Rick Warren - Why Must I Keep on Praying Persistently? - Part One

Hey, thanks for joining us today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope.

We are so glad that you found us today. I've

got a question for you. Are you feeling stuck like

maybe you've hit a wall and just nothing's moving forward. Well,

you're not alone and you're not without hope. You know,

the Bible is full of people who faced impossible situations

like Mary, Noah, Job, even the apostle Paul, and they

all experienced one thing that changed everything, a breakthrough from God.

So today Pastor Rick continues his series called Seeking God

for a Breakthrough.

Rick's going to.

Walk us through biblical accounts of faith, prayer, and perseverance,

reminding us that God still moves in powerful ways whether

you're in a season of waiting or searching for hope.

This series offers encouragement and biblical truth to help you keep.

Going and get the breakthrough UNI.

And now let's get to Rick with part one of

a message called Why I Must Keep on Praying Persistently?

Today, I want us to look at why must I

keep on praying persistently? And the reason why I want

to deal with this is because of all of the

mysteries about prayer, and there are a lot of them.

There are a lot of things about prayer I do

not understand. I don't always understand how it works with

the sovereignty of God and the will of man, and

when you're praying for other people and they have a

free will, I don't understand it all. I know that

just God said do it, and he says it over

and over and over twenty times. In the New Testament,

he says, ask, I want you to ask. You have

not because you ask not. Now, since our heavenly Father

loves us, we know that, and since we know that

he wants to answer prayer. He's commanded us asked for prayer.

He has given us multiple promises about prayer, and he says,

I want to ask, and I want to answer quickly.

He's eager to meet our needs.

The question, then, is, then, why do I have to

pray more than one time? Why do I have to

make the same request over and over to God? If

I want what I'm asking for in prayer, and if

God is clearly loving, and as we saw in the

last message, He's never going to give you something bad.

He's never going to give you something detrimental. He's never

going to give you something harmful or unhelpful. But he

will always give you what's good and what's best. He'll

never give you a bad gift. And if God wants

to do that, why do I have to ask multiple times?

You know, Jesus said, we looked at this last week.

Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking.

That's a mystery to a lot of people.

Why can't I just say one time and then God

gives it?

And he knows that.

The Bible many times talks about being persistent in prayer.

One example is there on your outline Colossiums, Chapter four,

verse two. Be persistent in prayer. In other words, keep

on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking. Don't just

pray one time about something, keep on praying. Be persistent

in prayer, and keep alert as you pray. In other words,

don't fall asleep when you pray. That's a good principle.

Remember there I was resting in the Lord.

You know.

Keep alert as you pray, always giving thanks to God.

Now we've looked four times at prayer, and every time

it adds. Give thanks. When you're asking that we ask

out of a grateful heart, gratitude for the past. We're

asking about the future, But he says, always be grateful

for what God has already given you. So why do

I have to ask over and over and over and

over and over? Does God have to be cajoled? Does

He have to be pestered? Does God have to be bothered?

Do I have to wear God down? Do I have

to beg and beg and beg and bribe and plead

and cry and bother until finally just God goes, okay, enough, already,

shut up, I'm going to give it to you. Is

that what kind of God we serve? The answer is

absolutely not. That is not at all the reason God

says I want you to ask multiple times. It's not

for his benefit and it's for our benefit. In fact,

we're going to look at two stories today that Jesus

told that teach the exact opposite of that idea, that

I have to wear God down, that I have to keep

pestering and bargaining and bribing and then.

Finally God just goes, okay, I give in. You can

have this.

In fact, Jesus told two parables that teach the exact

opposite thing. Now, by the way, what it's a parable?

You've heard this word parable? A parable is simply a

story with a point. A parable is not just a story.

It's a story with a lesson. It's a story with

an insight. It's a story with the truth that God

wants you to get. And the Bible tells us that

Jesus Us never taught without using parables. He was the

master storyteller, and these stories still relate to us two

thousand years later because he was such a master storyteller

and he just would deal with slices of life. Now,

there are two kinds of parables you need to understand.

There are comparing parables and there are contrasting parables.

