Why Does God Require Persistence in Prayer?

By Rankin Wilbourne, Lead Pastor

If God knows all things and if God desires to give His children good things and if God hears us the first time that we pray, then why does God ask us to persist in prayer? Is there a time we should give up and stop asking?

I heard a sermon recently from a renowned preacher, in fact, a professor of preaching, speaking on Luke 18 who insisted that the point of the parable is NOT that we should persist in prayer. His explanation, while artful, was not convincing. The great masters of prayer have always been clear on this point: we should persist in prayer until we have an overwhelming reason not to. P.T. Forsyth wrote, “Prayer is never rejected so long as we do not cease to pray. The chief failure of prayer is its cessation.” But even more convincing than Forsyth is the New Testament’s insistence, Jesus’ insistence, that we persist in prayer. Two parables of Jesus make the point.

The first is from Luke 18, the story of a widow who has been mistreated. Day after day she brings her case before a judge who “neither feared God nor cared what people thought.” The judge is at first indifferent to the widow’s request, but then he is compelled to reconsider because she refuses to take “no” for an answer. He finally relents, saying to himself, “Though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.”

Jesus’ point is not that God is like an insensitive judge who must be badgered to respond to our request, but that how much more will God, our good judge and father, “bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night?” That is certainly how Luke understands the parable, for he prefaces it with the words, “And [Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.”

Luke’s choice of wording, “lose heart,” suggests what is precisely our experience in waiting. God delays in answering our requests and we are disappointed, tempted to give up, to lose heart. Which is why Jesus concludes the parable with a rhetorical question, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” suggesting that unanswered prayers test our faith. We meet that test when we keep praying and don’t lose heart, in spite of our frustration, our disappointment.

Another parable from Luke 11 makes the same point. Here’s the punch line: Jesus says, “I tell you, even though he (the neighbor in Jesus’ parable) will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your impudence (ESV) or shameless persistence (NLT) he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.” Jesus concludes, “Ask and it will be given to you.” God wants us to persevere in prayer.

But like that preaching professor, once you start to think about it, it might raise other, even more troubling questions: Why should we have to keep asking God for what He knows we need? Does God need to be nagged? If we don’t need what we pray for, it won’t matter how long we persist in prayer, nothing will persuade God. If we do need it, it is odd that we have to ask more than once or even ask in the first place. Jerry Sittser poses the question like this, “What kind of God would refuse to answer prayer until or unless he was pressured into it?”

Persistence is for Our Sake, not God’s

If we always got exactly what we wanted the first time we asked, we would inevitably begin to treat God as our genie, only summoned forth to give us our hearts’ desires. But that is precisely what prayer calls into question: What do you really want?

Persistence compels us to the true center of prayer, which is not something but someone. Persistence deepens our relationship with God and compels the heart to examine what it really wants most. Do you want God’s will? Do you want God even more than you want what you are asking for? If not, then for God to grant what you are asking for, even if it is a good thing, might be the most unloving thing God could ever do.

Persistence demands patience, waiting. This is the ground of spiritual growth, spiritual vitality, and health! Because our natural inclination is to use God and not to love God, only frustrations in prayer can purge and purify our desires. Henri Nouwen captures the idea beautifully, “you must be patient…until your hands are completely open.” Perhaps God desires to give you exactly what you have asked for, but only in a time and way that the gift can truly benefit you instead of harming you.

“I prayed for many things,” writes John Chrysostom, “and was not heard. For even this occurs to your advantage. Since God realizes that you lost heart and are indolent, and that when you attain what you need, you depart and no longer pray, God protects you with the pretext of need so that you may concern yourself with Him more closely and devote yourself to prayer.”

