+DEV+ Praying with Persistence

Date: July 9, 2009 10:04 PM
Topic: +DEV+ Praying with Persistence

Praying with Persistence

"I say to you, Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." (Luke 11:9).
Scripture Focus: Luke 11:1-13

Much of my life is spent listening to people and trying to help them with desperate needs. In such times God invites us to be persistent in prayer.

In Luke 11, a friend goes to a neighbor at midnight asking for bread, knowing that persistent knocking will awaken the household. Friendship alone isn't enough to get the neighbor up, but persistence is. The friend has an urgent need.

At four and a half months old, my little granddaughter was facing open-heart surgery. Many people prayed for her. Through the five-hour drive to the hospital, through the hours of surgery, and throughout her stay in the hospital, I persistently prayed for her. It was a time of great need, but even more, a time for God to be honored through her life, whatever the outcome. We all went to God out of our insufficiency and poverty, having no place else to go. We knew He cared.

God rewarded our persistence; this year she will celebrate her eighth birthday.

Insight: God encourages us to never give up! Like beggars, we ask out of the painful condition of our brokenness and poverty. And He answers.