Let me explain this.

In a comparing parable, Jesus tells a story and he's saying,

this compares to God. God is like this, like the

loving Father in the story of the Prodigal Son.

God is like that.

And when Jesus tells a story where he's saying this

is what God is like, that's a comparing parable. But

sometimes he says God is not like this. That's a

contrasting parable. It's a contrasting parable. In no way people

of the world are like this, but God's not like this.

The two stories we're going to look at today, they're

very brief, actually are contrasting, and God is saying, I

am not at all like the people in this story,

and he's getting rid of the idea that you have

to beg and bargain and bribe God to have an

answer to prayer. So let's look at these two stories

and then we'll kind of unpack them. The first one

is in Luke chapter eleven, and it's the story of

a persistent friend. Look up here on the screen, and

here's what this story is all about.

Once, when Jesus had been.

Out praying, his disciples asked Lord, teach us to pray.

We talked about this last week. And by the way,

when he said teach us to pray, he taught them

what is now known as the Lord's prayer, and he

taught them the model praises. Okay, here's how you started,

our father. Remember we talked about that last week. It

all starts with the right relationship. God is not some

force in the sky. He's not a force. He's your father.

And he's not like any human father who is inconsistent

and uncaring and distant and distracted and sometimes demeaning. This guy, God,

this Father is caring, he's consistent, he is a competent,

he's capable.

And he is always with you. He's close.

And so he says, our Father, who are in heaven,

hallowed be your name, your kingdom. Come, Your will be

done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us

this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts,

our trespasses, as we forgive those who have.

Sinned against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For yours as the kingdom and the power and the

glory forever.

Amen.

But after Jesus taught him the Lord's prayer, he then

told them this story. And here's what he says. But

Denny said, suppose you went to your neighbour's house at

midnight and knocked on his door double hmm, and said,

an out of town guest has just arrived at my place.

He's hungry and I've got nothing to feed him, so

I need to borrow three loaves of bread. Would you

do that with your name? Wake him up at midnight?

This is the persistent neighbor. Now, your neighbor would probably

whisper from the inside of his house.

Don't bother me. The door's already locked for the night.

He's saying this from the bedroom, maybe out the window.

The door's already locked for the night. We're all in bed.

I can't wake up everybody just to help you.

Now, he says. But even though he would not help you.

Out of friendship at that particular moment, if you keep

persistently knocking on his door, he's gonna get up and

he's gonna give you what you need because of your persistence.

All right, already, he says. You just keep on knocking.

So Jesus says, I tell you this, this is a parable.

By contrast, keep on asking and you'll get it. Keep

on seeking and you'll find, And keep on knocking and

the door will be open to you. For everyone who

asks receive, and everyone who seeks will find. And if

you keep on knocking, the door will be opened to you. Now,

just in case we didn't get that message, she says,

I'm not like that guy who's not going to give

it to you out a friendship. He's just given to

you out to get you out of his hair.

He says. The principle there is you should keep on.

Knocking, you keep on asking, keep on seeking, And Jesus

wants you so badly to understand why you should pray

about something more than once that he doesn't just give

you one story.

He gives us two. And let's look at the second parable.

And in this he wants to emphasize that you should never, never,

never give up praying for something that you're asking for

until you've got it all.

Right.

Now, here's the second story, and it's in chapter eighteen

of Luke and it's first eight verses. This is called

the story of the Persistent Widow. Similar theme one day,

this is a different day. Jesus told his disciples another

story to illustrate that they should always keep on praying

and never give up. Now, before we take that verse down,

I want you to notice something. He says, you should

always keep on praying and never give up. In your life,

you are always doing one or the other. If you're

not praying, you're giving up. And if you're giving up,

if you're discouraged this weekend, it's because you're not praying.

Jesus said, we should always pray and not give up.

