Have you ever prayed for something for a long time with seemingly no result? Does it feel like sometimes that your prayers have hit the “ceiling” and bounced back? Do you ever wonder if God is too busy answering other people’s prayer requests and that you are in a long line waiting for your number to be called? If so, you are not alone. How should we respond when we need God to move RIGHT NOW, but it seems like He is taking His “sweet time?” In Matthew 7:7, Jesus gives us some instructions on the method of how we should pray, “Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be open to you.”The key is understanding in the original language, the verb tense of ask, seek and knock. When Jesus made this statement, He did not have in mind that we should ask, seek and knock only once. Rather, the correct interpretation of this verse is, “ask, and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, knock and continue to knock.” What this means is that the key to effective prayer is persistence. Some people have said to me that it is incorrect to pray for something more than once, because in doing so it demonstrates a lack of faith. My answer is that nowhere in scripture does Jesus suggest that we should pray for something only once and even Paul states when he had a thorn in his flesh that he prayed to God three times to have it removed (2 Cor. 12). God doesn’t mind us going to Him constantly for what we need. My children are persistent in asking me for candy. Even if I say “no,” they will ask me again in 10 minutes, hoping my answer will change. If my children at ages eight and five know the value of persistence in asking their father for what they want, shouldn’t we as children of God ask our spiritual Father for what we need until He moves in our situation? As we continue to ask, seek and knock in our time of prayer, Jesus tells us the benefit of doing so in Matthew 7:8, “for everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it will be opened.” Jesus clearly states that as we develop a habit of continually asking the Lord for what we need, at some point our prayers will be answered. I believe that sometimes our prayers are not answered immediately, because we have yet to develop a mindset of going to God consistently until our needs have been met. He wants us to be dependent on Him and not on ourselves. Learning how to depend on God takes time and consistency in our prayer time. My prayer for you today is that you will begin to develop a habit of praying to God consistently for what you need, without wavering, until your prayers are answered. © 2013 Kevin Swann Ministries, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Posted on: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 13:43:54 +0000
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