Persistent Prayer Until the Prayer is Answered!
Prayer is good, presenting our requests to God with thanksgiving and faith and in the holy name of Jesus Christ, the king of hearts.
However, not good enough!
The key powerful ingredient is persistence until the prayer is answered!
Why Persistent?
God knows what you desire or need before even you ask it so the persistent prayer is not because God needs to hear it again and again but because by that persistence you'd become entitled to receive it according to the law and the impact it has on you and the world around you because that persistence reshapes your actions, words and thoughts and the world around you.
Another reason is God wants you to have a relationship with Him. He wants your focus and attention, not because he needs your attention but because He wants you to know that He is your ultimate source.
The Requests are evolved!
What you ask for can change, it can evolve, grow and develop as you bring your requests to God persistently.
They become more accurate and specific, they become more perfect.
They may even be scrapped if you realized that's not what you truly want or need or that's not according to God's good will for your life or someone else's life.
Each time you bring your request to God, it's not a boring repetition, it's a fresh exciting renewal of your commitment and tests of your desires and when you listen to hear from God, new ideas pour in to your spirit and the truth becomes more clear.
The persistence tests your desires, priorities and heart to reveal to you what you truly desire.
Ask for Wisdom, Strength and Miracle
For each request ask for divine wisdom and strength and ask for His miracle:
- The wisdom to know what to do about it, the direction and guidance
- The strength to do what needs doing - knowing is useless without the power to actually do it
- The miracle is what God does to the world, to other people without much of your involvement - the opportunities that come to your door, the healings, the breakthroughs.
Prayer Request Topics
Good candidates are anything that we desire that is challenging, complicated, vague or unknown or even worrying.
The request topics are usually regarding health, wealth, finance, safety and security, education, relationships, fairness and justice, etc.
Nothing is too small or too big for God to be involved with to lead you to success so bring whatever is in your mind to His presence.
Worry tells you what is important to you. What is important to you is important to God and those are good candidates to bring to Him as prayers.
Frequently!
You should have the burning desire to receive it to the point that you present your requests to Him every day and multiple times in the day patiently without giving up while trusting on His timing and the process of receiving.
So have your list ready and written and a set a daily habit to bring to His presence and meditate on them and His blessings towards them.
God's Timing
God's timing is important, He will ultimately delivers what you ask if you keep presenting your requests to Him. Some are answered quickly, some takes time.
Delay is not denial! When it takes time, usually it's because God wants you to go through a process and become a new person and to develop a new character.
You must remain persistent and patient until your prayer is answered and maintain the strongest faith that God will answer your prayer according to His promises and listen well to His messages and ideas that are communicated to your Spirit in the process.
As mentioned, your requests may evolve, your character develops when you keep praying, your true desires and the right realistic ways to achieve them get revealed to you.
So keep on knocking and keep on asking and never give up on your prayer requests.
God is eager to hear from you more than you can imagine!
Another important matter to remember is that presenting to God is not similar to presenting to people. People get bored, they don't want to hear from you or hear your needs or wants or troubles. They say don't bother me, don't waste my time, I have my own issues, etc.
In contrast, God is like a caring father and loves to hear from you, He is impatiently eager for you to invite Him to your life to walk with you and take your hand. He patiently stands behind your door and it's up to you to open the door to Him and invite Him in your life. The truth of this can be experienced when His peace of Spirit is put on your heart.
God is truly eager to walk with you in your life and lead you to succeed so don't feel embarrassed, ashamed, doubtful or fearful going to Him.
Request with Thankfulness
Be thankful and faithful in heart that God is good and would love to hear from you and would love to give you what's good for you, his perfect blessing.
Request in the name of Christ
Bible in many places declares that God loves Jesus Christ so dearly that when you ask in His name, He will answer your prayers.
Request with Faith
Remove doubt, God is not against you, He is for you and would love to bless you, give you hope and prosper you. Enrich your wisdom and strength instead by actions to learn the truths and His ways and have faith that it will be done for you.
Declare your faith that your prayer will be answered.
Request according to His Will
God's will is pleasant, peaceful, good and perfect so ask yourself whether what you ask is truly good according to His will or it's destructive and against God's law of goodness. The more you read and think about the Scriptures, the deeper you understand His will, his righteousness.
Don't Overload the Prayer Requests!
One of the reasons we present our prayer requests to God is to be able to meditate on them and focus and take actions also so how can you focus on anything if you have 100 requests in your mind?!
Therefore the effectiveness will be lowered if your list is long so try to reduce your list to 3-5 so that you can take action on the inspirations you get about them.
Pray followed by Action
Don't overload the prayer list or bring too many items to God's presence.
Each prayer request should be followed by Actions to be most effective.
So one prayer followed by solid action is more valuable than 100 prayers with no actions.
Your Joy Be Complete
Once the prayers are answered, your joy becomes complete, your faith develops stronger, your trust in Him grows bolder and your love deepens.
Examples:
Lord, I ask you for your divine wisdom/strength that I lose 2% body fat this month and build more muscles so that I feel more fit and healthier and get closer to my ultimate fitness goals.
Lord, I ask you for your divine wisdom/strength that the issue at work to be resolved...
Lord, I ask you for your divine wisdom/strength that the true peace to be established in the troubled Iran
Lord, I ask you for your divine wisdom/strength that I use my time, money and efforts wisely towards what matters most, health, education, wealth, security, blessing and relationships and not be engaged in any wasteful and nonconstructive activities, thoughts or words.
Lord, I ask you for your divine wisdom/strength that I be able to pass my next exam on ...
Lord, I ask you for your divine wisdom/strength that my friend/partner/family/relieve/colleague issue to be resolved (be as specific as you can).
Biblical References:
John 16:24
"Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete" .
Mathew 7:7-11
"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"
Mark 11:23-24
“Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
Luke 1:37
“For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Matthew 17:20
“He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
Luke 18:1-8
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Philippians 4:6
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication (humility) with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18
“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
James 1:6-8
“But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
John 15:7
“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
John 14:13
“Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”
John 16:23-24
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”
James 2:20-24
[Power is in Active Faith, Faith with Action Plans]
Romans 2:13
“For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.“
James 1:22-27
“Who will be blessed? Hearer who forgets vs doer who acts”
Matthew 6:34
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
1 John 3:22
“And whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.”
James 4:3
“You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”
Hebrews 10:36
“For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.”
James 1:5-6
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.”
Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Colossians 4:2
"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful."
Luke 11:1-13
[keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you]
Psalm 25:15
"My eyes are continually toward the LORD for help, For He alone can rescue me from all the traps."
Matthew 6:32-33
"Why be like unbelievers who worry about everything? Your heavenly father already knows all your needs. and He will give you all you need if your first concern is to live for His kingdom."
