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“Pray again,” he said.
“Why?” the boy asked. “If something needs to be done, I shouldn’t have to ask twice . . . at least that’s what my mom tells me.”
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I was chatting with a friend a few weeks ago, and he asked a question that all of us have probably asked at some point: “When do I stop asking God for something in prayer? And is there some kind of mark I need to hit for my prayer to be heard?”
A lot of people stop praying because they’re convinced God doesn’t hear them. And even if he did hear them, it seems like God didn’t care enough to respond, so what’s the point of prayer. (I’ve certainly been one of those people.)
Of course, prayer is more than asking God for something, a truth we tackle from different angles through these prayer guides, but bringing our requests to the Father is an inescapable part of prayer.
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In 1 Kings chapters 17–18, we find three moments when Elijah brings radical requests to God. The first involves a dying boy, the second features fire from heaven, and the third results in torrential rain.
Same man. Same prayer life. Same God. But each time his number of petitions looks different—three prayers in 17:21, one prayer in 18:37, and seven prayers in 18:43. So why the inconsistency?
Response
For this week’s challenge, I invite you to read 1 Kings 17–18. See if you can discern reasons for the differences and delays across these three occasions. What stands out to me, from this passage and others, is that God wants us to pray until we receive what we’re asking for, or we sense a release from him.
Closing Thoughts
The gap between our request and God’s response is the place where the Spirit hovers over our life, forming faith, hope, trust in us.
There are many times when we don’t know how to pray as we should, so we’re tempted to just not pray. But don’t make this about performance. No one’s grading your prayers, and God doesn’t need your prayers to be perfect.
When bringing a request to God, we can pray (imperfectly) until we either receive our request or sense a release from the Spirit. The release could come after a single prayer or multiple times of prayer—it’s essentially God saying, “My child, let go of this one. Trust me and rest in my faithfulness.”
Praying with you,
Addison
P.S. Do you have the Words with God book yet? It comes with a free, six-part video study that will take you into the heart of prayer. Just click here to get your copy through the Messenger store. Or you can always go through Amazon. Until next time.
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