Prayer and the Snails

  The picture of snails making their way to Noah's Ark one inch at a time is a good image to keep in mind when we need to persevere in prayer.  Sometimes we get tired of praying when all God wants is to keep us engaged as breakthrough is just around the corner.

One of the things that has helped me over the years to not give up and continue to pray are the words of Jesus in Luke 11:9-10

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Jesus gave us three quick thoughts to help us persevere in prayer:

1.    Ask – I have seen God answer most of my prayers, and He encourages us to keep asking.  Fact is He has given even that which I did not pray about.  Stay focused on the things we can thank God for rather than on the things we don't get.  In the meantime keep asking.

2.  Seek – To go beyond the ask is to seek the truth about the thing you are praying about.  Years ago I prayed that God would bless a business that I owned only to find that God was closing doors on it.

Instead of getting bitter at God I sought the truth about the situation and found my answers years later.  The truth was the business could have hurt me and my family in the long term.  Seeking is beyond just receiving an answer but finding the truth.  Seking is about trusting that God's will is always best.

3.  Knock -  I am sure you have been at the place where God’s delays have caused you to seek.  Yet after seeking and finding the truth you feel cheated and depressed for having been denied the answer to your prayer.  That’s the time to knock. 

This is my favorite part of prayer.  He promises that when we do the door will be opened.

An open door leads us to the presence of God, the real reason why we should be praying.  In His presence our greatest needs, wants and desires melt away compared to who He is.  Many times the real answer to all our prayers starts here.

Just like the snails who won’t give up and made it to the ark one inch at a time, we need to ask, if that doesn’t work, seek and when we are really desperate knock.  This is how to persevere in prayer.

See also my other posts:

Discipleship and the NCAA

Who Danced on National TV and Embarrassed Herself

Comments

[gimo asuncion]

Spot on, thanks. Needed this to persevere more! the 3 thoughts I can really relate to especially in my current situation.

[anna]

while fasting and praying these past few days, i sometimes get frustrated and ask myself if this is all in vain. reading this just gave me a boost. thank you!