What is the opposite of discouragement persistent prayer? What is

the opposite of not praying persistently discouragement? So you can

go through life either discouraged or diligent. You can be

pressured into feeling bad about it, or you can be

persistent in praying. And he says, you're gonna throughout life

you're always doing one of the other. Anytime you get discouraged,

you should ask yourself, have I stopped praying persistently? That's

why you discouraged, because you've gotten your eyes off of

God and onto yourself. On the other end, if you're

praying persistently, it eliminates discouragement in your life. You're gonna

pray or you're gonna give up. Now, then he says this,

here's the story. There once was a big city judge,

Jesus says, who didn't care at all about God or people.

But there was an elderly woman, an elderly widow, who

kept coming to this judge over and over, pleading for

the judge to protect her rights and do something about

a man who had cheated her. I want justice, I

have my rights, she keeps, coming back to the judge

over and over. Judge, you got to help me. And

he didn't care less about her, he says, or even God. Now,

it says, for a long time, this judge just ignored her.

Please.

He couldn't care less about this widow, interest in her

helping her get justice.

Or you know, protect her rights.

The judge just ignored her please for help. But eventually

he had had enough, so he thought to himself, you know,

even though I don't care at all about what God

or what this woman think, I'm tired of her pestering.

I'm tired of her pestering request. So I'm going to

see that she gets justice, just to get her to

be quiet and stop bothering me. Note the same theme

as the other story. Then the Lord said, now learn

a lesson from this uncaring judge.

He says, okay, guys, get the point here.

Even if that corrupt, uncaring this guy has no compassion

at all, He doesn't care about you or anybody else.

Even if that corrupt, uncaring judge eventually gave in to

that woman's request, won't God, who loves you deeply saying

this guy's not like me, won't God who loves you

deeply surely give you what is right if you keep

crying out to him day and night. Jesus tells two

stories to teach the exact same truth anytime Jesus tells

two stories.

To teach you one truth. It's that important.

Why you should never give up in praying for something

not to go. Well, I prayed and nothing didn't happen,

so I just gave up on it. Now here's the contrast.

He says, God listens to you. God cares, and God

wants to answer, even if people don't, even if your

neighbor doesn't they think you're being rude you're in the

middle of the night, or even if some unjust, uncaring,

unsympathetic judge says, forget it, I have no time for you.

He said.

God is not like either of them. He listens, he cares.

And the point is this that God is eager to

end answer your prayers. So why then doesn't God just

answer it the first time?

I ask?

Why does he want me? And it says over and

over scripture to keep on praying, keep on seeking, keep

on asking, keep on knocking. Why does God want me

to be persistent? So why does God want me and

want you to keep praying the same request over and

over and over till he gives it? Why does he

want us to be persistent?

Well, the Bible gives.

Us a number of reasons, and none of them have

to do with convincing God. He already knows your need

before you even ask. That's not why you do it.

There are a number of other reasons. You might write

these down. They're all right here in the scriptures. Number

one because it keeps my attention focused on God. When

you pray about something over and over and over, where's

your attention? It's focused on God. Now I've told you

this many times that attention is the greatest gift you

can give somebody. Guys, the greatest gift if you're married,

the greatest gift you can give your wife is your attention.

The greatest gift you can give your kids is your attention.

Why Because your attention is your time, and your time

is your life. You're never going to get that back.

You can always give people money, but you can always

get more money, but you can't always get more time back.

You've got the same amount of time as everybody else,

one hundred and sixty eight hours a week. When you

give your attention to somebody, when you look someone in

the eye, you're saying you matter to me, You're valuable,

You're worth part of my life. It's the highest gift

you can give people crave attention. God wants your attention.

You know, the Bible says God is constantly thinking about you.

How about if you thought about somebody all the time

and they never thought about you. Well, that probably was

true when you're in junior high school because there's somebody

you thought about all the time and they.

Were totally oblivious to you.

And you know how painful that was that they did

not even notice you when all you could do was

think about them because you are in love in your

mind with that person. God says, I want your attention,

And so when you pray about something over and over

and over, you give God your attention. God loves to

have your attention because he's always thinking about you. One

of the reasons God loved King David in the Old

Testament of the Bible is because David gave God his

attention all the time.

Look at these two verses Psal.

I'm twenty five point fifteen, David says, my eyes are

continually looking to the Lord. That's another word for being persistent.

