Let’s face it. Some prayer goals challenge our faith. Some seem impossible. Only a few are easy. But the hardest of all to pray is the persistent prayer. It is this prayer upon which Paul places great emphasis.
For God is my witness, … that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers (Romans 1:9 NKJV).
Pray without ceasing (1Th 5:17 KJV).
I thank God, … that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day; (2Timothy 1:3 KJV)
The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available, dynamic in its working (Jas 5:16 AMPC).
Why, then, is persistent prayer so hard? Because it is the most susceptible to discouragement, doubts, impatience, wearying and negative confessions. So how do we handle the frustrations of persistent prayer? We make lemonade and dance for joy! How?
When your prayers seem like lemons—make lemonade!
First Step: Develop a God-Inside Consciousness
Keep repeating these scriptures until that consciousness is developed.
You realize, don’t you, that you are the temple of God, and God himself is present in you? (I Cor. 16, MSG).
But for you who welcome Him, in whom He dwells—even though you still experience all the limitations of sin—you yourself experience life on God’s terms (Rom. 8:10, Message Bible).
God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you; therefore, you can look forward to sharing in God’s glory. It’s that simple. That is the substance of our Message. (Col. 1:27, MSG)
That Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! (Eph. 3:17-18, MSG)
In Colossians, Paul writes that we are wall-to-wall God on the inside. This alone is reason enough to be joyful!
“And you are in Him, made full and having come to fullness of life <in Christ you too are filled with the Godhead—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—and reach full spiritual stature>.” (AMPC)
Satan, in combination with your timidity and the hurts you are nursing, tells you “Your prayers aren’t working. You might as well give up! You deserve to nurse your grudges, hurts, hatred, unforgiveness, bitterness.” Paul tells us, “Don’t listen. Don’t give any room to the devil”:
“Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life”(Eph. 4:27, MSG)
Second Step: Throw out the trash
You cannot have faith or pray with power if you are filled with anger, unforgiveness, bitterness, anxiety, doubt or worry. These are all enemies of faith. Unforgiveness is the only thing Jesus ever said would block faith (Mark 11:25). Make a list of all the bad stuff that is eating you up and stressing you. Then, with a deliberate act of your will, go through your list item by item and say, “In the Name of Jesus, I forgive ……. for ……. ” or “I surrender this worry and care to God.” You may even say “God, I forgive you.” This is an act of the will, not of feelings. It will set you free from the destructive fruit of bad emotions. Let those burdens go and feel your spirit soar.
Most important of all ZIP YOUR LIPS!
You can undo all your prayers and cancel out your faith by the words of your mouth.
“You are snared with the words of your lips; you are caught by the speech of your mouth.” (Pro. 6:2, AMPC).
Don’t think that saying “I’m only telling it like it is” is speaking in faith. It kills faith, whereas we are told to have the Abraham kind of faith that calls those things that be not as though they were until they are. Believing comes before seeing. (Rom. 4:16-22; Heb. 11:8-11). Peter, in Matthew 14:31, illustrates how doubt and fear kill faith. Keep your faith strong.
Third Step: Nail Those Suckers to the Wall!
There are blood-sucking parasites out there that latch on to you and won’t let go. It’s the same thing when it comes to some of our beliefs, traditions, and opinions. They suck the life out of our faith. For example, the idea that sometimes God says yes, sometimes no, sometimes not yet, and sometimes he is teaching you something, is not in the Bible. But because someone told us that, we believe it. Praying with wrong beliefs is praying incorrectly. Jesus always stressed, “According to your faith!” Adopt the attitude that if it is not in the Bible, not backed by scripture, you won’t believe it. The only way to get the faith you need is by hearing the Word of God.
Rom. 10:17 said, “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (NIV).
Make the disciples’ prayer your prayer.
Acts 4:29-30 “… enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus” (NIV).
Phil. 12:2 “Let God re-make you so that your whole attitude of mind is changed” (Phillips).
Fourth Step: Find Your War Room.
To help you the most, you need to find a place or corner where you can pin your prayer verses and your prayers. You may have to wait until everyone else is asleep in order to have a place and a time for prayer.
John Wesley’s mother drew her big apron over her head, and no one was allowed to disturb her while she was praying. Write out your prayers, including the prayer promises. Adapt the prayers Paul prayed, such as Eph. 1:16-20 and 3:14-19. Write the prayer promises down as though they were blank checks and pin them on your prayer wall. Repeat them over and over until they sink from your head down into your heart.
Remember that when Paul wrote about putting on the armor of God he was talking about our preparation for prayer. He concludes by saying:
Eph. 6:18a. “Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all <manner of> prayer and entreaty” (AMP).
