WEEK 35 DEVOTIONAL ON PRAYER

“PERSISTENCE IN PRAYER”

“But I cry to you for help, O Lord; in the morning my prayer comes before you.”  Psalm 88:13

What do you do when there is no indication that your prayers are being answered? What do you do when it seems that God is keeping a distance? The psalmist teaches us that you keep on praying. As Winston Churchill said, “Never, never, never, never give up.”  The psalmist gives us some characteristics of persistent prayer.

Persistent prayer is crying out to the Lord.
The psalmist is not just talking to God. He is crying out to the Lord. He was praying with tears of passion and pain. Crying out to the Lord is laying our broken hearts on the altar before Him. It is praying from the heart. When the Israelites cried out to the Lord, the Lord delivered them. (Judges 3:9) When the Israelites were oppressed, they cried to the Lord for help. In Judges 6:7, the Israelites cried to the Lord because of Midian, and God sent help. Persistent prayer opens the wounds of the heart and soul. Prayers prayed from a crying heart never become stale or routine.  

Persistent prayer is asking God for help.
Persistent prayer is prayed from the heart of humility and helplessness. Solutions are surrendered at the altar and hope becomes totally dependent upon God’s intervention. Prayer is not just asking God to assist you as you solve the problems of the day. Persistent prayer is prayed out of the emptiness of our own resources and abilities.

Persistent prayer makes prayer a priority.
These prayers were not at the end of the day when everything else had been tried. Prayer was the starting line of the day. The morning speaks of the priority of prayer. John Cassian said, “To cling to God and to the things of God - this must be our major effort; this must be the road that the heart follows.” Bring before the Lord the prayers of a refreshed soul after a night’s rest and not the exhausted prayers of a soul that has let the day slip by without prayer. Prayer is the first priority of the follower of Christ.

Persistent prayer is the prayer of faith.
It is the prayer that is prayed when there is no light at the end of the tunnel. This prayer of the psalmist ends in darkness. The psalmist still cannot see the answer, but he keeps on praying. Faith sees the light when there is no light to be seen. Prayer sees the answer when there is no answer in sight. Faith looks beyond the problem and sees God.