Consistency in Prayer
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When you pray...
When you pray, don’t babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words.
Other translations:
use not vain repetitions
do not repeat the same words over and over again
do not repeat empty phrases
do not babble repetitiously
do not pour out a flood of empty words
How we can pray constantly without being like Gentiles who are praying repetitiously?
Jesus encouraged His disciples to ask like a friend with shameless boldness
I tell you, even though he won’t get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his friend’s shameless boldness, he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
luke 11:
because of his persistence
shameless asking
he keeps on making his request
We know also that Jesus thought His disciples to pray always and never give up
Now he told them a parable on the need for them to pray always and not give up. “There was a judge in a certain town who didn’t fear God or respect people. And a widow in that town kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’
“For a while he was unwilling, but later he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or respect people, yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice, so that she doesn’t wear me out by her persistent coming.’ ”
Then the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. Will not God grant justice to his elect who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay helping them? I tell you that he will swiftly grant them justice. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
What the difference between repetitive prayer and persistent prayer?
Repetitive prayer thinks that God persuaded by a certain number
so we just keep asking a certain number for the answer
Or God will hear me if I pour out Him as many words as possible
God is never fooled by the empty religious exercises
What about praying many times for the same need?
How many times we should ask the Lord for the same need?
For example Paul asked the Lord three times:
Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.”
Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me.
Jesus also prayed three times in the garden of Gethsemane
Matt. 26:
After leaving them, he went away again and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more.
2. Persistent prayer is different
rather then being empty words, they are come from faith
we acknowledge our need before God and we coming to Hims as His children in faith
if God does answer no upon our request, we should not bother Him
but we need to know that for sure
If God is silence - He is testing our faith
We should start giving thanks for what we are about to receive
Persistent Prayer is rooted in faith
These all died in faith, although they had not received the things that were promised. But they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth.
But they now desire a better place—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
Hebrew 11:13;16
heb
when we start giving thanks for what we already ask for, we begin to see “answer” from a distance
we greet them, and confess that they are ours