Persistent Prayer Changes Things

Philippians 4:6-7, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” James 5:17, “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.”

Every born-again believer knows the frustration of unanswered prayer. The biggest mistake you'll ever make dear reader is to stop praying. Hey, if you pray and God doesn't answer, at least He'll never be able to come back in eternity and say that you didn't pray! That one thought often compels me to pray, even when I don't feel like God is listening. PRAY ANYWAY!!! Did you know that Jesus said God WILL ignore us when you pray? It is true:

Luke18:1-8, “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”

The unjust judge didn't care, so he ignored the afflicted woman begging for justice. Our heavenly Father is the exact opposite, He does care! 1st Peter 5:7, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” Please notice Jesus said in Luke 18:7 that the Father will “bear long” with us. That means God doesn't typically answer our prayers right away, depending on what we ask. Jesus teaches in Luke 18:1b that men “ought always to pray, and to faint not.” What a wonderful truth... ALWAYS TO PRAY, AND TO FAINT NOT!!! Why would someone praying faint (i.e., give up and quit)? It is because we have to keep asking in faith, if we want God to answer. Our great God simply wants us to keep on praying no matter what.

The Bible encourages us in James 5:17, “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.” I love that! God is literally reminding us that Elijah was just as average Joe kind of fella, but he earnestly prayed and God answered. Why did Elijah want it to stop raining? He did it to destroy Ahab's wine orchards. Ahab loved his wine! By praying for a 42 month draught, it guaranteed that there would be no wine for years to come. 

The simple spiritual point of the story, which I hope you will glean here, is that God will answer the prayers of less than perfect people. Elijah was an ordinary fella, subject to the same like passions that we all are. Elijah got scared when Jezebel marched with her soldiers toward him, with the intent to kill him. Elijah fled for his life! Elijah got discouraged for a time, and God miraculously sent a raven bird with the some food to feed him. That is a cool bird! Yet, this courageous man Elijah, who after standing up against the 450 prophets of Baal, is now running away from a woman. Go figure! I love this story in James 5:17, because the Bible says Elijah was just an ordinary guy, like you and me, and yet he was able to shake the kingdoms of earth and heaven when he prayed. The lessons for us to take away from all this are these:

1. ALWAYS PRAY - Luke 18:1 is very clear to read and understand. The Lord Himself wants all men to pray without ceasing, continually, and to faint not. Most people try prayer to see if it works. I've even read about tests done in hospitals to see if prayer works at all. I don't think pray works that way. The hospital had different religious groups, assigned to pray for certain patients, who were ready to undergo heart-surgery. After the testing ended, months later, the results didn't show any difference between the patents prayer for, versus the ones left unsprayed for. So their conclusion was that prayer doesn't work. 
2. DON'T FAINT (QUIT) WHEN PRAYER ANSWERS DON'T SEEM TO COME - I love the Old Testament book of Esther. Not once is the name of “God” mentioned in Esther. Yet, throughout the book we see the hand and power of our omnipotent (all-powerful), omnisapient (all-wise) ,and omnibenevolent (all-loving) God at work to deliver the Jews out of the hands of wicked Haman. So we learn a great spiritual lesson—that when we cannot see the HAND of God, we should trust the HEART of God. 
3. PRAYER CHANGES THINGS - I believe that! When I hear people claiming that they prayed, and prayed and prayed, but nothing changed, that always hurts my heart. Something is wrong—either God is a bold-faced liar; or there is something that I do not understand, which has blocked or delayed my prayers. I admit that I have been praying for dozens and dozens of things for several years, which haven't happened yet. I choose to trust God no matter what, and believe that He knows the reasons. But whatever the reasons are, I am not aware of them. I have been praying to God for a loyal, Christian, prudent wife for over a decade now. Talk about Charlie Brown waiting in the pumpkin patch for 'The Great Pumpkin,' who never arrived! That is how I often feel in my prayer life. I am standing next to Charlie Brown, waiting for the Lord to arrive, but He is a no-show regarding the answer to my prayer. I am not placing God on trial as the heathen world does. Blessed be the name of the Lord at all times!!!!!!! I would never lay any accusatory charge at God feet. I love my God, and He is always good. God knows what is wrong in my life, and He knows how and when to fix it, in His time. One way or another we aren't wasting our time in prayer. God promised to hear the prayer of the righteous. 1st Peter 3:12, “For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.”
4. STAY HUMBLE -  James 4:6 and 10, “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. ... Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” God resists proud people. If you're like me, when God doesn't answer, we start taking inventory and blaming ourselves for God not answering our prayers. Oh, it must have been that I am not praying enough. Or was it that Jurassic Park movie I watched (you know how bad Hollywood is, right). Or was it that I don't go soulwinning enough. Folks, we will drive ourselves absolutely crazy doing this! It is known as: “Religious Scrupulosity” (which is all of the emotional worry, conflicting feelings and guilty associated with our Christian beliefs).
   
