I believe that as God’s people we need to learn much more about prayer. The new testament emphasizes a lot in prayer, since this is vital for the health of the church. A believer who prays is a believer who stays on the line where he should be. But is it enough to pray? I believe that praying is not enough, rather, the persistence in prayer is the one that speaks for itself.
Here Jesus is presenting a great discourse to which we should all pay close attention. The first thing we must learn here is that if we ask the Father He simply gives us what we ask, of course, as long as it is within his divine plans, then, we find in the book of James, that those who asked not received, why did not they receive? Because they asked badly.
When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
James 4:3
The important thing here is to understand that if we ask God under His will, He responds to His time. We can not be shy before God, we must make Him know all those things we want. God does not tire of us, He is always ready to listen to us.
In this seventh verse that we have quoted above, Jesus uses the imperatives: “Ask, seek, call.” All of these are present imperatives, which speak of an ordered lifestyle and a devotional life with God.
It is of utmost value to maintain persistence in prayer. Jesus has told us that everyone who asks receives, the one who seek find, and the one who knocks the door opens. We must believe this. But we can not pray simply as a daily routine that seems more like a human mechanism. We must pray until we find God in prayer, until heaven comes down.
On this subject it is good to remember that time when Jacob fought with the angel:
Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
Genesis 32:26
Jacob was struggling with the angel and he wanted to leave, but Jacob was willing to last as long as possible until he blessed him. Great attitude of Jacob.
When we go before God in prayer, we must be like Jacob and be there before God until His blessing spills over our lives.
Dear brother, I urge you to keep the persistence in your prayers, to trust in God with all your heart, because faithful is the one who has promised and our work is not in vain.
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