Coming Soon

Persistent.
On a resume? Impressive!
Describing that person texting you over & over about the same thing? Not so much.

Without a doubt there are times when persistence can backfire.
Whether it’s too much of it, or not enough.

But as it relates to prayer, God encourages it.

Luke 18 begins with one of my favorite parables.
The parable of the persistent widow.
Right away, God opens by giving us the moral of the story first.
Telling us to always pray and never give up --- Luke 18:1 (NLT)

And while many like to compare this story to our own relationship with God, I disagree.
Because the biggest difference between our God and this judge, is the only difference that matters.
The judge was indifferent, annoyed and careless.
God is none of those things.

As a matter of fact, verses 8-9 say, “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!

What a promise!
We are not forgotten, or given a leave-me-alone-already type of response.

God is just, loving and caring enough to not just respond, but respond quickly!
The caveat to that is, let's not confuse what “quickly” or how quick, “quickly” really is.

You see, God is not bound by our timetable.
Or intimidated by our deadlines.
Out of His grace and love for us, He grants our requests according to His perfect will.
In other words, He saves us from ourselves.

We are not called to be persistent in prayer to manipulate God into giving us what we want.
We are persistent in prayer because our faith reminds us that He is the giver of those desires.

So with faith, we pray because…
We refuse to give up.
We refuse to lose hope.
We refuse to stress, worry or be anxious.
And we refuse to believe anything that goes against His words.

So if He tells me to always pray and never give up, then I’ll keep praying and never give up.
Because for all I know, my answer is right around the corner.
And I’d hate for it to catch me unprepared.

JV