Persistent Prayer

God’s seeming unwillingness to answer our prayers according to our expectations and timing can leave us feeling bewildered and impatient. But Jesus tells us how to pray and how long to pray and what kind of turnaround we can expect from God.

Jesus’ disciples asked Him to teach them to pray (Luke 11:1). In reply, He told a story about a man who pestered a neighbor for help, with an unexpected twist (11:5–8). In the end, it was the man’s persistent requests, and not the neighbors’ mutual friendship, that led to the man’s success in getting his neighbor’s help—a turn of events that still baffles readers today. Does this mean that we can bug God into giving us what we want? Does it mean that He is more motivated by getting us off His back than He is by His love for us when He answers our prayers?

The answer to both questions is no. What the story makes clear is that our freedom to ask does not dictate God’s response. He is not a servant waiting for a list of tasks we want to be accomplished. Nor does He rely on us to define our needs, outline solutions, or say when or how He should act. Our all-knowing and all-wise God does those things for us.

However, God is eager for His children to develop a habit of asking Him for help (11:9, 10), even though that doesn’t mean He will be guided by our limited understanding of a situation and its possible solutions (11:11–13). Sooner or later He will answer our prayers, but in His own time and in His own way. He asks us to trust Him to know what is needed and when.

Our calling is to ask — even persistently — and to grow in the process. One of the most surprising benefits of prayer is how much we change when we make it a regular commitment. Sometimes that in itself is the answer to our prayers.

Taken from The Modern Life Study Bible