Pray when you don’t feel like it 

 ‘Devote yourselves to prayer.’ - Colossians 4:2 NLT 

Ever been praying for something or someone for a long time, and nothing seems to be happening? It’s tempting to give up. We become discouraged, fed up of praying for the same thing over and over again. We begin to doubt whether God’s going to answer us, and maybe if He’s listening to us at all. But the Bible says: ‘Devote yourselves to prayer.’ And devotion requires passion and persistence. We need to keep praying, keep asking and keep expecting an answer. Jesus told His disciples the story of the persistent widow to ‘show them that they should always pray and not give up’ (Luke 18:1 NIV). When this widow was asking the judge for justice against her enemy, she kept asking. She didn’t ask once and then give up. She ‘kept coming to him with the plea’ (Luke 18:3 NIV). The unjust judge eventually listened and gave her the justice she was looking for. And God is just. He doesn’t act unjustly, He doesn’t withhold things from us when we need them. He cares and He provides. We can keep coming to Him. It’s good to persistently and passionately pray for something. But if we’re not hearing anything, maybe we need to think about whether we’re praying for the right thing. What are our motives behind our prayer? Is it what God wants too? Sometimes we can get so caught up in requesting what we need and what will improve our lives that we forget that there are so many people who need our prayers. And God tells us to ‘always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people’ (Ephesians 6:18 NIV). So let’s be persistent in our prayers, not only for ourselves but for others too. 

What Now?

Is there something you’ve been praying about for a while? Commit to praying even more for it. Set a reminder on your phone to pray every hour about it today.