Aloha Dearest Family,
A
man once bought a field and started to drill for oil. Day after day, he drilled
but came up with nothing. After 300 feet down, the man finally gave up and sold
the land to another man. The second man drilled 3 feet and struck oil and
became rich. What is the moral to the story? If the first man would have just
kept drilling a little bit further he would have been rewarded. Not
surprisingly, this principle can also be found in God's Word. Many times
Christians ask God for something and because they don't see it right away, they
give up. They don't have enough persistence to see it come to pass. A great man
of believing from the nineteenth century, George Mueller (if you don't know
him, I strongly encourage you to look him up), said that the reason why most of
God's people do not get their prayers answered is because they gave up asking
and expecting the answer to their prayer. Let's study this topic a bit further
from the Bible.
Jesus
taught his disciples this principle several times through his ministry,
sometimes in parables and sometimes by practical application. Here is one such
parable,
"Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity (persistence) he will rise and give him as many as he needs". (Luke 11:5b-8) The word "importunity" means "persisting in the face of all that seems reasonable."
Jesus taught
his disciples how to trust God and ask for what they desired but he also taught
them that they needed to be persistent in their prayers. Too many people start
praying for something and because they don't see the immediate results, they
give up. A farmer knows this principle much better than most. A farmer knows
that after he plants his seed, he cannot go out the very next day and expect to
see his crops fully grown. He needs to have patience and wait on what he knows
will eventually come.
In
the story of Jesus and the Canaanite woman, this woman had a child that was
possessed with a devil spirit. The woman came to Jesus and asked for healing
for her daughter. At first he wouldn't hear her and the disciples tried to send
her away. Jesus said that he was sent only to the house of Israel Israel Israel
If
you keep reading in this same chapter of Luke 11, Jesus says,
"And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened."
If you look at these verses from the Greek
text, it literally says "Ask, and
keep asking. Seek, and keep seeking,
knock, and keep knocking".
Once we ask God for what we want we are to keep praying until we see the
results of our persistent prayer.
The
Word of God has over 900 promises that we can claim and see God's faithfulness
(II Peter 1:3 and 4). God is not a man that He should lie. God is ALWAYS
faithful to His promises. Let us take a look at one of these promises.
"And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." (Matthew 21:22)
We can
claim this promise as our own. Since God stays true to His promises, all we
have to do is believe what this verse says. Once we ask, we believe that God
shall bring it to pass, and we keep asking and expecting the answer. In this
verse, the word "shall" makes it an absolute. God SHALL absolutely
bring it to pass.
The
believers in the first century needed some encouragement as well. Hebrews 10:36
says,
"For ye have need of patience (endurance), that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise."
God's people need to have more patient
endurance in order to have their prayers answered. Marathon
runners know all about endurance. They need to train to be able to complete the
race because it takes endurance. Believing God is not always a sprint for the
finish line. It is a race for those who are strong in endurance. I have read
dozens and dozens of records of people who have had cancer cured, eyesight
healed, hearing repaired, great abundance in the midst of certain poverty. And
I have seen the same in my own life. All because of persistence in prayer.
Remember, God has not changed. What He has done for others, He can do for you.
And just like the man who drilled for oil but quit, you never know how close
you are to your prayers being answered. God is Faithful. He wants you to
receive your prayers answered even more than you do.
"Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him..." (Psalms 37:7a)
Love Always, Ray
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