Tuesday 7 May 2013

Read: Matthew 7:7-8, Luke 18:1-8

"Faith does not grow disheartened because prayer is not immediately honoured; it takes God at His Word, and lets Him take what time He chooses in fulfilling His purposes, and in carrying on His work. There is bound to be much delay and long days of waiting for true faith, but faith accepts the conditions — knows there will be delays in answering prayer, and regards such delays as times of testing, in the which, it is privileged to show its mettle, and the stern stuff of which it is made."

The Necessity of Prayer, E.M. Bounds

 

The specific words that Jesus has chosen in today's reading from Matthew 7, ask, seek and knock, reveal an important principal of prayer for God's people. The tense of these words shows that these actions are in fact ongoing actions, not only once-off actions. In fact a better translation for these words might be "keep on asking", "keep on seeking" or "keep on knocking". The idea is not that God's people are to pray once and then leave it at that. God's people are to pray persistently. God's people are to continue coming before Him with their prayers and requests. They are to continue asking God for the things that they need. They are to continue seeking God and His will. They are to continue knocking on the door of God's throne room with their prayers. What an amazing invitation!

 

The parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18 shows even more clearly the need for God's people to be persistent in their prayer. In fact, until she has justice, the widow never gives up in coming before the judge. Neither are God's people to give up in bringing their prayers and requests before Him. In fact, God promises that He will answer the prayers of His people who continue to cry out to Him day and night.

 

The amazing quote from E.M. Bounds sheds a little more light on the persistence of God's people in prayer. We are able to persist in prayer, waiting patiently for God to answer because we have faith in God and His promises. We "take God at His word" and believe that if we keep praying, keep asking and seeking, that God will answer the prayers of His people. If we do not persist in prayer, if we are quick to give up then it is our faith which needs growth, not our God.

 

Think about your own prayer life. What things have you given up on praying for? What areas of your life have you resigned to never see God work powerfully in? How many persistent prayers have you stopped praying because you got discouraged? Spend some time praying for those things today. Pray that God would give you patience in prayer and grow your faith in Him today.

 

Prayer:

Write down your prayer points in the space provided. Use today’s reading to help you get ideas.

 

Adoration:

 

Confession:

 

Thanks:

 

Supplication:

¥ Praise God that although we often give up on praying for things that He has never and will never give up on us. Pray that God would grow in your heart a persistence of prayer and help you to be patient for His provision

¥ Pray for MOPS as they gather together tomorrow morning. Pray that the mums from the community would be shown the love of Jesus by the other mums and would come to faith in Him.

 

My Additional Prayer Points.

1/.

 

2/.

 

Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. God's word tells us to confess our sins one to another (James 5:16). Spend some time sharing with each other some things that you may have given up praying for because of a lack of persistence.

2. Pray together for some of these things as a group.