Persistent Prayer

We will be nice to her for the next 10 days.

That aside, Heidi, can you come up? Heidi had a dream last night, and I think it's worth

listening to this dream. Last night I woke up early and then I fell back asleep, and

I had this dream, and it was about us, actually. We were meeting here in church, just as we

do right now, and suddenly this building was starting to flood. Initially I thought,

oh, is there a leak somewhere? In my dream I was asking, is there a leak somewhere on

the roof or in the building? As the flooding was occurring, there were also people, and

then Jacob said, oh, don't worry about that, we are moving soon. We are moving soon into

a different building. Then I realized it was actually not water that was flooding the building,

but people. It was like God saying, you are moving at the right time, because I will bring

in people that could have not come into this building.

I love it when someone else has a dream that conveys what God has been trying to convey

to us. I love it when it's someone as honest as Heidi, because it's more believable.

I want to talk about persistent prayer. You know, when I was, I told you about how that

lady in Shillong took us to meet some ministers. One of them was the Minister of Education,

and he had been playing soccer, and then he tore his ACL, and so his foot was in a cast,

and he couldn't bend it much. So when we went to his house, the lady asked if I would pray

for his leg, and I prayed, and then asked him to flex his leg, and there was hardly

any change. It was so minimal, one couldn't claim that anything had changed. One of the

questions was, Father, when? I mean, I see you guys wearing these sweatshirts and t-shirts

that say, Signs, Miracles, and Wonders. When? When? And so this idea of persistent prayer

is something that we need to explore both for the things we are waiting for, the things

that you're waiting for in your own life personally, and that's why we're going down this track.

I wish the guy's foot had been healed, and can you imagine if his torn ACL got repaired?

And it's not like I haven't seen that before, but when I prayed for him, nothing happened.

What if something had happened? What would have happened to the rest of the cabinet?

What would the word be that went around Shillong? And so, when? Why not? What do we do? How

do we pray?

So, you know, in Luke 18.1, Luke 18.1, and in Luke 11.5-8, Jesus shares stories, and

when he teaches on prayer, the emphasis often seems to be on prayer, and the emphasis is

pray and not lose heart. In fact, when Jesus shared the parable about the widow who went

to the judge who had no regard for God or for man, he starts Luke 18.1 saying, and then

Jesus taught a story about how to pray and not lose heart, because it seems to be something

that affected people then and still affects us now. And to not lose heart is basically

to persist, to not quit, to not give up. But what does it even look like? Because sometimes

you get fast answers. Sometimes you pray and you get fast answers, and sometimes it takes

long despite earnest prayer. And I think everybody here has experienced this. And I think that

you've experienced it despite earnest prayer. But some of your situations, there are situations

in this room that church, because I'm a pastor, I happen to know them. But if you'd be surprised

at the difficult situations that people have gone through in this room, how people are

going through this room, every face does not tell a story. Every face hides a story.

So many situations, eh? And sometimes you hear them, you think to yourself, how did

the person even survive? How is the person still smiling? Those are the kinds of stories

sometimes in this church. And so persistent prayer will help us break into a place that

is broader, a broad place to stand. And so sometimes answers are fast. You look at Elijah

and Elijah prays once saying, oh God send fire that will consume the sacrifice. It's

in 1 Kings 18.37. And immediately fire from heaven comes and burns up the wood, the water,

the ox that was put on it, just consumes everything. And yet shortly after, in verse 45, Elijah

is sending a man up seven times to go and see whether there's any sign of rain. Up and

down the servant goes, I always think if there was one job I wouldn't have wanted in the

Old Testament, it would be Elijah's servant. He would come down and he would tell his master

with great patience, no master, there is no sight of a cloud, go again. Seven times he

goes, I'm thinking to myself, the sixth time the servant is thinking, can I jump off from

here? Seven times he went up. And sometimes things take time. So how do you define persistence?

And this is our experience too. Sometimes answers come immediately and you scratch your

head thinking is this the same God? And other times it takes forever and you think to yourself,

yeah this is the same God. But that's so sad. And then we don't know how to pray. And so

how do we define persistence? Persistence is patient insistence. Patient insistence.