I'm continually looking to the Lord for help, and he

alone can rescue me from all the traps supposed to

be plural.

All the traps.

You know what, You're gonna have a lot of traps

in your life this next week. He's the only one

who knows them in advance. Have you ever gone up

a mountain road and you're behind a truck and they're

slow and you'd like to pass them, but you can't

see around the curve. And how great it would be

if you could call in a like a helicopter and

they could say, yeah, it's clear around the corner because

they could see what you can't see. God can see

what you can't see. He can see the traps you're

going to have this next week, this next month, and

next year, He says, Focus on me continually, and I'll

show you how to be rescued from all of the

traps some one oh five verse four.

Look to the Lord for his strength, seek his face.

How often? Yeah?

Constantly circle that so it keeps my attention focused on God.

God wants you to keep asking because it keeps your

attention focused on him.

Question.

Do you talk to God more when you need something?

Of course you do.

If you never needed anything, would you talk to God

as often? No?

When you talk to God the most when you're in

deep pain, so it keeps me focused on God continually.

There's a second reason, and it's because having to wait

teaches me about myself. Having to wait teaches me about myself.

You're going to learn some things while you're praying for

an answer that you won't learn any other way. This

is going to be a mind opening message for some

of you because you learn not just about God, you

learn about yourself when you don't get everything you want instantly.

When you pray and God says, well, let's just see

about how long it's going to take before that prayer

gets answered. Some prayers are answered immediately, but some take times, weeks, months.

Two of the most important prayers I've ever prayed. One

of them took thirteen years and one of them took

almost twenty five years. But God answered it, and they

were the most important prayers in my life at that time.

Why it takes a long because while I was working

on the prayer, God was working on me. And there

are no number of tests that happen when you pray

about something over and over and over that reveal more

about you. Notice this verse Zachariah says in Zachariah thirteen,

verse nine, God says, I will test and purify them.

That's you and me. I'll test and purify them as

silver is purified by fire. Every wonder when you're going

through the fire. Why you're going through it. It's for

testing and for purification. I will test them as gold

is tested. How do you test gold? You put it

in a big vat and you heat it up until

it gets so hot that all the impurities are burned off.

And how do you know when gold and silver is pure?

Because the silversmith can see his reflection in it, and

God can see.

His reflection in you.

When all the impurities have burned out of your life,

You've been through the fire, he says. Then after I've

tested them, after I've purified them, then they will be.

They will pray to me and I will answer. Notice

that the prayer answer comes after the test. Does that

sound vaguely familiar. We spent ten weeks on Daniel, looking

at ten tests of Daniel, and I said, before every blessing,

there is a testing, and God tests you with stress

before he trusts you with success. That principle of Daniel's

life is one of the principles of persistent prayer. God

is going to test you before he blesses you. And

he says, I'm going to test you, and in this test,

you're going to learn a lot about yourself. If you

give up praying, you're never going to learn these lessons.

He said, what do I learn? What do I specifically

learn about myself when I have to pray specifically and persistently. Well,

let me just mention four areas, four areas that God

wants me to grow, wants you to grow. Write these down.

The first would be this praying persistently test my desires.

Praying persistently test my desires, and what that means is,

I asked the question, and what do I really want?

Hey, thanks for listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. And

now here's Pastor Rick with a letter from one of

our listeners.

You know, we get letters and emails from people all

around the world and from all ages, and here's one

that I got from a listener in Indonesia. His name

is Steven and he's twelve years old. He wrote, Dear

Pastor Rick, thank you for the powerful way that you've

impacted my life. I'm just a twelve year old schoolboy

in Jakarta, Indonesia. But I listened to the broadcast every

morning on the way to school. My life has changed

completely this year. I'm at a new school, and my

family's just about recovered from some financial problems, but I'm

still having to.

Learn a whole new way of life.

Some days I really feel bad and I ask God

to help me, But then the Daily Hope broadcast comes

on the radio, and you always say something helps me

feel better, and I know that at that moment God

is trying to speak directly to me through you. So

thank you ever so much. Well, thank you, ever so much, Steven.

I love hearing from people like you literally all around

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