...persist in prayer...

“Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught His disciples.’ 2 He said to them, ‘When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.

3 Give us each day our daily bread.

4 And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.   And do not bring us to the time of trial.’

5 And Jesus said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, “Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.” 7 And he answers from within, “Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.” 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs” Luke 11:1-8.

One of the greatest promises Jesus ever made was that He would answer our prayer, so long as we pray in His Name. This means that He will answer our prayer when we pray knowing that He will give what we need, because no one, except Jesus, knows if this is a prayer that we need answered from God in exactly the way we’ve prayed. So we pray in His Name always bowing down for the answer God knows is best. And we also know that God doesn’t live in time, the time you and I live in — and the time that He created. So God may answer a prayer long after we have died. Moses prayed the he would get to the Promised Land, but this was never answered until after His death. Moses got to the Promised Land, but it wasn’t here on earth!

I prayed for something for thirty years, and God, in His perfect graciousness, answered this in a most powerful way. He could have never answered it the way I prayed — but He did — and for no reason except that it fit into His infinite wisdom and plan for my life and for others.

So, as we hear in this parable today: persist in your prayer, and let God answer it His way. That is always the most perfect answer he could give! Amen!

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God,

have mercy on me a sinner!