Luke

The Power of Persistent Prayer

8:41 AM

Have you been praying for something or someone for a long time, and nothing seems to be happening? It’s tempting to give up, isn't it? We can become discouraged praying for the same things over and over again and never seeing even a glimmer of hope. We can begin to doubt whether God’s going to answer us, or even if He’s listening to us at all.
 
I believe we all have prayers that continue to go unanswered and perhaps, if we're honest, we've been tempted at times to simply give up, or question our ability to pray. We know our God is able, therefore we must doing something wrong. Satan will always do his best to discourage us and keep us from persevering in prayer, which is why I believe stories like the Persistent Widow  (Luke 18:1-8), Hannah's Prayer for a Child (1Samuel 1), Elijah's prayer for Rain (1Kings 18:41-19:8) are placed within the pages of the Bible. 

God doesn't want you or I to quit praying! 

Simple as that, and wants you to know why it's important at times to persevere and not give up, for the most effective prayers in the Bible are those that persevered in prayer. In Psalm 55:16-17, David wrote: “I call to God, and the Lord saves me. Evening, morning, and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.” David, was "a man after God's own heart" and he knew the importance of persisting in beseeching God.  Even Jesus demonstrates this for us on the night before He was crucified in the Garden of Gethsemane, (John 17)

So, why should we be persevering in our prayers, even when we don’t get an answer? There are at least four reasons I've been able to find.

1.) Persistent prayers prepares our heart for the answer.

I'm sure you're able to testify that at times, when we make a request to God, God often wishes to answer in a better way than we’ve prayed for. Therefore, I believe sometimes God denies our prayer requests because we’re thinking and asking too small. He wants to give us something bigger and better that will put His glory on display! But first, he has to prepare our hearts for it. So God uses delays in answering our prayer to help us grow, get ready, and prepare us for a bigger and better answers.


2.) Persistent prayer works to focus our attention.


God doesn’t need to be reminded! I believe it's more to remind us Who the source of our answers and all our needs is. If every prayer you ever prayed were instantly answered we might be tempted to look upon God as a Genie and fail to revere Him as we should. God wants us to reverence the Blesser over the blessings. 


3.) Persistent prayer clarifies our request.

A delayed answer gives us time to search within to see exactly what we are asking for and to refine our prayers if need be. I believe when we persist in prayer to your heavenly Father, it tend to separate the deep longings from mere whims. It’s not that God doesn’t want to answer our prayers, but He wants us to be certain of what we really want.


4.) Persistent prayer tests our faith.


James 1:3-4 says, “When your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing” (NLT). I believe God uses these times to grow our faith and those closest to us. Just think how Hannah's faith grew once her prayer was answered - enough to give her son Samuel back to God. Spiritual maturity comes from having our faith tested, one of the ways God’s going to test our faith is by delaying some answers to your prayers.


Finally, we need to remember while we are persisting in prayer that: 


  • God does hear our prayers. 
  • He knows our heart and our deepest longings.
  • He has our best interests at heart and see the big picture.
  • His answers are sometime, wait 
  • And sometimes His answer is no, but we can trust that it is only because He has something better in mind for each of us. 
I would love to hear your testimonies today to encourage others not to give up. Is there a request you waited a long time to receive an answer to? How did you feel when your prayer was answered? 

Is there a prayer you've given up on? One you haven't been persistent in praying?

Imagine for a moment what would happen if you gave up and in and stopped asking. Can we help you in persisting to pray?





Confidence

Lord, Teach Us To Pray {Luke 11}

5:00 PM




Monday Jan. 20, Walking in Wisdom 


During His ministry, Jesus would often slip away to spend time alone with God. From afar, His disciples would watch the Lord pray; witnessing firsthand the strength, comfort, and joy He received from those prayers. Wanting the same for themselves, they approached Jesus as He was, “praying in a certain place”. And after He had finished, one of the disciples came to Him asking, “Lord, teach us to pray”. (vs. 1) And so Jesus began by first instructing them what to say, giving what is known as the “Lord’s Prayer”. The perfect prayer model for Christians to follow.

Jesus begins with, “When you pray, say:” 

“Our Father in Heaven”-In reverence, we are to acknowledge God for who He is and our relationship to Him. 

“Hallowed Be Thy Name”-Hallowed means sacred. We are to give the holy name of the Father the esteem and respect it alone deserves.

“Thy Kingdom Come. Thy Will Be Done On Earth As It Is In Heaven”-We are to earnestly pray not only for the return of Jesus and the establishment of His kingdom on earth, but also for the will of God to be done everywhere.

“Give Us Each Day Our Daily Bread”-God cares about every aspect of our lives, both big and small. We are to pray that He will provide for our physical needs.

“And Forgive Us Our Trespasses, As We Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us”-Daily we need forgiveness. We are to pray that God will both pardon the sins we commit against Him, and give us the strength to extend that same pardon to those who sin against us. 

“And Lead Us Not Into Temptation, But Deliver Us From The Evil One”-Each day Satan plots ways in which to get us sinning against God. We are to pray for both protection from the Enemy and the strength to stand against his attacks.

Next, Jesus, through the parable of the friend in need, tells us to pray with persistence. Persistence got the man at the door what he wanted, and of persistent prayer Jesus says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you.” (vs. 9) 

Finally, we are instructed us to pray with childlike confidence. Jesus says that since we expect good things from our earthly fathers, we should pray with the expectation of even greater things from our Father in heaven. “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?” (vs. 13)

Prayer is a fundamental part of the Christian Faith. It helps us to grow in our personal relationship with God and enables us to receive that same strength, comfort, and joy as Jesus received. Philippians 4:6 tells us, “Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God.” Have you come before God in prayer and are waiting for His answer? Don’t give up. Keep asking. Keep seeking. Keep knocking. For God may not answer our prayers right away, and He may not give us the answer we want, but God will indeed answer. 


burden

SoulSearching Sunday~Adopted by God

12:00 AM

Sunday, November 25, 2018


Week Forty-seven...

Welcome!  We pray that you have all had a precious time worshipping the Lord this morning!  Below you will find some thought provoking questions that will provide you a starting point to your journal writing to complete this week.  We hope that you will find this time soul satisfying!

Our reading this week was Galatians 1 - Philippians 2...

 1. Reflect on the following statement: Shared joy is doubled joy; shared sorrow is halved-sorrow. When have you found this to be true? Thank God for the strength He provides, and ask Him to show you where you can help carry someone’s burden today.

 Share each other’s troubles and problems, and in this way obey the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2)

 2. Read Ephesians 1 - 2 again. List all the privileges you have as a child of God that you find in these two passages. How does that make you feel? Thank your Father for what He has given to you.

 (no verses this time)

 3. When do you usually pray? What would it mean to live your whole life as a prayer to God? Ask Him to teach you to be spiritually alert and awakened to His will at all times.

 Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere. (Ephesians 6:18)




Ask

Persistent Asking {Luke 10: - 11:36}

12:30 AM


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.

 Related image

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.

 Image result for Hebrews 4:16


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