Transformative Power of Persistent Prayer in Faith

Now, make the connection. That's where the peace comes from. When you know your heavenly father will. When you know who he is, how faithful he is, how much he loves you, that he has all the provision to give you that you would ever need, and he wants to do that for you. That's where you find the peace that you're looking for. [00:37:41] (28 seconds)  #humbledependenceongod

See, the very act of going to God in prayer is an act of saying to God humbly, I need your help, God. I want your help, God. Which means we've got to get our pride out of the way. We've got to get this idea that we can do whatever we want to do. You know, when we tell kids, you can do anything you want to do. We might not ought to be telling them that without adding with God's help, if it's God's will. Right? [00:38:59] (31 seconds)  #prayerandpersistence

No matter how much money you have, if you get the diagnosis of cancer and it's advanced and they say there's no more we can do when you meet with the doctors, it doesn't matter how much money you have, you are powerless in the face of that. You don't get to control that. You see, we're told the world can supply all of our needs. It cannot because our greatest needs aren't of the things of the world anyway. They're the eternal things because we are eternal beings. [00:41:58] (33 seconds)  #continuousprayerconversation

And instead of looking at God as this judge on the throne trying to condemn us, Jesus is teaching us that when we pray to him, we need to pray to him like he's the best friend you ever had in your life, because he is. And he's a friend that has all the resources you could ever need. He's a friend that loves you. He's already proven that he loves you. [00:45:52] (25 seconds)  #transformedthroughprayer

But sometimes when we pray to God, it's not because he's asleep or caught unaware. But sometimes, he still will say no. In fact, God answers prayer. Some people, and I know there's songs like this, you know, I thank God for unanswered prayer. I've talked about it before. There is no such thing as unanswered prayer. Just get that clear right up front. God answers no in one of three basic ways. Sometimes the answer is yes right away. You're asking for something that I want to do for you, and I'm going to give you the answer immediately. Sometimes the answer is not now, child. This is not the right time for you to have this. But you keep going the way you need to go, and that'll happen. But sometimes God's answer, it's still an answer. The answer is no to your prayer. [00:49:50] (51 seconds)

And notice what it says in verse nine, when Jesus is explaining this story, he says, I say to you, ask it, it will be given to you. Then he says, seek. And in the original language, that the tense there means, and keep on seeking. And then he says, knock. And in the tense in the original language, it means, and keep on knocking. And then it says, the door will be open. Ask. Keep on asking. Seek. Keep on seeking. Knock. Keep on knocking. Don't stop. God wants you to be consistent and persistent in your prayer life if you want it to be an effective prayer life. [00:59:04] (39 seconds)

He wants your prayer life to be a what kind of prayer life? A continuous prayer life. We do this all the time. It's just part of the language we use. We say a prayer, and we've learned to say amen at the end of the prayer. And that's not a bad thing. That's a good thing. Amen means, and so be it with you, God. So your will be done. It's kind of what you're saying when you say amen. Let your will be done. But sometimes we think of amen as the end of the prayer. It stops there, and then later on we might start up again, praying some more. But how does he say to pray? Pray what? Continually. Does the prayer ever need to stop? No. It doesn't ever need to end. There never needs to be an end to your prayer. The prayer should go on. You know why? Because it's an ongoing conversation with your father who loves you. He doesn't want the conversation to end. [01:00:27] (55 seconds)

I love to hear little children pray. I love being around that. I love hearing their prayers. You know why? They're just so innocent most of the time, and they're just doing it like a conversation most of the time. They will tell God about everything that happened that day when they pray. Even the little things. Yeah, I was walking home, and I kicked a rock, and it hurt my toe, and then I found a frog, and I went over and got, you know, they're just telling about their lives. That's exactly the innocence and the approach we ought to have in prayer, where we're just talking to our father. [01:02:19] (36 seconds)

``Effective prayer is ultimately productive prayer. It produces powerful results. In James 5, verse 16, the last part of that verse, it says, The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. The prayer of what kind of person? Righteous. It's powerful and effective. Our prayer lives have built into them great power to move God and His working in the world. Isn't that amazing? We have evidence over and over again in Scripture that when God's people prayed, powerful things happened as a result of the prayers of God's people. Friends, He hasn't changed from those times. He's the same God with the same power, with the same opportunity to respond to the prayers of His children, to do powerful things today like He's always done throughout history. Don't ever underestimate the power of the potential of praying as a follower of Jesus Christ. It's huge. [01:05:28] (72 seconds)

But it says the prayer of a righteous person, and here's what we do. We excuse ourselves from that definition. Well, yeah, I'm not that righteous, so my prayers aren't that powerful. They're not that effective. You know where your righteousness comes from? It doesn't come from you. It comes from Christ. He gives us a righteousness not our own. In fact, it says our righteousness is like filthy rags compared to His. It's not about you being perfect and righteous. It's about you being clothed with Christ, dwelling in His righteousness that makes prayer powerful and effective. [01:06:39] (40 seconds)

Finally, one of the greatest products of prayer is how it changes you. And it changes me when we develop this effective prayer life that God wants us to have. It starts with being changed from being outside of Christ to being in Christ. And then it continues with the transforming work of God in us as we keep praying and keep searching and keep seeking God's will for our lives. As He works on us and transforms us into the image of His Son. That's what God wants for all of us. [01:08:00] (33 seconds)