God uses persistence in prayer to purge our desires. God also uses persistence in prayer to mold, even transform, our desires, to change how we pray and even what we are praying for so that we gradually come to pray closer to the heart of God’s will. For example, you might have prayed for years for your child or your parents to have a good marriage. And it doesn’t happen. You watch them divorce, but over time your prayer changes. You begin to pray that God will use that failure to move them closer to Him.  (I’ll reserve for another time a question you might have right about now: “What if that was my initial prayer – for God to save their souls? Why doesn’t God answer a prayer that seems so in line with His will?” Good question.)

The Apostle Paul prayed three times for a “thorn in the flesh” to be removed. He never tells us what it is, simply that it is painful, a source of torment, “a messenger of Satan.” When God didn’t answer his prayer as asked, Paul changed how he was praying.  He prayed that God would help him to rely on God’s grace, God’s strength, God’s power, which was made perfect in Paul’s weakness.

No doubt you have your story of frustrations in prayer. Take heart. Persistence does not guarantee that you will get what you asked for, but it does promise you will get something better and actually closer to your heart’s deepest desire. God will answer your prayers. Perhaps not when we wanted or even HOW we wanted, but in a way that we truly longed for in the depths of our soul.

Most importantly, persist with God in confidence that He persists and has persisted with you. In Genesis 3, God asked Adam, “Where are you?” and the whole Bible is the story of God’s relentless pursuit of a relationship with us. God won’t take NO for our answer. The Bible daringly depicts God as the spurned lover who will never give up, the abandoned Father who relentlessly draws back his wayward children, sometimes with discipline but always with the cords of kindness. God never gives up on you, so don’t give up. Persist in prayer. As it was with Jacob, the LORD actually wants us to wrestle with Him, to wrestle in prayer, as if our life depended on it. Which it does.

When God Wakes You Up, Pay Attention

By Kimberly Aronoff, Prayer Coordinator

There’s a noise in the middle of the night, a non-descript half of a thud that jolts you wake, and you think, “Great! I am wide awake.” You look at the clock and it’s 3:15 am. If you are like me, your first response is probably frustration. I can’t believe I’m up, and I am completely up! Why?!

But God is sometimes up to something in those early hours. Sometimes He actually has something to say.

It was my Junior year. I was very busy… my Wednesday schedule was booked.

4:30 am  Wake-up
5:15 am Swim team practice
6:15 am Quiet Time
7:15 am-2:15 pm Class
3:30 pm Dance
6:30 pm Dinner
7:00 pm Churchill Girls’ Bible Study
10:30 pm Bed

I was like an efficient machine. My life was down to a science. Even my time with God was scheduled. But it was not during my designated “time with God” that He started showing up. It started on a Wednesday morning with a jolt at 3:15 am. Suddenly I was wide awake and completely miserable.

My initial frustration centered around my schedule. I was furious. Just one hour off and I knew that I would probably crash around 2:00 pm. My plans were foiled, and I was so sure that this early morning disturbance was from the pit of hell. In my fury, I pitched a fit to the Lord. I was married to my schedule. What could be more important than one more hour of sleep?

As angry tears streamed down my face I heard a still, small voice say, “When’s the last time you cried?” It was God. Something in the words could not have come from me. The words probed my heart and bore a truth that could not be ignored. I had purposely been too busy. I was too busy to feel, too busy to talk, too busy to cry, and He knew it. I knew it too.  In my life, outside of school, something was going on. Something I should have been praying about, something I needed to cry out to God about. I was purposely ignoring it. God cared enough to wake me up, frustrate me and make me cry. God knows what we need, He knows how to comfort us even if that means shaking us out of our daily routine to get our attention.

Henri Nouwen, in his book The Only Necessary Thing, tells us that “prayer makes us reach out to God, not on our own but on God’s terms, then prayer pulls us away from self-preoccupations, encourages us to leave familiar ground, and challenges us to enter into a new world which cannot be contained within the narrow boundaries of our mind or heart.”

Sometimes God knows that the best time to pray is at 3:15 am on a Wednesday morning.