I insist, but I insist patiently. Patient insistence. That's what sometimes parents

have to do with children. Patient insistence. What else? That is relentless. Patient insistence

that is relentless. Sometimes it borders on insolence or impudence. It borders on insolence

where you think to yourself, man this guy is really crossing the line here by insisting

the way he is doing. It borders on insolence and it is unashamed. And sometimes it's a

little bit. When you define persistence that way and it's based both on the, just a simple

definition of the word and the definition from the stories in the Bible, you suddenly

realize that persistence in prayer is not necessarily a quality that we have developed.

This is not usually how I pray. So this is what it looks like in Luke 18.1 and Luke 11

Luke 11:5–8

verse 5 to 8. That's what Jesus is saying. Listen, I want to teach you how to pray and

not give up. But the moment he says that, my question is why should I persist? Why should

I persist in prayer? If you, oh God, are honest and you are patient and you are patient, then

you are all powerful. If you are father, if you are my father and if I'm praying according

to your will, why should I have to persist? That's my question. Why should I do this?

Why should I be patient and insistent? Why should I be relentless? Why should I border

on insolence and why should I be unashamed? If you are father, if you are all powerful

and if I'm praying according to your will, why do I have to be persistent? Because that's

now not how we really think in our own father-son, father-daughter relationships. Children don't

have to be this way. So why do we have to be this way? It seems unfair. So we need to

answer this first. Why do I have to persist in prayer? If you are my father, if you are

all powerful and if I'm praying according to your will, why do I have to do that? So

that's what we look at first. So here's where we begin. If it is a promise from the Word

and his will, now what are we looking at? We are looking at reasons why we need to

persist in prayer. So here are the reasons. First one, he commanded us, very simple reason,

he commanded us to keep on asking or knocking or seeking. It's not a good thing to ask for

if it is a promise from his will or word. Then he says, I want you to keep on asking.

And then later on in 2 Corinthians 1.20, he says that every promise, I'm just quoting

the message straight, whatever God has promised, is that Elion again? Who? Oh. Whatever God

has promised, whatever God has promised, gets stamped with the yes. So that's why we need

to persist in prayer. Of Jesus. So that's the first reason guys. And this is the reason,

sometimes we don't argue against because he's Lord, he's sovereign, he's king. So here's

the first reason. He commanded us to keep on asking. He didn't say ask, seek, knock.

He did say that, but then later on he says, keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking.

Why? If it is a promise from his will or his word, then whatever God has promised gets

stamped with the yes of Jesus. But he says keep on asking. So one reason I would persist

is because he has commanded me to keep on asking. That's one reason. Any questions on

that before we go on? Very early in the game Jesus talks about this in Matthew 7. He says,

keep on asking. And I love 2 Corinthians 1.20. Whatever God has promised gets stamped with

the yes of Jesus. When it comes to his will and his word, it's a guarantee. Just a side

note, sometimes when I have a desire, when I have a dream, when someone gives me a prophetic

word, then it warrants greater inspection and confirmation before you can apply this

to it. When it's a desire you have and you feel convinced that God put the desire there

and God wants to give you that desire, or when someone gives a prophetic word to you

and it sounds so like God and it's what you wanted or what you dreamt of, or you have

this feeling it's God, or when you see a dream and you interpret that dream as God is saying,

do this or do that, at times like that it warrants greater introspection or inspection

and it requires confirmation before you can apply point one to it. But when it comes to

the word and the will of God, that has it stamped with the yes of Christ. Just remember

that. I'm not saying that a word or a dream or a desire is not from God, I'm just saying

it requires greater inspection. So that's point one. Reason two. Reason two is that

Jesus rewards persistence. Jesus rewards persistence. That's reason two. He says in

Matthew 7, keep on asking, keep on knocking, keep on seeking for whoever asks, seeks or

knocks will have the door open, will receive. It's like he's assuring you, you will be rewarded.

