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Perseverance in Prayer (Doing ACTS - Friday 9/15)

Posted by ru4jc @ Fri 15 Sep, 06, 05:24PM under Doing ACTS
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Dear All,

Greetings in Jesus' most precious and wonderful name. Sorry this came out a little late. But I found today's message to be very interesting, about pressing on, persevering in prayer. The meditation today is titled "Perseverance in Prayer". Be blessed...

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Luke 18:1-8

1 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, 2 saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. 3 Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ 4 And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, 5 yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’”
6 Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. 7 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”

Daniel 10:12-13

12 Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.

It is not enough to begin to pray, nor to pray aright; nor is it enough to continue for a time to pray; but we must patiently believe, continue in prayer until we obtain an answer. George Mueller

1. The most important characteristic seen in the widow and Daniel was they persevered in prayer. Though the widow did not show sign of praying, but the act of pressing on, was what Jesus was presenting. And Jesus said that for the elect's sake, would He not come and avenge speedily? It is showing that we must come by persevering in prayer, pressing deep into touching the heart of God by not giving up and continually pray until we see something happen.

2. Yes, God heard them! How do we know? Daniel 10:12 says that in the day you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard...

John 15:2

2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

Personal reflection on what we need God to help us in, areas where we need to be pruned, that we can be effective in prayer.

a) Answers to prayers doesn't always appear immediately. Sometimes, prayer for something is over a period of time, of sowing and placing value and time to just intercede for God to move and make His way sovereign.

b) Any sharing would be great. Prayer perseverance has some praise reports. Do share.

c) I suppose that they knew what they were looking for, what they really wanted God to move in. If we are passionate, we will not let go until we see something happen. Perhaps it could be a situation in your life that now calls for answer, press in and press on.

d) Luke 18:8b - Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”

(i) Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith, it is impossible to please God. In prayer, we need to have these raised to God in faith. It means nothing if it is spoken out of just duty and no heart in it. Faith is, by definition, the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).

(ii)

Romans 10:17

17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

It comes by a continual hearing / declaration of the word of God, spoken into our lives.

(iii) Meditation on the word of God grants us insight in several areas:

- What God says about Himself...

- What God says about me/for me to be...

- What God wants me to do...

- What God wants me to stay away from...

- What God has promised me...

- What God says of the future...

By knowing what God says, it will help you to pray more 'accurately', with the understanding of God and what He says, not our minds on it's assumptions.

(i)

Luke 24:29

29 But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them.

Acts 1:4

4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me;

- The disciples waited until the Promise of God came...

(ii)

Exodus 17:12-13

12 But Moses’ hands became heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

- He kept it up as long as the children of Israel needed to fight. The battle wasn't over, Moses had to keep his hands up.

(iii)

Joshua 8:26

26 For Joshua did not draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.

- Like (ii), Joshua held it out for as long as the battle endured.

(iv)

1 Kings 18:44

44 Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, “There is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea!” So he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.’”

- According to this passage of Scripture, even though the promise was given, Elijah needed to pray. Pray for rain. 7 times he asked his servant to look if rain was coming, and it was the 7th time that the servant saw a cloud so small, but it was certainly a sign God was coming through.

Summary:

How long must we persevere?

From study, we know in order for us to reach the answer to prayer, we need to keep staying on in prayer until we see something happen. PUSH - Pray Until Something Happens. Don't stop...

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I hope you had a good read. May we continue to persevere in prayer until we see God break through. We will be discussing this tonight in CG.

See you all later. God bless!

Agape,

Roland

"Success in the Kingdom is building into the lives of others..."

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