God is awake for the watches of the night

There are four night watches described in the New Testament. Jesus and others not only referenced these watches of the night but woke, rose and insisted that others keep watch. In Matthew 26:36-44, Jesus returns to His sleeping disciples and asks, “You couldn’t watch with Me for one hour? Continue awake and praying. Then you will not sin. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” During the most poignant hour before Jesus is arrested He pleads with His disciples to keep watch and pray. His desire was to involve the disciples even in the most bitter moment of God’s redemption narrative.

God wants to include you in what He is doing. He wants to share, to tell you something special and spend time with you. It is almost like your significant other waking you up in the middle of the night just to listen to you share your heart and to love you, to meet you at your very point of need. God is like that.

Before that fateful night in the garden “in the fourth watch of the night [Jesus] came to them, walking on the sea.” (Matthew 14:25, NIV) Loving Peter and desiring to encourage faith, Jesus urges the precocious disciple to come out and walk on the water with Him. What a tremendous, miraculous moment during the fourth watch of the night. Imagine if Peter and the other disciples rolled over and went back to sleep.

God counsels us in the night

If this young disciple had stayed asleep he would have missed the discovery of a firm foundation amidst waves. A vital lesson for the man who would one day be renamed “the rock.” Imagine if Jacob has refused to wrestle the Lord in the middle of the night. There would be no “Israel.” These lessons that come in the middle of the night are deeply personal, specific to the man or woman being stirred and strangely crucial to God’s redemptive purposes.

Isaiah tells us that, “The Sovereign LORD has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.“ And Isaiah responds to these early morning calls saying, “I have not been rebellious, I have not turned away.” (Isaiah 50:4)

God gives us songs in the night

And finally, God wants to sing over you!

“By day the LORD commands His steadfast love, and at night His song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.” (Psalm 42:8, ESV)

So if God wakes you up in the middle of the night don’t roll over – “Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord!” (Lamentations 2:19)

Inquire of Him and He will sing over you, instruct you and include you in His work of redemption!

The Heart of Obedience

By Jeremy Weese, Assistant Pastor

Over the last decade there has been a fascinating trend within Christian circles – specifically within Christian apologetic circles – of paying attention to, and using various scientific studies to back up Christian claims about the nature of life, the world, and humanity. For example, Christians will use social science research to argue for abstinence before marriage; medical research about longevity to argue for the benefits of faith and spirituality; and economic research to support charity and frugality. While there is nothing inherently wrong in this practice, it does reveal some important and yet unstated assumptions both in our society and in our hearts.

First, it reveals what we have inferred but only recently articulated: Christianity has lost the moral high ground in our culture. Christianity is no longer looked upon as a desirable system of beliefs, no longer seen as bringing good to society even by those who disagree with it. The most virulent opponents of Christians see it as a blight on the world. Christopher Hitchens makes this blanket statement: “Many of the teachings of Christianity are, as well as being incredible and mythical, immoral.” Christianity is seen as opposing morality, especially on hot button issues like abortion and human sexuality. These assumptions are what drives Christians to research – to bring proof to the table as if to say, “We are not crazy, we are not outdated.”

This desire by Christians reveals a deeper heart issue. We search out scientific findings, ours and others’ experiences, and our reason to back up the commands we find in the Bible. We want to demonstrate, to ourselves as much as anyone else, that God is not unreasonable, that His law and His word make sense.

Of course, we find that often it does. God is the one who created order, consistency, even our reason. He has revealed Himself to be reasonable, purposeful and deliberate in His actions (Isaiah 55:8-11). And He has declared that His law is for our good; it is not burdensome (Psalm 119. 1 John 5:3).

But what happens when corroborating evidence cannot be found? What if the reasons behind some of God’s commands seem clouded in mystery, despite all our attempts to discover them?

This is the case for at least one command. In Genesis 2, God commands the man (and through him, the woman) to not eat of a single tree, called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And God gives no reason, just a motivation: “don’t eat it because you will die.” Why? Why this tree? For millennia readers have tried to determine what God’s reasons were for making this command. This has involved theories of all sorts about what exactly is the “knowledge of good and evil,” and what obtaining it entails, and why God wanted to keep it from the man and woman (a question that the story itself asks!).