   I look at it this way—I am going to keep on praying. If God answers, great! If God doesn't answer, then I will keep on praying until I see a reason not to pray anymore. If there is something wrong in my life that is hindering my prayers, then God (humbly said) owes it to me as His redeemed child to show me what is wrong. Otherwise God would be unethical, unfair and unholy. I don't think God is going to ignore your prayers, because you are not all that you should be as a Christian. If you are hurting others in some way, then yes, I definitely believe that your prayers will be hindering.
   
   But just because you stayed home from church one particular Sunday night, to watch your favorite football competition game, I don't think would cause God not to answer your prayer (depending on what you are asking). I know this is a controversial subject. Clearly, we don't have to be perfect to get our prayers answered (as we see throughout the Holy Bible). I believe God looks at a person's heart (1st Samuel 16:7), and He sees your true motives, what thoughts rest in the darkest recesses of your soul. God sees if you are loving, kind, cooperative, generous, loyal, moral, sincere, and willing to do what is right. God sees if we are the real deal, or merely going along with the religious motions and church program for some selfish reason. God knows you and me!
5. CLAIM GOD'S PEACE THROUGH PRAYER THAT PASSES UNDERSTANDING - For years now, when problems arise, I simply place the matter via prayer into God's trustworthy hands, and then claim His peace as He wants me to do. That is exactly what Philippians 4:6-7 teaches for us to do. Oftentimes in life we cannot see beyond our problems. We don't know what will come out of a difficult situation. We don't know what tomorrow will bring. 
   
   I am a difficult situation now with my medical doctor. He is a Seventh-Day Adventist on Guam. I have witnessed to him, but he is not saved, indoctrinated with Lordship Salvation. He believes if you live in willful sin you lose God's salvation, i.e., you give God's gift of eternal life back to Him by choosing to go into sin and shame. My Doctor is a good man, Japanese and sincere, but he is abusive. I only meet with him each month serious problem. He has an insatiable habit of scrutinizing everything about me, so that I feel trapped and smothered when I meet with him.
   
   When I lost 70 pounds in 2017, my doctor verbally commented all the way down on the scale, as I was losing the weight on purpose. He kept saying that he was worried about me. I didn't mind the compliments, but his concerns were unfounded. But then I got tired of eating like a rabbit throughout 2018 and 2019, so I stopped fighting my weight and steadily gained in all back in 2020. My doctor complained all the way back up, offering no positive support, just pressuring me to "watch your weight." Now he wants to know what I do at home, which is none of his business! He asks watch on YouTube, what books I read, where I go each day. So I reluctantly had to file a complaint against him this week with his boss at the clinic, because I feel smoothened and can't breathe.
   
   I said all that to say this: I started to worry yesterday what might happen if my doctor doesn't want to be my doctor anymore. A good doctor is hard to find, who will treat your chronic pain. Yet, if he is harassing me, prying into my personal life, and stereotyping me to feel depressed and suicidal, then he is a bad doctor as well. So I will likely be moving to a different doctor, if I can find one. I can think of a dozen potential problems that may arise. I could easily worry ad get frustrated. But I did the right thing today, I prayed! I prayed and asked God to work in this matter behind the scenes. I asked God to please get involved and that everything will go according to His will. Knowing that God is now on the job, I can claim “the peace of God, which passeth ALL understanding” in Philippians 4:6-7. I absolutely love that Bible passage. The reason WHY we can pray, and then rest concerning the matter, wallowing in the peace of God which passes all human understanding—is because GOD ANSWERS PRAYER!

Luke 18:1b, “men ought always to pray, and to faint not.”