Nov 22 2008
The Prayer of the Persistent
(Forgive me for not figuring out sooner that I need to increase the font size. Better late than never.)
In recent years it’s become popular to say that faith means to ask once and believe it is done. And while there are specific times in the Word where God said that was true, most of the time He responded to the persistent prayer of faith.
Remember the story of Elijah and Elisha? God had told Elijah to go find Elisha, the newly chosen prophet who would replace him. And he found Elisha plowing a field. From then on they went everywhere together, with Elisha ministering to the needs of his mentor and learning everything he could.
In II Kings 2 it says the prophet Elijah was an old man and his time on earth was drawing to a close. It appears that he wanted time alone with God when he told Elisha that he wanted to be alone. But Elisha would have none of that. In fact he refused to let Elijah out of his sight for a moment, and over time he became a terrible annoyance.
Finally Elijah had had enough and said, (author paraphrase), “Okay. What is it you want from me?” And Elisha asked for double portion of his anointing. Now remember, Elisha had been shadowing his mentor for some time and he had seen the miracles and wonders God did when Elijah spoke. Apparently over their time together Elisha decided he wanted to be used in the same way, and in the end, he refused to miss a moment of opportunity. He knew his moment of blessing would come if he stayed focused on the goal. And Scripture says he received exactly what he asked for.
In our day of easy believism it’s easy for us to give up when God doesn’t answer quickly. But God sets great store by persistence. Over and over the Bible says that those who kept on asking received what they asked for if their hearts were right.
Today, more than ever before, we need to ask God for what we need–for souls and things we’ve never before dared to believe. Not out of lust or greed, but for kingdom purposes. He said to ask for the nations. We need to ask and keep on asking, believing He will come through for us. Scripture says we have not because we ask not.
Will we dare to be persistent and believe for the impossible? God isn’t limited by time, space or resources, so let’s grab hold of faith and keep on asking. Our God loves to answer the prayer of faith!
In His great love,
Nancy
