How to pray persistently
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Two key praying principles are to maintain fellowship with God, and present our petitions.
Fellowship with God encompasses personal interactions between God and believers. Getting our petitions heard refers to receiving things asked for. Jesus addressed both of these in His dialogue with His Father: "…Father, I thank Thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that Thou hearest me always…" (John 11: 41-42, KJV).
That's what I want—fellowship with God, and to get my petitions heard. You?
Jesus' illustration in Luke's gospel of how to pray is a demonstration of confident desperation. In response to the disciples' request to teach them how to pray, Jesus said that praying requires persistence.
In Luke 11:5 (KJV), Jesus asked, "Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves"? He continued that though the friend on the other side of the door refused, he finally relented because of the knocker's persistence. Jesus' point is clear—to get God's answer, praying must be persistent.
But what is meant by praying persistence? It is more than just repeating the same words. More than remembering to return to praying about the same topic every now and then.
Praying persistence is keeping our eyes on God in confident desperation, which is a declaration of our dependence on Him. We are convinced that no one cares for us like He does, and no one is as powerful as He is. We stay before Him because we have nowhere else to go.
So, praying persistence enables us to intentionally draw near to Him, not just because we want something from Him, which we do. More, we want fellowship with Him, which we need.
Hear the insistence of the disciples when asked if they would persist in following him. Peter said "…Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life" (John 6:68, KJV). The primary goal of praying is Fellowship with Him. What a joy to interact with Him continually. But how do we do this?
Consider the following principles to make praying a persistent practice:
- Praying persistently engages us in interaction with God Himself.
- Praying persistently gets heard. "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his Will, He heareth us; And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him" (1 John 5:14-15, KJV).
- Praying must deal with God's will. So, to engage God in fellowship and be heard, we must be knowledgeable of God's Word wherein He reveals His Will.
- Develop a regular daily Word reading habit. How much time spent on it is not the point, but instead we should strive for daily consistency. Reading God's Word is "listening" to Him.
- Keep a record of both your "asks" and His "answers." In addition to being instructed by this correlation, His answers (or the lack of clear responses) will reinforce the practice of your asking.
- Consider partnering with another believer.The Scriptures highlight the advantage of this practice. "… [I]f any two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they should ask, it shall be done for them of my Father…" (Matthew 18:19, KJV).
- Trust that He will answer.And remember that your Heavenly Father will do much more than you ask!
 | R D Carrington, Sr., is the organizing pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church of Jesus Christ in Beaumont, Texas which is in year 37; has been preaching 55 and pastoring 47 years. He holds a PhD., from Grand Canyon University and now serves as a Content Expert in the College of Doctoral Studies at GCU. |
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