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Study 2: Praying with Persistence
Here’s good advice: Pray. And don’t stop praying. John Newton’s hymn Come, My Soul, With Every Care says “Thou art coming to a king, large petitions with thee bring. For grace and power are such, none can ever ask too much.”
Matthew 7:7-11 NIV says, “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; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
James 4:2 says that we don’t have because we don’t ask. But God is our Father, not our genie.
Tim Keller said, “There is not one thing that is good for you, that you have asked for in prayer, that God refuses to give you. That has never happened.”
If our deepest desire is the will of our Father, and we trust that He knows best just as a child trusts their father on earth, then praying with persistence, continuing to trust and pray, is our only reasonable response.
Remember that every prayer is answered. Sometimes the answer is yes straight away. Sometimes the answer is no. Sometimes the answer is not yet, so we continue to pray. But there’s always an answer. And God can always be trusted.
DISCUSS
Has there ever been a time that you have prayed a particular prayer over and over again, perhaps for many years, before seeing the answer to the prayer? Share those stories amongst your group.
When someone is facing tragedy, a common response in society can be something along the lines of “I’m sending thoughts and prayers”. While the sentiment behind this statement is probably genuine care and empathy, these words often ring hollow. Prayer isn’t just a sentiment. As followers of Jesus, we know that prayer changes things!
What if, for each of us, prayer became less of an event and more of our automatic response to life’s circumstances? Imagine if, when we say to someone, “I’ll pray for you”, we actually stop right then and there and pray. It doesn’t need to take long or create a scene. But prayer is powerful! Why wait? Pray and then add it to a prayer list in notes kept on your phone!
DISCUSS
Do you ever say to someone “I’ll be praying for you” and then forget to actually pray? Why do you think that’s so easy to do?
The most common Greek word translated “’prayer” ‘ in the New Testament is ‘proseuche’. Proseuche can refer to both the act of praying and the place of prayer. While scripture is clear that we can talk to God, and He can talk to us, anywhere, the idea of place still carries significance. In Luke 6:12, and 9:28 we read examples of Jesus going on to a mountain to pray. The night that he He was betrayed, he He went to pray in the garden of Gethsemane, which was on the Mount of Olives.
Do you have a particular place that where you like to pray? Why is that your place? In what way might that be a sacred space for you?
Perhaps you have been taught acronyms such as PRAY (pause, rejoice, ask, yield) or ACTS (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication) as easy-to-remember methods of prayer.
These can be helpful; however there’s no right way to pray. Sometimes we start with praise and thanksgiving. Sometimes we start with, “God, help!” You don’t have to read far in the Psalms to see that prayer can sometimes look very raw and more emotionally charged than it is theologically well crafted. But this is the type of prayer that God wants from us. Honest and persistent.
DISCUSS
Do you ever find it hard to be honest with God in prayer? Why do you think that might be?
Is there anything that you have given up on that God might be nudging you to take to Him in prayer again?
Jesus and His disciples lived in a time and place where prayer included a rhythm of praying three times per day, in the morning, midday, and the evening. You see this rhythm in the story of Daniel as well as Psalms like Psalm 55:16-17. Jesus himself most certainly took part in this rhythm in addition to praying spontaneously. For thousands of years the people of God have shared in this rhythm.
Why not discuss as a connect group if you’d like to commit to sharing in this rhythm of prayer together. If this seems too structured for you, consider Tyler Staton’s words (in his fantastic book Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools) when he says that “commitment, not feelings, are how we show our love.” He suggests a rhythm of praying The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:5-13) in the morning, prayers for the lost (or intercession) at midday, and prayers of gratitude in the evening.
Would you consider committing one month to a rhythm of prayer as a group and see what comes of it?