Persevering prayer 4

Persevering prayer 4

The Motivation to persevering prayer

Jesus said:

9)Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 

10)Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 

11)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!”

Here, again we see Jesus arguing from the lesser to the greater. If we who are evil give good things to our children, how much more will our Father in heaven give us good things.

We as Christians will never give evil things to our children. We will not give them poison when they ask for water. We will not give them snakes when they ask for fish or chicken. We will not give them gravel and stones when they ask for bread. We will not give them the filth of the world when they ask for salvation. We will not give them idols, we will give them Jesus! We will not deceive them, hurt them, plan their destruction and plot their failure, let them go hungry and destitute. We will do all in our power to care for them, provide for them, protect them, teach them about the Bible, lead them to Jesus, take them to church, pray for them. Take them to the doctor when they are ill.

Won’t we? If we are Christians, we will.

Now if this is true of Christians, the children of God, how much more of your Father who is in heaven, who is perfect in all his ways, who is holy in all he does, who is righteous and kind and good and forgiving and mercyfull?

This is the motivation for persevering prayer: God is infinitely good and wise and because He is our Father, He will give us what we need. He will take care of us. He will provide for us. He will save us from our sins and cleanse us and heal us. 

This is, like Martin Loyd Jones says, the greatest problem in people’s spiritual lives. They don’t believe God is a loving, compassionate and caring Father who looks out for them, who watches over them, who has their best interests at heart. They don’t really believe in his goodness and love.

And that is the reason they don’t visit him often in prayer. Why they don’t seek his face more frequently, why they don’t knock on his door incessantly. They think God is constantly angry with them or indifferent.

Jesus however, reminds us that our Father is caring, compassionate and loving. He is a provider, and a protector and a leader of his people. Jesus draws our attention, to this fact. God is much more willing to bless and keep you and provide for you, than you are willing to be blessed and to be kept and to be provided for. He has infinite resources. He has overflowing supplies of grace and mercy and power and holiness.

Draw your attention to God, as your Father. I hope certainly God is your Father! Because He is not the Father of all people! Let’s be clear about that once again. All people are not going to heaven. All have not been adopted into his family. You need to be born again, of the Spirit. You need to repent of your sins. You need to trust in Christ alone for salvation. You need to surrender all to Christ to become his child.

He who wants to save his life shall lose it. But he who loses his life for my sake shall find it. — Jesus.