For I always do things that are pleasing to Him.”  If we do as Jesus did, we are sure to receive answers as He did.  Jesus adds in John 11:41-42, “Father, thank you for hearing me.  You always hear me…”

We must come to the realization that prayer is not dictating to God, but a humble and heartfelt expression of our attitude of dependency and need.  Because of this, the one who truly prays is submissive to God’s will, content with Him supplying His need according to the dictates of His sovereign pleasure.  The result is this, combined with the infusion of God’s attitudes and thoughts as we draw near to Him, will work to create us in His image.


Through my research, I discovered this great article from John Piper on what we should pray for.  https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-should-we-pray-for