But what if all the theorizing was pointless? Or if in doing it, we miss the real point?

Rankin brought up this point last year with his sermon on 2 Samuel 24, The God We Don’t Understand.

Many of us have experienced life with children, whether our own, or somebody else’s. And if you have spent enough time with children, you know that the inevitable question is always, “Why?” Especially when you tell them to do something. “Why?” Sometimes you are able to put the reasons in terms they can understand. Often you can’t, and you come back to the much maligned phrase, “Because I said so.” At that moment, their obedience is based on nothing else than the faith that you love them, that you have their best interests at heart, and that you know what you are doing in telling them to obey.

This is the heart of faith; this is the heart of obedience.

Waiting to follow commands until you have all the reasons is not obeying – it is agreeing. Holding out assent until you understand something fully is not faith in God – it is faith in your own ability to reason.

It is those moments, those times when we don’t understand that our faith is really tested. It is when we encounter the God we don’t understand that we need the God we can trust. And then, like a child, our obedience and trust is based on nothing more than the faith that He loves us, that He has our best interests at heart, and that He is able to accomplish what He sets out to do.

An Exile's Mission

8/14/11

Marshall Brown, Albert Shim and Joe White explore the book of 1 Peter, a letter written to Christians whom Peter calls “elect exiles.” Peter writes to provide encouragement, hope and instruction to those struggling to live faithfully in a hostile world.

Stop and Marvel

By Joe White, Campus Minister

Recently my family enjoyed an art festival here in Southern California, and in the midst of the family fun, I realized something about myself: I am an unofficial member of a group I’ll call “the unappreciative art appreciators.”

Here is what I mean: I walk through art festivals scanning for a painting, drawing, or sculpture that catches my eye. Upon finding this, I meander over to it, admire the attention to detail, style, vibrancy. I try to decipher its meaning, utter a sophisticated “hmmm,” squint my eyes, and say to myself, “This is an amazing work of art.”

Afterward, I walk away and begin the process again. But I never interact with the artists. It’s not that I don’t like the artists. There is no malice in my heart for the creator of these great works; tragically but simply, I’m unwilling to invest the time and energy necessary to truly appreciate their creation.

A greater tragedy than this is our strange indifference toward the Artist of artists. How easily we can stare into a sunset or a vista of seemingly endless mountains or into the face of a person whose life has been changed, and yet fail to interact with the Artist responsible for painting such glorious strokes. How seldom we bow in awe and gratitude to the One who gives us life and beauty and His precious mercy! In the midst of studying for exams, working, and planning our highly successful futures, we must learn to pause and reflect on the master Craftsman who, with brush in hand, paints all things beautiful.

The Bible teaches that the default mode of the human heart is to grumble and complain. I’m like Kobe in the 4th when it comes to complaining – it’s a done deal. Shamefully, I’m often slow to give thanks and reflect upon the glory of the One whose name the skies proclaim. I doubt I’m the only one.

The children of Israel, no more than three days after walking through a sea on dry ground, started grumbling about bitter water! Again and again they grumbled, even having the audacity to say, “We wish we were back in Egypt!” (Ex. 16:3) Before we continue to fall into the sin of Israel, let’s heed Paul’s wise words to the Philippians: a sure-fire way to not shine like a light in this world is to grumble (Phil. 2:14-16).

Pausing to ponder the Glorious Artist of our redemption is proof that the gospel of Jesus is weaving its way into our hearts. Grumbling, on the other hand, suggests something altogether different has taken root in our hearts. Far too easily the fruit of self-entitlement can begin to dominate the landscape of our lives. The only way we can daily come face to face with the grace of God at work and not pause to praise Him is if we believe God owes us something. Friends, only by God’s great love and rich mercy are we given life (Eph. 2:4-5).

