Keep knocking…

Does God ever keep showing you a word, over and over?

Yeah, me too.

That word right now is “persistence”.

There is a story in the Bible about a “persistent widow”.

It can be found in Luke chapter 18.

Basically, this widow begs a judge, day after day after day for justice.

The judge gets tired of hearing her so he answers her requests.

Jesus begins the story with saying, “we should pray and never give up.” Luke 18:1

Here’s the thing…often we will pray, Yet more often, we give up on our prayers.

If we don’t see an answer soon, we shrug our shoulders and move on.

Jesus is teaching us to keep praying. And praying. And praying.

Last night I was looking over some old prayer journals.

Each page was the same few prayer requests…over and over and over I prayed these things over my family.

God has answered those prayers.

It took time though. Like, years.

I remember reading the story of this persistent widow years ago and being spurred on to keep praying.

Many days, it was hard to pray.

When nothing was on the horizon and things seemed to actually be getting worse as I prayed….I kept praying.

My flesh was failing in faith, but my heart was determined to walk by faith and not by sight.

I have a friend that has been praying fervently for her daughter about a certain thing.

Since January 1st of this year, my friend has prayed, fasted, devoured God’s Word, believed, hoped….

She is also walking around her house 7 times a day in prayer…just like Joshua did before the walls of Jericho fell.

Her persistence is just inspiring and beautiful to those of us watching.

She said some days are very difficult. Her faith wavers and she wants to just give up and walk away from this certain prayer.

Yet, she persists.

She believes that God hears her and will answer in His most perfect way in His most perfect time.

I was also reminded recently of the importance of “peristence” in another situation.

Since moving to our new community a year ago, I have been praying that my husband would join a local bible study.

I know first hand how important these relationships are that are formed through studying God’s Word together.

I wanted this so badly for him.

Finally, a friend of mine’s husband reached out to Lem about a bible study he was starting in his home…in our neighborhood!

I was thrilled!

However, Lem immediately said he could not do it because it was on a night he had committed to golf.

My heart sank.

I bit my lip and tried real hard not to “nag” him about it.

Lem texted the guy that invited him to the bible study and told him, “no thanks”.

The guy texted Lem back telling him it was “no problem.”

That was that.

But, it wasn’t!

The friend texted Lem again a few minutes later…

This text was persistent.

He told Lem to come ONE time and if he did not like it he never had to come back.

Lem was very surprised by his persistence.

I remember Lem looking up at me from his phone and saying, “Well, I guess I will go once and check it out.”

My heart was flipping out of my chest!

That was over a month ago, and Lem has continued to attend and enjoys it immensely.

Persistence.

The guy didn’t let Lem have an easy out…he pushed Lem just enough so that he would agree to come.

I wonder what areas I need to be more persistent in.

Do I let people off the hook too easily when God may be asking me to nudge a little more?

I am so thankful for those that have been persistent with me through the years. Friends who have pushed me a little harder so that I could grow.

Sweet friend, we must not give up in praying. We must persist.

We also must not give up on people.

Sometimes, we need to persist a little more, nudge a little more.

Is there a prayer that you have stopped praying because you have not seen an answer?

Please, persist in prayer.

Keep on praying!

God will re-direct your heart if He has another plan, but persist in prayer in the mean time.

Don’t walk away too soon…

When the door finally opens, be standing there expectant.

persisting in prayer,

jill