A Verse for All Seasons
Because He is the God of hope, no matter what our circumstances, He provides a way for us to face it, and navigate our way through it with grace and confidence.
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persistent prayer
Never Give Up Praying
When answers to our prayers tarry, while the temptation to give up increases, it’s a great encouragement to read these words of the Apostle Paul reiterating the teaching of Jesus to “always pray and never give up!”
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Praying for those who don’t know Jesus
Previously, in my post Turning Promises into Prayers, I explained the simple process of crafting prayers using scripture and made a case for the power that is released in persistently praying God’s Word back to Him.
Now as an example, I want to share a scriptural prayer that I wrote for use in praying for the people in my life who do not yet have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I have found that this prayer releases great faith in my heart as I regularly pray through it. And it encourages me to be persistent in praying because I know that it is both God’s way and God’s will for people to come salvation.
I would encourage you to printout this prayer and try using it for at least seven times in praying for those on your prayer list who are not yet Christians. You can insert their names in the blanks. Be intentional as you pray this prayer to do it with both feeling and conviction.
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Turning Promises into Prayers
“If you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.” Luke 11:8
One of the virtues of prayer that Jesus specifically encouraged was that of persistence. He gave illustrations to drive this important truth home by telling parables about such people as the audacious friend needing bread at midnight and persistent widow badgering the unjust judge. (Luke 11:5-9 & Luke 18:1-5)
While initially God’s silence or seeming lack of response to our prayers may appear to be a “no”, it typically is more like a “not yet.” Timing, as they say, is everything and there is with God a mystery in His ways that requires an attitude of dependently waiting upon Him for the answer. The preparation process in delivering an answer is as much, if not more about what He is doing in us as it is about what He plans on doing for us.
The one practice which I have found to be the most helpful in praying persistent prayers over the long haul is that of turning His promises into prayers. Here are some practical tips, by no means original with me, for doing that.
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6 Prayers God Always Answers
“You do not have, because you do not ask God.” James 4:2b
We find in the book of James one of the clearest, most succinct teachings on prayer contained anywhere in the Bible. In just six verses James, the brother of Jesus and someone who should know something about prayer, encourages his readers with six different prayers that God loves to answer. The underlying reason for his emphasis on prayer in this epistle is stated in the words “you do not have, because you do not ask God.” It could go without saying, but needs to be said again and again, because we are so prone to forget: we need to pray to get answers to prayer. The answers we desire only come from prayers that are prayed. The more we pray, the more answers we get. It is that simple.
That having been said here are the six prayers that always get answers from God. They are taken from the passage in James 5:13-18.
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