Luke 11:1 – “Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”  NKJV

 

Prayer is somewhat of a mystery for most of Christians and there are probably as many different philosophies, theories and beliefs regarding the activity as there are people further adding to the uniqueness and confusion.  I want to ask a question tied to my title:  “When do we move from a fight of faith to faithless begging in prayer?”  I am quite serious in the question.

I have had people tell me that if I ask “more than once” I am being faithless and that I should ‘ask once’ then ‘declare it done’ from that time forward.  I have others suggest that we can ‘never know’ the will of God in the matter therefore we should continually ask with the addendum “if it be thy will.”  My personal view falls somewhere between those two.  I do believe there is a time to ask and then declare and there is a time to persistently, consistently, repeatedly and be importunate in our prayers.

Let’s consider a few brief examples in scripture and see if they provide any help in framing a point of reference for shaping our biblical prayer view.  This will be brief for time and space will allow nothing more.

DANIEL’s encounter with MICHAEL (Daniel 10):

Daniel had been praying as a result of a vision and nothing was appeared to happen.  It was as though God did not hear his cries.  In verses 10-14 Daniel had an angelic visitation.  He had been dispatched to answer Daniel’s prayer and in verses 12-13 the angel tells Daniel that God heard his prayers but the prince of the kingdom of Persia has withstood him for 21 days.  The angel informed Daniel that Michael one of the chief princes (angels) had been dispatched to help him break through.  Would the answer have come had Daniel prayed once and stopped or was Daniel fighting the fight of faith in persistence of prayer? 

THE WIDOW of Luke 18:

Jesus spoke a parable about a widow who refused to be denied before an earthly judge and that because of her persistence he relented and granted her petition.  I am not and would never equate God with an unjust earthly judge but the idea of persistence is there and Jesus hints that this type of fighting the good fight in prayer is a demonstration of faith.  Jesus said in Luke 18 that men ought always to pray and not faint.  This type of prayer is so forceful anything but a total commitment to the answer will defeat it.

THE CENTURION in Matthew 8:

The centurion came to Jesus asking healing for his servant and Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.”  The centurion stopped the Lord telling Him that he felt unworthy for the Lord to come to his house but all Jesus had to do was ‘speak the word’ and it would be done.  Jesus marveled at the greatness of this demonstration of faith.  The man did not persist but asked once and then acknowledged that upon Jesus’ word it was done.

In Mathew 7 we find that classic passage regarding prayer pressed to three levels:  “Asking, Seeking and Knocking.”  That, in my view, suggests a Fight of Faith that could be called nothing less than Importunity in Prayer.  The question, in my mind, is how serious is the matter and how much is it worth to us.  If it is vital we will refuse to give up or give in and no amount of delay will cause us to cease asking, seeking and knocking.

We read in 1 John 5:14-15 – “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”  NKJV   This gives a beautiful picture of the process and basis of prayer.

• Asking Must Be According to His Will.
• He Hears When We Pray According To His Will.  
• When He Hears He Answers.
• Our Confidence is anchored in Knowing He Hears.
• We Get The Answer To The Prayer Prayed In His Will.

I rarely pray the addendum, “If it by thy will” but seek to know His will and then pray.  If I am confident that what I am asking is His will then my faith soars and I can fight the fight of persistent prayer when necessary and prevent falling victim to faithless begging and wishful hoping.   (This is not exhaustive and leaves the door open to many questions and further explanation.  It is hopefully a catalyst to cause you to think.)

May the Lord be with you as you go through this day!