SHAMELESS PERSISTENCE
10th Apr 2019
Jesus was teaching His disciples about prayer. First He gave them what we call “The Lord’s Prayer”, but He then continued with more principles of how we should pray. The next example is the story of the man who goes to a friend to borrow three loaves of bread; he’s in bed with his children, the door is locked and he says, I can’t help you. Luke 11:8 in the NLT continues “But I tell you this - though he won't do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.”
It is so easy to pray once or twice then give up. When we don’t seem to see anything happening, we become discouraged in our praying and stop. Jesus continues to speak about asking, knocking and seeking, and how a good Father loves to give good gifts to His children.
When Hezekiah was surrounded by his enemies who were threatening to destroy the whole nation of Israel, he took the letter he had received and spread it out before the Lord. The contents were frightening and fear inducing, but rather than let fear take over the King took it to God. He concluded his prayer, “Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, O Lord are God.” (Isaiah 37:20)
Isaiah brought the answer from God, his prayer had been heard, God went into action and Sennacharib, king of Assyria was defeated, his troops were annihilated and he was killed.
This morning as Joyce & I prayed, we were presenting the Lord with some great prayer challenges and crying out for an outpouring of power and healing. This reminded me of a song based on Psalm 68 -
Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered.
Let faith arise and all your doubts be shattered.
Are you also facing impossible situations? It is time to pray with “shameless persistence” until we see the victory.
by Charles Sibthorpe
