Persevering prayer 7

Persevering prayer 7

Persevering prayer and action

“”Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭7:7-8‬ ‭ESV‬

There is a famous Christian saying, Ora et labora, it means, pray and work.

Although our passage mainly deals with prayer, seeking God’s face and knocking at heaven’s door, it has a wider application. And that is of working, doing. It is not enough to pray. God doesn’t only want us to pray, he wants us to take action and work. In South Africa we have this problem of unemployment, I think our unemployment rate before the coronavirus outbreak was about 30% and probably by now it is higher. Many Christians are without a job.

So, what do we do when we don’t have a job or don’t have food on the table? We need to pray and seek for it. We need to knock on doors, not once or twice or ten times. We must do it continuously, without stopping until the door opens. We must work hard, and seek and knock until doors are opening. The problem with us Christians is that we lack tenacity, we lack perseverance, we lack importunity. We give up too easily. We are not willing to grab a hold of God and of men. We must not take no for an answer, when it comes to the things that we know is in God’s will.

God wants us to work. 

God wants us to become conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. 

God wants us to overcome our lusts and pride

God wants us to be pure in heart  and humble

God wants us to gain assurance of salvation 

God wants us to gain victory over anxiety and gossip

God wants us to provide for our families 

God wants us to labor in his kingdom 

God wants us to use means to advance the gospel

When we pray for these things, continuously, persistantly, God will grant our requests. But we must not give up too easily.

There is great blessing and power in persevering prayer!

But are you willing to obey?

Ask, and it will be given to you; 

seek, and you will find; 

knock, and it will be opened to you. 

For everyone who asks receives,

and he who seeks finds, 

and to him who knocks it will be opened

Believe it, and obey for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey! Amen