A word of encouragement for brothers and sisters who feel weary! Smile!
Luke 11:1-13
1 And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say,
Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done,
as in heaven, so in earth.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins;
for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;
6 for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?
7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.
8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.
9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
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In addressing those times when our doubts weigh so heavily that we border on losing hope, Kay Arthur, Vice president and founder of Precept Ministries International offers encouraging words:
"What do you do when you become weary in prayer, despairing of ever seeing God answer? Do you give up? Write God off as being deaf, uncaring, or not true to His Word?
"Oh, Beloved, don't write God off. Don't quit. Don't lose hope. In Luke 11:1-13 Jesus tells us to persist until we see the answer. We are to keep on asking until it's given to us. We're to keep on seeking until we find it. We are to keep on knocking until the door is opened. Ask, seek, and knock are all present tense verbs here in the original Greek, which means that they speak of continuous or habitual action. Therefore, if we believe Jesus means what He says, we'll do what He tells us to do.
"One of the major keys to answered prayer is persistence...
"The problem is, we're an impatient people. We don't like to wait. When our prayers are not answered right away, then we're eager to take things into our own hands and try to do what, in reality, only God can do. And when we get impatient and do it our way, we mess up!
"If there is a delay in the answer, you can be sure it's because God has a purpose. His ways are not our ways. His timetable is not the same as ours."
