Sometimes God puts our prayers on hold. He responds to our prayers not with a “Yes,” or “No,” but “Wait”. So we need to be persistent with our prayers.
I know that you have dreams that are yet to be fulfilled. These can be all sorts of petitions, what we desire, what we dream of — the promise of God planted in our heart.
I want to encourage someone today who may be worn out, confused, or frustrated over unanswered prayers and for whom giving up is the better option.
If that’s you, God is telling you today, don’t give up as yet. Persevere towards the promise – that is our One Big Message today taken from Hebrews 10:36:
“You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” (Hebrews 10:36)
So let’s press on towards the prize. Let’s persist until we realize our God-given potential to have a life in full. Because that’s what God wants –to see the fullness of His promise in your life.
Here’s my big message: Persistent prayer is opening up yourself to the blessing that is already there.
When people talk about “Persistent Prayer”, some get a wrong picture of God in their minds. They imagine God as a God who embraces a candy jar close to his chest, doling out candies to the child that screams the loudest and longest. I disagree. God is not capricious, flippant, fickle, easily manipulated by persistent prayers.
Let me describe this wrong picture to you.
Kid: “Can I have some Candy?”
God (clutching the candy jar in a tighter grip): “Say the magic word.”
Kid: “Please give me candy…”
God: “Hmm, let me think about it. Perhaps if you say it a number of times…”
Kid: “Please, please, please, please give me candy…”
God: “Perhaps if you ask on your knees….”
Kid: (Kneels) “Oh please, please, please, please give me candy…”
God: “Perhaps if you give me those large puppy eyes….”
Kid: “Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?”
God: (Looks at His watch) “Perhaps if you keep asking for 30 minutes…”
Kid: “Please, please, please, please,…”
That’s not God.
Yes, He does want us to pray persistently. In Matthew 7:7, when Jesus said, “Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened unto you,” the literal translation is “Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking.” And in Luke 18 Jesus talked about the widow who pestered the crooked judge, asking for her rights. The bad judge said, “I’ll give her what she’s asking for, not because I want to, but because she’s driving me crazy with her pestering.”
Yes, God wants us to persist in prayer. But for other reasons.
Here’s my picture of God: He leaves the candy jar on the table. It’s there for anyone who will persist on getting the blessing.
May your dreams come true,
Bo Sanchez
