WWHYIP For One Thing

What would happen if you prayed focused prayers instead of praying like we did when we were children – you know, "God bless everybody in the whole, wide world"?

When we began our 40-day (now 71-day) challenge, I wrote a list of a few things to pray about. It's not a very long list. If I list too many things, I probably won't pray for them all. But I listed just a few things that I can be sure to pray about. In most cases, I just list people's names. When I see their names, I know what I had planned to pray for them. For some it is salvation, for some it's for God to open their eyes, for others it's for jobs. I have a separate list of those who committed to the prayer challenge with me. And I am seeing God's hand at work. Praise God!

When I focus on these few things, I feel as if I can get more accomplished in prayer. I (we) will wear ourselves out trying to pray about everything. But as God answers us, we can thank Him for the answer and add something/someone new to the list.

We can be like the lady in the parable that Jesus told so his disciples would always pray and not give up. (Luke 18). She just wanted ONE THING from the judge, "Avenge me of my adversary." Sometimes we might want to only seek God and pray about ONE THING.

Actually, this may be a good starting point for those of us who are learning to pray. We can pray the Lord's Prayer daily. We can daily give Him praise. And then we can pray for that ONE THING. What is the most important thing that you need to pray for? You can pray about that and ask God what is the ONE THING I need to pray about?

After Jesus taught them the Lord's Prayer, Luke says Jesus shared a parable and then He told them:

⁹So I say to you, Ask and keep on asking and it shall be given you; seek and keep on seeking and you shall find; knock and keep on knocking and the door shall be opened to you.

 ¹⁰For everyone who asks and keeps on asking receives; and he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds; and to him who knocks and keeps on knocking, the door shall be opened. Luke 18:9-10

My friend, ask God and keep on asking God for that ONE THING. Seek God and keep on seeking God for that ONE THING. Knock on Heaven's door and keep on knocking on Heaven's door for that ONE THING. And you will see what would happen if you prayed for ONE THING.

Pray with me (out loud of course):

Father, thank You for Jesus' teaching about prayer. If there was anyone on earth who could teach us how to pray, it is God the Son. Help me to focus my prayers and to not try to pray for the "whole, wide world" but to start by praying for people around me and situations around me. Please show me what is the most important thing that I should pray about right now. My goal is not to see how many things I can pray about, my goal is to effectively pray Your will. I know that if I ask, seek, and knock You will respond. I will be persistent and faithful to pray about at least ONE THING. And I will praise You for answering. Thank You for increasing my prayer life. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Persistent Prayer

I've been accused of many things, but one my favorites is being accused of having a spirit of importunity.

Importunity: the state or quality of being importunate

Importunate: 1. urgent or persistent in solicitation, sometimes annoyingly so.

                      2. pertinacious, as solicitations or demands.

                      3. troublesome; annoying:

Yeah, well I can live with that. When I think of "importunity" I think of the parable in Luke 18.

 ¹ Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. ² He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. ³ And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

   ⁴ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!’”

 ⁶ And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷ And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”                 Luke 18:1-7 NIV

This woman was importunate. She needed retribution and she unashamedly asked the judge until she received it. The judge gave her what she asked, not because he was being fair but because the woman was getting on his nerves.

Jesus told the parable to show that if the judge who did not care about anyone, including God, would give the woman what she requested, how much more will God answer those who pray to Him persistently? And God will respond quickly. Jesus' point: " to show them that they should always pray and not give up"

God is going to answer. Don't give up. He is a good father. If someone who doesn't care about you will respond when you are relentless, God who loves you will respond even more when you are persistent.

We'll talk later (probably tomorrow) about why you may have to ask God for something more than once.

Pray with me (out loud):

God, You are a just and fair God. You are not like the judge in the parable. You care about me and You will answer when I cry out to you day and night. There are some things that I want in life so I will cry out to you for those things without giving up. I am learning what would happen if I prayed. I believe that if I call on you day and night about something that I need, you are going to answer. So please help me to learn persistence in my prayer life. I believe that if I pray persistently and not give up, just as Jesus said, You are going to respond. Thank you for your response. Thank You that I can come to You by the precious name of Jesus. Amen.