The Artist’s creation and re-creation is unto our joy and ultimately unto His glory, but not because of something we’ve done. It is undeserving. It should not be taken for granted with a mere “hmmm…nice art,” but should drive us to pour out praise upon the Artist. Friends, join me in asking Christ to heal us, that we may no longer suppress the truth of His greatness. For it is minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day made clearly evident to us.

Resident Aliens

8/7/11

Marshall Brown, Albert Shim and Joe White explore the book of 1 Peter, a letter written to Christians whom Peter calls “elect exiles.” Peter writes to provide encouragement, hope and instruction to those struggling to live faithfully in a hostile world.

Loving the Wise

By Kathy Lovin, Mercy Fund Coordinator

Hundreds of people from our church community recently participated in Serve the City, a one-day event where we partnered with local organizations to meet needs throughout our city. Our hope is that this day inspires and motivates us, as a community, to take action in caring for and serving the poor all year long. Here is a story about how that commitment to service can, in fact, have incredible impact in the lives of people who are desperate for love.

Each week for the last year and a half, a small group of Hope for LA volunteers has been visiting the seniors who live at the Santa Monica Convalescent Center on Sunday afternoons. We call our ministry “Loving the Wise.”

Our goal is to minister to the residents’ spiritual needs through companionship. Most of our visits involve singing hymns, chatting one on one, petting Mickey the therapy dog, giving manicures, and playing games together.

The residents are in their 80s and 90s and live in a dementia ward, so each of them struggles with confusion and communication issues. Some days are better than others, but even on the good days it’s difficult to know whether our ministry is helping them meet or reconnect with Jesus. Even so, we know that spending time with them honors God and them, our precious elders.

Jason, our worship leader, opens our time together each week with prayer and asks the Lord to give the residents clarity as we meet with them. Then we begin singing some of the traditional hymns that many of them have sung before at another time in their life.

Sometimes we see sparks of recognition in their faces when we sing. Even if they can no longer read the lyrics on the hymn sheet, occasionally they’ll sing along with old favorites like “How Great Thou Art” or “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”

Trying to assess where they are spiritually has been difficult, but occasionally God blesses us with a special moment.

One of my favorite memories is the day Walter May asked Elisabeth – one of our faithful volunteers – for something to write with during song time.

Elisabeth gave her a pencil and kneeled down to watch her write “I believe this,” “yes, He will,” and “thank you,” in the margins of her “Jesus Loves Me” song sheet. When Elisabeth asked her about it, Walter May looked up and said, “I believe this in my heart.”

After we were done that day we huddled outside on the steps and looked at the notes on Walter May’s song sheet together, so grateful for some evidence that God is indeed at work in her life.

Even the folks who are less communicative can surprise us. One of the few gentlemen at the center arrived after we’d been visiting regularly for several months. With this demographic, we understand that the transition from another living situation can be difficult.

It was especially hard on Roy.  He seemed really upset and uncomfortable. Most of our early approaches to him were not welcome. And we were warned by the staff that he could be physically aggressive.

But that all changed when Maddy – another regular volunteer – began to show him extra attention.  She made it a point to sit with Roy and comfort him. She even began stopping by mid-week to check on him and spend time with him.

A few weeks later during song time, with Maddy at his side, Roy started singing! But not the hymn we’d chosen; he was singing “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” in a clear, loud voice.

Most of us weren’t familiar with the song, but we sure are now. Jason learned to play it on the guitar and now we sing it once or twice a month.

It’s a blessing to spend our Sunday afternoons with the seniors. We earnestly pray that He’ll use our time together to help them finish their earthly lives well: safe in the everlasting arms of Jesus.

For more information on serving with Loving the Wise or other Hope for LA ministries, click here.

An Exile's Hope

7/31/11

Marshall Brown, Albert Shim and Joe White explore the book of 1 Peter, a letter written to Christians whom Peter calls “elect exiles.” Peter writes to provide encouragement, hope and instruction to those struggling to live faithfully in a hostile world.