06/07/2024
Do we have the faith required to persist in prayer, but not the perspective we need to see His answer? Is there depth enough in our belief in prayer, and trust enough in God, that we can continue to pray for an unanswered desire, but lack the understanding of God’s will it requires to see His answer? Pastor E.M. Bounds wrote that "God sees His praying child's faith. He honors this faith that stays and cries by persisting in prayer, so that it is strengthened and enriched. Then He rewards it abundantly." God rewards us in prayer, but we are often expecting it to come in different way than it does.
“And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”
Luke 18:6-8 KJV
God answers our prayers, and the persistent prayer requires a measure of trust that demonstrates great faith. When God answers our prayers immediately, our faith is bolstered by His provision itself, and when He says "no" we are protected by this answer, but when we must pray time and time again for a need that is within God’s will, and it remains unanswered, then our faith will grow in much the same way as it does when we believe in Christ without seeing Him. Jesus told the apostle Thomas...
“Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”
John 20:29 KJV
If we substitute seeing Jesus for having our prayer answered in this scripture then we see the correlation I am writing about... Listen to the modified verse…
(Thomas, because your prayer was answered, you have believed: blessed are they that have not yet been answered, and yet have believed.)
It takes great trust and faith to keep praying when no answer appears to be forthcoming. It takes an even greater strength to persist in those unanswered prayers than it does to immediately accept an answered one. Jesus was telling Thomas this about his faith, and He is telling us the same thing about our prayers... Trust him, have faith in him, and his word is good. Believe Jesus when He says...
“If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.”
John 14:14 KJV
And finally; how will we recognize the answer to our prayer when it finally comes? We might miss it because the answer conforms to God's will, and we might not understand that our prayers have already been answered because we are facing in the wrong direction of our will, and looking for a spiritual answer through the world’s eyes.
We are all familiar with books, movies, TV shows, and perhaps real life experiences, where a boy and a girl grow up together. They are best of friends and confidantes, but when they reach young adulthood they go their own separate ways seeking the person that the world has convinced them will be "the love of their life". Years later they meet again; each one having failed to find what they were looking for. Then suddenly they realize that the love of their life had been there all along.... This is when the big kiss scene takes place and the birds start singing.
Sometimes we are like this with our prayers. We go to our knees day after day asking God to answer us, but we are looking for His answer with worldly eyes. I am certain that some of us go to our grave never realizing God's handiwork has already been worked, but more often I hope that we suddenly see the answer that had been there all along... we see that God's will had been manifest in a way we had missed.
So, God not only recognizes the faith we exhibit in our persistent prayer, but He increases our faith through the trial of patience. Like a pilgrimage to some holy place, where, once we arrive, we find that the blessing wasn’t the destination, but the journey! Persistent prayer isn't as much about the answer as it is about the asking.
This morning let's keep asking and, through our tears and patience, enjoy the increase in faith that our journey of prayer is bringing us.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the journey we travel as we persist in our prayers, and for the increase in faith we receive by staying the course. Thank you also Father for the moments of epiphany when we suddenly realize that you have already answered our prayers according to your will and not ours. Great are you who knows how to answer prayer perfectly, and who thrills us with your answers. Help us Lord to seek your will as we pray, help us to find it, and then to apply it to both our prayers, and your answers. We thank you for answering us, but more than just thanking you we honor you in your provision, and give you the glory you deserve each time. Whether your answer is yes or no… instant or after many prayers, we praise you in our increased faith and belief. Praised be your name Holy Father for hearing, and answering us, and for the relationship we build in you as we kneel in prayer. This is your day, these are our prayers to you. We pray repeatedly that each one will bring us closer to you, and more love to our relationship.
Amen!
Rich Forbes