Then as if to prove the point further he says, if Brielle asked Derek for a fish, would

he frighten her by putting a snake on the plate? If she asked for an egg, would he hide

under the saucer a spider? If he being evil knows how to give his daughter good things,

then you think I won't reward you when you keep on asking, keep on knocking, keep on

seeking? Persistence has rewards. You see this with the Syrophenician woman, where she

was persistent. If there was one woman in the Bible who really got the wrong end of

the stick from Jesus, it was a Syrophenician woman. And yet in Matthew 15, 21 this Canaanite

mother whose daughter is demonized is being almost, Jesus is almost fencing with her,

trying to keep her away. And yet every time he does that she comes back with a retort.

And she refuses to be pushed back, she persists and she is rewarded. Bartimaeus, same thing.

With Bartimaeus there were people that were preventing him from coming towards Jesus.

There was a crowd. There was Jesus' disciples, but he kept crying, kept crying. Persistence

brings him his sight because Jesus actually hears him. He refuses to back down from crying

out, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. So persistence gets rewarded. The first reason

is Jesus has commanded us. Second reason is persistence gets rewarded. Next one. Reason

three. When you look at Daniel chapter 10 verse 12 you find out that sometimes persistent

Daniel 10:12

prayer, persistent prayer is required to be rewarded. And that's why we have the word

breakthrough, enemy, seed, or obstacles. Okay, so let's talk about that. Daniel chapter

Daniel 10 · chapter mention

10. Daniel has been praying. He started praying and it's been 20 days now. On the 21st day

of the GEORGIA, an angel turns up and says to Daniel, Daniel, you are precious to God.

The moment you started praying, your words were heard. And I was coming to you with an

answer. Please don't think that because it's the Old Testament that the Holy Spirit couldn't

have brought the answer. But it is an answer of such great importance that it would be

the measure of kingdoms rising and kingdoms falling. We do not understand the spiritual

realm well. Some of us may understand it a little. Some of us don't understand it at

all. Some of us pretend it doesn't exist. But what Daniel was going to say after God

gives him the answer for his prayer would be responsible for the rise and fall of kingdoms

for the next thousand years. The rise and fall of kingdoms is brought about not just

by man electing or man tearing down, but by angelic forces and battles in the heavenlies

that we cannot even imagine. We get a glimpse of it when the angel says that I had to fight

the prince of Persia to bring this answer to you. And when I return, I'll have to fight

the prince of Greek angelic powers and principalities before I can return. And there is no one to

help me except the guardian angel of Israel, Gabriel, or Michael, sorry. You suddenly realize

that you have this short quick glimpse into a realm that we have no idea about. Persistent

prayer is required to break enemy seeders and to break enemy obstacles. And we do not

know how to, but we always start somewhere, right? And here's where we start. Sometimes

the things that are delayed in your life. Here's the problem though, guys. As we go

through these points, it is, what is required is I have to know what it is that is happening

to me so that I can determine how to respond. That's important. This one's easier. I have

to know what is happening to me so I know how to respond. And that is where the spirit

of God has given us discernment and the spirit of God has given us leaders. Hear me again.

Please, both go hand in hand. You cannot have one without the other. Let me assure you of

it. The spirit of God gives me two things. He gives me discernment and he gives me leaders.

I'm talking about Jacob. I'm not talking about you right now. He gives me discernment to

kind of figure out what's happening and then he gives me leaders as in ones that I look

up to or ones that I walk with that I go and talk to. And you can ask people in this church

whether I have the humility to do that and the answer is yes. Do you have the humility

to do that? That's the question. And so those are the things because one is discernment

and the second thing is okay, now that I've discerned, can I go and find out what's happening?

Can someone else begin to talk to me about this? Because there are many that will know

more than you about this. I haven't done this for 21 days. I haven't forgotten your questions

here. I haven't done this for 21 days but I wish Jeevan was here. Jeevan would testify

to this. We went to this place in India called Rishikesh, Haridwar, the Kailash Mountains

where Hinduism was born. And I remember driving down from there and there were five of us

in the jeep. I only had one thing to do. I knew that one thing God had charged me to

do was you will not sleep but for nine hours you will pray continuously. It's the longest

stint I've ever prayed. Nine hours just praying continuously. Sometimes through villages,

other times praying as we go up. It was fascinating that once you've given an assignment you have

more than enough strength to do it and you begin to enjoy. The deeper you get into it,

you're supposed to be more exhausted but the deeper you get into it, it's like the Tesla.

