KEEP ON KEEPING ON

Luke 11:5-10

What friendship could not achieve, persistence and importunity did. The friend did not respond with the bread because of their friendship. He responded because the man was relentless in his asking. He would not give up until he got what he needed. Does God expect us to be this persistent? Do you really think He wants us to keep knocking in the middle of the night and keep asking even though He has already told us no more than once? Absolutely, positively, without a doubt, YES!

Remember this was Jesus telling this story. It wasn’t something made up by this author. Jesus said we are to ask and keep on asking. We are to search and keep on searching. We are to knock and keep on knocking. We are to be unyielding in our pursuit to get God to answer our prayer. If we ask God once for something and He says no, to walk away and not keep on asking is like saying, “That’s OK God. I didn’t really think you could do that anyway.” If that’s our attitude, we shouldn’t even bother praying. That kind of praying is worse than a waste of time because it teaches a wrong theology of prayer. If you don’t believe God can answer your prayer, there is no point in praying. God wants boldness, confidence and persistence in our prayers.

A similar story from my own life is the time when I was young and wanted to make a “long distance” call to a town seven miles away. My father said no but I kept on asking and asking until I wore him down. He finally said, “Go ahead, it’s worth a nickel (the cost of the call) just to get you to leave me alone”. When we want something badly enough to keep on asking and asking until we get what we want, that’s the kind of persistence God wants us to have. Is God bothered by our persistence? no! No! NO! What bothers God is our lack of persistence. If we ask once or twice (or even more) and then stop asking, He gets the impression that we don’t really want what we are praying for very much. He then refuses to answer that prayer because our heart isn’t really in it. When we keep on and finally convince Him (maybe even after seventy times seven times) that we are determined to get a positive answer, He will respond. He then becomes our strongest supporter.

God is waiting to hear from you. He may not hear you the first time just as Jesus did not hear the Syrophoenician woman. He heard her but was waiting for her plea to reach a certain level of intensity. He wanted her faith to come to the point that she was willing to pursue the matter in the face of obstacles. Her cries were bothering the disciples to the point that they asked Jesus to send her away. Several times Jesus told people their prayers would be answered because of their faith. This is one of only two instances where He said, “Your faith is great”. She knew Jesus had the power to heal and she would not give up easily. She wanted Jesus to heal her daughter. Two things attributed to getting her request answered. First of all, she had great faith. She really, beyond any shadow of a doubt, believed that Jesus could heal. Secondly, she believed it so much she was willing to be a nuisance if that was what it would take.

The Waiting Father is like the father of the prodigal son who watched and waited constantly for his child to come home. God is waiting for you to come to Him with your requests but He doesn’t want a mealy mouthed request. He wants you to come pleading and begging. Never give up.

Father, I have prayed many short prayers and walked away from them hoping you would hear and respond. I even tacked on, “….if it be your will” to give you an out in case you chose not to answer the prayer. Forgive me for my lack of faith and persistence. When I have a prayer request, I won’t quit asking. I will keep on asking until you answer……….