Persistence in Prayer | Matthew 26:44

[00:00:00] Real Truth Daily. This is Daily Truths with Dave Ahlman.

[00:00:07] Hi everybody! Welcome back to Daily Truths. Do you sometimes feel guilty when you ask God to do certain things in your life and you ask it over and over and over again?

[00:00:20] Do you feel guilty about that? Like, why am I doing this? The Lord doesn't have time for this and I keep bugging him and really should I be doing this?

[00:00:29] Well, we're in the book of Matthew chapter 26 and by the way we've been in the book of Matthew for two years, right?

[00:00:35] And we're in the book of Matthew chapter 26 and Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane and he's prayed twice that the Father would take away this cup of suffering.

[00:00:45] Meaning, if there's another way for me to save and rescue and redeem lost and condemned mankind besides going to the cross, then let that happen.

[00:00:53] And so, we pick up verse 44. So leaving them again, namely the disciples because they were asleep, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time saying the same words again.

[00:01:07] What words? Father, if it be your will, take this cup of suffering away from me, yet not my will but yours be done.

[00:01:12] He said it three times, right? And God's answer was, no, not going to do that. You need to go to the cross.

[00:01:19] So Jesus is a model of prayer here in that he asks, and the Bible says it here, the exact same thing three times.

[00:01:29] Think about Hannah in 1 Samuel chapter 1. She wanted a son and she bombarded the throne room of God that God would grant her request.

[00:01:39] And you know what God's answer was? Yep. I'm going to do that.

[00:01:43] And her son's name was Samuel and she dedicated him to God, right?

[00:01:48] In Luke chapter 18, there's a story, a parable that Jesus told about a widow that asked the judge to give her justice.

[00:01:56] And do you know what? Because she's asked so many times, the judge said yes to that request.

[00:02:02] Well, what about 2 Corinthians chapter 12? We've talked about that already.

[00:02:07] Paul had a physical infirmity, a thorn in the flesh, some physical ailment, and he asked God on three separate occasions to take it away.

[00:02:14] And what was God's answer? The answer was no, my grace is sufficient for you.

[00:02:20] And my power is made perfect in the midst of your weakness.

[00:02:23] So there you have three examples of people bombarding the throne room of God and God saying yes in some instances and God saying no in some instances.

[00:02:36] Okay. So what's the point of all this? Keep asking God, even if you said it over and over and over again, keep asking God what your request is and whatever it is.

[00:02:47] It's okay to say it more than once. We have a biblical precedent for that.

[00:02:53] Jesus said it three times in the Garden of Gethsemane and keep praying persistently for what you need or what you're asking of God and keep asking until you get an answer.

[00:03:03] And what will the answer be? Yes, no, or maybe.

[00:03:07] And even if the answer is maybe, keep asking, right?

[00:03:12] Right. And when you finally get an answer and the answer is yes or no, then you can quit and you move on to something else.

[00:03:18] Let me give you an example. Okay. My wife and I have a precious youngest son.

[00:03:23] His name is Josiah, and he's been looking for a job for a while.

[00:03:27] And of course, we had a vision of what he ought to do and what we thought would be a good job for him.

[00:03:32] And a couple opportunities opened up, but he said, no, no, that's not for me.

[00:03:35] And so we kept praying, Lord, give him a job that he really enjoys.

[00:03:39] So he got an opportunity to be a door-to-door salesman for a paint company by the name of Vivac.

[00:03:47] It's one of the biggest paint companies in the United States.

[00:03:51] And so we thought, oh, man, door-to-door sales.

[00:03:55] Oh, that doesn't sound good.

[00:03:56] And there's a lot of rejection and, you know, it's not easy.

[00:03:59] Do you know what? He got the job and he loves it.

[00:04:03] So here's the thing. We were praying that the Lord had provided a job and he gave him something.

[00:04:08] What from God's perspective and Joey's perspective was better than the vision we had for him.

[00:04:13] Now, we kept praying. He was without a job for two months.

[00:04:16] We kept praying and praying and praying.

[00:04:18] God provided a job, provided a job, provided a job.

[00:04:21] And finally, the Lord said, yes, we didn't give up praying.

[00:04:25] Here's the point.

[00:04:26] Don't give up praying for the things that you need in your life or the concerns that you have for other people in their lives.

[00:04:33] Don't give up until you get an answer.

[00:04:35] Be persistent in prayer.

[00:04:38] Okay?

[00:04:39] Well, that's a good truth to remember and a good truth to dissect and take into your heart.

[00:04:46] So let it be a very present part of your prayer life.

[00:04:50] Be persistent in prayer.

[00:04:52] And that is today's Daily Truth.

[00:04:54] Have a great day in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:04:58] Thank you for tuning in to Daily Truths with Dave Ullman.

[00:05:00] Pastor Dave Ullman is the pastor of Mount Hope Church in Boulder, Colorado.

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[00:05:15] Come back tomorrow for your next Daily Truth.