Keep pressing the brake and the engines go up again like Derek Fondhaut on a trip to

Kelowna. So this thing is real. The question is, how

in your situation is this what is happening? Go ahead, Zia.

In about 40 minutes I'll be answering that. And it's towards the end of the sermon so

you know how long the sermon is. Oh my Lord, 640. Okay, we'll have to move on faster.

Next thing, reason four. It's in 1 Kings 1837 which we talked about already which is to

birth things of significance, to birth things of significance, that will shift momentum.

Persistence is required. It's almost similar to giving birth to a baby where there's a

travail that has to happen for something that is God is trying to birth of significance

here on earth that will bring a momentum shift to a people group or to a city or to a church.

Persistence is required. It is not something that is just thrown your way as if it comes

to a bird. It requires a, part of the reason persistence is required is that so your heart

and your mind, your body and your soul and your spirit is completely engaged in that

one thing. The question is, are we a people like that?

The question is, am I a guy like that who can do that? Or do I only know how to do it

for 10 minutes and then say, oh that should be enough, I have enough faith for it. God

is not testing my faith always when it comes to persistence. God is trying to form my heart,

my mind, my soul, my strength and my spirit around one thing where one thing becomes singular.

The only time it happens to a guy is a few hours before he gets married. And now he's

coming to his senses, oh my God, whatever God, I'm done. And suddenly the focus is intense.

Trust me, when Kezia gave birth, her soul, her strength, her spirit, her mind, her heart

were formed around just one thing. How do I birth this baby? Don also had singular focus.

What do I do about this now? Before I faint. Yeah. So this is important guys. In the Bible,

you'll see this many times. What was happening with Elijah in 1 Kings 18, 37 to 45? Why is

he bent over, almost rolled into a fetal ball, praying for something? Because what is going

to happen is going to change an apostate nation into a nation that begins to follow Christ

again. What is happening with Jesus on a mountain, praying continuously, he's the son of God,

surely he knows the will of his father. Why is he spending the entire night praying? And

then he says after that he came down the mountain and he picked out of the people before him

12 that were going to be apostles because they were going to take care of the rest of

the world. You'll find this happening again and again. You see it with Hezekiah, you see

it with Isaiah, you see it with Jeremiah, you see it with Ezekiel. They know that what

they're going to now birth. And Daniel knew that whatever he's going to get is going to

affect not nations but empires for the next thousand years. Yet it is said of people like

Daniel, people like Elijah that they were just like you and me. So we put them on this

pedestal when it comes to really hard things. That's a safe bet. That way we don't have

to do the hard things they do. That's the fourth reason. And so if you're trying to

birth something that's going to ignite the 20s and 30s across the earth, you think that

doesn't need persistent prayer? And when we do gather and we sometimes pray, you know

how long it lasts at the most? And it sounds and feels very long. It lasts about 20 minutes

max. What is that called? A 20 minute prayer. But when the 20 minute prayer happens every

day for 10 days, now it's called persistent prayer. You must ask the question, so Jacob,

is that what you do every day? Don't ask because you won't get the answer you want. This is

what persistence looks like, guys. Why are we teaching this so that we can learn and

maybe start practicing it? Yeah. Next one. This one was breaking enemy seed or obstacles.

The next one is prevailing over satanic or demonic resistance against you. And the next

one is through prayer. This maybe many of us have partaken in where you know that there's

a threat that is coming against you. You know that the way you were dismissed from your

job, there's something about it that isn't right, that isn't even man. It's almost like

an attack from the enemy. You know that what's happening to your child or your spouse or

your family who is completely healthy is suddenly so odd, so not from God. You know that some

mishap or accident or something that blows up that happens suddenly, the very smell of

it you know it is not God. And that is when the resistance in you should rise up and persistent

prayer should meet it because it is almost like prevailing over resistance. Someone who

did this and who modeled it for us in Gethsemane was Jesus to the point where later on in Hebrews

12 it says you haven't resisted to the point of shedding blood. But there is a resistance

to evil that only comes with persistent prayer. I'm just saying I rebuke you in the name of

Jesus Christ. You are no longer in control here. Hallelujah. Great. Sometimes it is enough

but other times you need to persist. Have you noticed how if a thief enters someone's

house they don't say in the name of the law and the RCMP please leave now. Hallelujah.

