One day Jesus told His disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. “There was a judge in a certain city,” He said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!” Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So, don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will He find on earth who have faith?” Luke 18:1-8
Do you ever begin to feel worn out with praying about certain things? Do you ever worry that you are wearing God out with your prayers?
Yes, there are moments when we feel God moving in our hearts, that to have faith for a thing is to stop praying about it and just sit in quiet expectation. But there are other times, and in my life, these have been more abundant…at least, as of late…when we are to relentlessly pursue. There are moments when I believe God is strengthening our “muscles”, so to speak. We all know we are called to pray without ceasing. We also know from reading about Daniel, that there are moments when our prayers are immediately answered, but angels may be held up by warfare. Listen, if it happened to Daniel, it can happen to us…otherwise, why would this even be written in scripture?
There are a few things that I have been praying about for many years now…but I refuse to relent in my pursuit and often I can even feel God stirring me to continue these petitions. Because I can feel God reminding me to continue pressing in through prayer, I will. While we may never know what is really going on during these instances, we can rest assured that if God moves in us to continue to press in through prayer, then the only answer is, “Yes”.
Years ago, I had a certain thing I had prayed about for a long time. One day in my frustration, I told God, “I’ve been praying for this for 10 years, God. That’s a decade.” He immediately replied, “Oh, is that all?” In a moment of correction, I realized that my entitled attitude was a real problem. What is time to God? He is infinite. And, He was certainly doing a lot in my life at the time, as well as, others involved. Some things just take time. That’s the long and the short of it all…some miracles just take time. But, wouldn’t you know it…He DID answer that very prayer shortly after our exchange. What a glorious answer it was and I’m still basking in the beauty and wonder of His hand moving in the situation. It was life altering.
Other times, I have known God was asking me to lay something down and stop interceding for it. In these moments, again, I don’t have to know why He’s asking me to lay it down…all I need to do is obey.
Several times, I have really felt God lift off of a request. At that time, I knew it was not necessary or productive to push forward. Apart from God, any request is dead in the water. Even though we may not like it, sometimes we need to let go. In those times, I’ve seen that what He’s doing is letting it go to seed. When a request goes to seed, you can rest assured that the answer is being compounded. You WILL receive a larger than expected move when He instructs you to pick up the request again. I’ve seen it time and time again.
I encourage you to go before the Lord today and allow Him to weed through your many prayer requests and offer Him your obedience. Are you to lay things down? Are you to push on and push forward? Whatever He asks you to do, simply be willing. Trust Him enough to let it go. Trust Him enough to continue to intercede. Trust and obey…and be blessed.
365 Days in the Presence 