Should I Keep Praying for the Same Thing or Not?
Happy Thursday! I pray you had an amazing week since the last time you were here. Today’s This Is Why Thursday’s Blog will be the first of a few teachings I am doing under a series called, "Faith, Focus and Follow-through." Feel free to watch the short video or read the entire blog below. You can also, download the text for the topic HERE. Until next week, be BLESSED!
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Should I Keep Praying for the Same Thing or Not?
The Bible tells us in Matthew 7:7-8 to ask, seek and knock! This section of the Gospel is an extension of Jesus sermon on the mount in which he already taught in some depth about prayer in Matthew 6:5-15. But it seems that prayer is so important to and for the believer, that Jesus continues to press the point on how to pray here in chapter 7 where He says, “Ask and it shall be given, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds and him who knocks it will be opened.”
You may be asking yourself; how often do I keep praying for something? Maybe you’re between whether you should pray once and leave it along vs. praying continually. Maybe you’ve said, “well if I pray once and leave it to God, that’s faith.” So, you don’t keep praying because you see that as a sign of hounding God and not having faith or patience.
Or maybe you’re on the other end of that and you pray and pray and ask and ask but you still haven’t received. Well I’d like to submit to you what Jesus has instructed in the scriptures so that we will have a more effective prayer life.
The reason many of our prayers aren’t being answered is because we are praying amiss or without fervor. (The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. James 5:16)
Now don’t get wrong, to simply say “Jesus Help!” is a prayer and can be all that is needed sometimes. But just because we can simply say, “help” and by His grace He answers us, does not mean that we should ignore Jesus teaching on being persistent in prayer. Sometimes “help” is all that you need, but other times the key is going to be persistent prayer. And persistent prayer is not just asking, asking, asking! Persistent prayer is progressive prayer. Or what I’m calling, faith, focus and follow-through!
So, what does that really mean?
Well we should ask in faith, seek with focus, follow-through with knocking. Ok, let me put it like this, asking is verbal, seeking is mental, and knocking is physical.
Sometimes prayer requires your mouth, your mind and your movement. In other words, what are you saying? What are you thinking? And what are you doing?
Are you asking, but not thinking you will receive? Are you thinking you will receive but not doing anything to prepare for its arrival?
Watch this, Jesus said knock on the door not knock on the wall. Doors are made to be opened. However, a door also shows us that everything we ask for or seek isn’t always going to be readily available to us. This is Why we have to knock; thus, we have to do something. And I’d like to submit that since we should be praying in faith, and if faith without works is dead, then we must pray and prepare (in other words, do something).
Let me encourage you today that if you’ve been asking God for something over and over but still have not received what you’re asking for, take the next step and seek – seek after God’s word because it will help you align what you are asking for, with His will. Because this could be the very reason why you haven’t received what you’ve been asking for…because it’s not in His will for you. 1 John 5:14 says, “This is the confidence that we have in Him, that whatever we pray for, according to His will and in the name of Jesus, we know that He hears us and if He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him”
And finally, if you’ve asked in faith, focused on seeking His will and what you’re praying for lines up with His word, then follow through with action that demonstrates you believe that you will receive. After all, we shouldn’t pray for it then prepare for it, rather we should prepare for what we pray for.
I pray that this blesses you immensely!
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