They don't do that. There's a resistance, there's a persisting, there's a pushing back. We haven't

learned it so we don't know what persistence looks like. But many times a question that

one must ask as things go wrong in our lives, don't start connecting the dots to condemn

yourself but start connecting to the dots to say I have a good God, I have a good father,

I have a one who protects me. Why is this happening? And oh God if you show me I need

to resist this, show me how. I'll persist and resist it.

It's arm wrestling with an opponent that is strong but you know a trick about his elbow.

This I've done with people, for myself. I've seen amazing victories, amazing victories

that things turn around within 24 hours, 20 hours, 36 hours where things turn around.

And many of you have had this experience too. Any questions thus far? Here's the thing,

Jesus said pray and do not lose heart which means it is a present reality and it also

means that there is no other way around it. So Jacob does not have a choice in these matters.

If Jacob is thinking of birthing something new on earth, if Jacob is thinking of prevailing

over the enemy or breaking through the seed of the enemy, both for himself and for the

church he passed as, Jacob has no other choice. This one you'll find in Exodus 17, 11 where

Erin and her, it's a classic example, Moses' hands have to be held up to prevail over the

enemy. Joshua takes a page from that and in Joshua 8 he does it too. In Joshua 8 verse

Joshua 8:18

18 and 26 he realizes that as long as he holds out a javelin he'll win. He puts his hand

down, they lose. So I don't know how many hours they did it man but the guy held a javelin

for hours on end eh, till the battle was won. Here's another one. Acts chapter 9, verse

Acts 9:12

12, 5 and 12 and Esther 4, 16. Persistent prayer is required when you want deliverance from

persecution. Persecuted churches know this. One of the things persecuted churches do

most is pray. I met some of the guys who have been to prison and who have been persecuted

and we have never seen this kind of thing. I met some of the guys who have been to prison

and who have been persecuted in Vietnam and other places and my God, the amount they pray

is crazy because they know that out of the 10 that are taken, 7 may return alive if they

pray and the 3 that may die will die and they will go to heaven and they will be buried

in the grave. So they know that out of the 10 that are taken, 7 may return alive if they

will be martyrs among the community but they know that their prayers can save 3 or save

7. So Acts chapter 12, verse 5 and 12. Peter has now been taken into deep prison and he's

Acts 12:5

locked in and they begin to pray. The church gathers in verse 5 and they begin to pray

and that's at some time in the early day and then it says around 2am that night he is set

free. The doors start opening. I mean I would have loved to be a fly on the wall, not a

fly, maybe something else on the wall but just imagine as he approaches the door, the

door is just open man and then this massive gate, it must have creaked like crazy because

they didn't have WD-40 then but somehow the blooming thing swings open and Peter walks

out and his arm must be full of pinch marks because every time he passes a guard he pinches

himself. It doesn't say so in the Bible, I'm just imagining it. And he finally is free.

The point being after he gets free he goes to Mary's house where he knows the believers

are gathered. Guess what they are doing? Still praying. Persecuted churches know the secret.

Richard Wombrand, I met him once. He would talk about this. Andrew, brother Andrew, God

smugglers, he would talk about this. The other guy, Tom Hamlin. Tom Hamlin had this amazing

method of smuggling Bibles into forbidden countries. He would pack them in a suitcase,

take them with him, it would come on the conveyor belt, a customs guy would come and ask him

what's in this and he would say Bibles. That's how he smuggled Bibles. He decided that every

time he takes Bibles into any country he will tell them what it is. And so they'll take

his luggage and they'll take him and put him in a room where they'll start interrogating

him. While they're interrogating him along will come someone from the royal family or

from the ministers family and they'll say hey Tom what are you doing here? Come, come,

come, come, come. And his suitcase is with the Bible and he will leave. And it happened

again and again and again till the Middle East was saturated with Bibles. I met these

guys. I was only 24 or 25. They were my heroes man. Something else. I was a Christian. I

was a Christian. Another reason we should persist in prayer is found in Genesis 18,

