Allen Raynor Weblog:
“Persistence in Prayer” (Pt. 1)
(Feb. 13, 2019)
For more
than twenty centuries archaeologists, tourists, and tomb robbers had searched
for the burial places of Egypt’s pharaohs.
It was believed that nothing remained undisturbed, especially in the
Royal Valley where the ancient monarchs had been buried. A British archaeologist named Howard Carter
carried on a search, however with only a few scraps of evidence. He was privately funded because nobody felt
there was anything left to be discovered, but he was convinced there was one
more remaining tomb. Twice during his
six year search he came within only two yards of the first stone step leading
to the burial chamber but finally he found it.
When the tomb was excavated it was found to be full of wooden animals,
statues, chests, chariots, carved cobras, vases, daggers, jewels, a throne, and
a hand –carved coffin of a teenage king.
It was the priceless tomb and treasure of King Tutankhamen (King Tut),
the world’s most exciting archaeological discovery. Howard Carter’s great perseverance brought him
King Tut’s treasure. How much greater
our rewards, as believers, when we persevere in praying for God’s spiritual
treasure! In reality, King Tut’s
treasures brought him no happiness; and if you were as rich as he, the effect
would be the same. King Tut left it all
behind. It goes to show that the kind of
treasure the secular world is seeking does not matter.
Believer’s
are children of a King! In fact, Our
Father (Aba; Father; Daddy) is in Heaven and He has promised to supply all our
needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. He extends to us the invitation to ask for
things, and ask with persistence through prayer. Jesus taught in Matthew 7:7-11 “Ask, and it
will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to
you. For everyone who asks receives, and
he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who if his son
asks for bread, will give him a stone?
Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil know how to give good
gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give
good things to those who ask Him!” We
are first to “ask.” It is very mild,
calm, and non-threatening. We are next
told to “seek.” It is slightly more
intense. Now, you are searching for
something; looking for something, and there is some level of urgency
involved. We are told that if we “seek”
we are going to find it. Thirdly, we are
told to “knock.” Now it is more
urgent. We are told that if we “knock”
the door will be opened for us.
Jesus gave a
parable that illustrates what He is saying in Matthew 7. In Luke 11 we read “And He said to them,
‘Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him,
Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey,
and I have nothing to set before him; and he will answer from within and say,
Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I
cannot rise and give to you?’ I say to
you, ‘though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet
because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.’”
(Luke 11:5-8) This seems to indicate
that some prayers are only answered because of persistence. Which brings up an interesting challenge to
us. What do we care about strong enough
that we pray with strong persistence? We
have lots of calm prayers, but what are we really praying for urgently? We are told in verse 8 that the “asker”
receives, the “seeker” finds, and the “knocker” has the door opened for him.
There are so
many examples of people who have had such walks with God that seemingly
everything they asked for in prayer was given.
Men like George Mueller, and Robert Sheffey (the American circuit riding
preacher). Many of these people are
mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, preachers of tiny churches,
widows and widowers who were faithful prayer warriors who simply trusted God
and believed His Word.
Some have
suggested that “prayer” is a “blank check” just waiting for us to fill in the
amount, but that is not accurate. The
“name it and claim it” erroneous theology, promoted by some, love verses like
this and they take them and turn them around and in the end make it much more
about them than about God! Instead of
the emphasis being on God and His desire to give, it ends up being about them
and what they want! We should be very
careful to never make prayer just about what we want. Prayer is yielding to God and without that
yielding, prayer is merely going through the motions and is not really getting
in tune with God.
In Christ,
Dr. Allen Raynor, Pastor
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