23 and Deuteronomy 9, 25 where sometimes persistent prayer delivers those who are going to be

destroyed and it builds a wall of mercy and buys them time to change. This you will do

if it's someone that you really care about when it's a son, when it's a daughter and

you know that the lifestyle they're going down is destructive. It's going to end really

badly. That's when persistent prayer kicks in because this means so much to you. For

a spouse that's gone astray, for someone whose life is going to be destroyed. You know that

the wickedness has reached a place where if you don't intervene and pray persistently

something is going to go wrong and that's when you begin to pray. And as you begin to

pray God begins to build a wall of mercy around that person. Genesis 18 that's what's happening.

Abraham is saying to God, God any chance that there are 10. God knows how many there are

but he's willing to have this conversation with Abraham because he wants to show Abraham,

listen I'm merciful. Ask for it. Build a wall. Deuteronomy 9, 25. I didn't know that. I didn't

know this. They've just made a calf and you know what Moses has been doing for 40 days

and 40 nights. For 40 days and 40 nights he was lying before God and praying mercy for

the people. How do you do that? How do you lie down before God for 40 days and 40 nights

and cry out for mercy for the people that have almost stoned Moses a little while ago?

How do you do that? Man these guys must have had some heart and they didn't have Jesus

living in them. How do you care for people so much? Crazy. That you will do for sons

and daughters. I've seen parents. My mom man when my life was heading down a crazy path

she would fast. She would get other women to fast till some of them said there's no

point I'm going to stop fasting because they've fasted for too many months. But they are week

after week after week. When it's your own summon you'll be surprised at how strong

persistent prayer is. I can't even tell you how many days Madhu has spent praying for

Dennis. Let's not even go there. Right Dennis? Yeah. Next one. The next reason. These reasons

now get quite interesting. Isaiah 40 verse 31. Waiting upon God. Waiting upon God. Waiting

Isaiah 40:31

upon God in a matter actually is God's way of renewing your strength. Of giving you firm

footing. Giving you a song on your lips. And God's way of renewing your strength is to

give you wings. Causing you to soar. This is the kind of persistent prayer. Isaiah 40

Isaiah 40:31

verse 31 and Psalm 40. This is the kind of prayer where God says hey listen can I invite

you into persistent prayer because I want to do this for you. And sometimes he tells

you what he's going to do early. Like he's going to do it in 2028 but he turns up and

says to you hey Vignesh this is what I want to do for you. And he tells him in 2025. And

Vignesh on the first day he hears it he thinks hallelujah. But he doesn't realize that the

hallelujah is good for now but now begins the real journey. Because through this God

begins to do this. Isaiah 40 verse 31. Day that. Wait upon the Lord. Shall do what? Renew

Isaiah 40:31

their strength. What shall they do? They shall mount up as and begin to climb. With what?

With wings. Mount up with wings like an eagle. It changes your perspective. It changes your

radius. It changes what you see. How you think. It brings you to a new place. Psalm 40. I

waited patiently for the Lord. He turned and heard my cry. He lifted me up from the miry

clay. He gave me a firm footing on a rock. He put a song on my lips. And he gave me a

new place to stand. Now many will see. Many will fear. And put their trust in the Lord.

This is when God is saying hey this kind of persistent prayer I can do without it but

I just want to change you. What a cool God. I can do without it but I want to change you.

And if you get it you get this. If you don't get it nothing happens. He will still give

you what you are supposed to get. There is no loss here. But there is great gain here.

I want to tell you this. Some of the things that you young people. Please you young people

sound like oh you young people. No. Some of the things that you wonderful young people

that we are so privileged to have. That sounded so artificial. Some of the things that you

young people today benefit is because some of the older ones and me stood for years

and years when there was absolutely no sign on the horizon. Stood knowing a day will

come when this church will look like this. And it's absolutely worth it. Not only because

we see the reward now but because it changed us. Next one is kind of similar. Yep. No not

really. Wings. Next one. Romans 417. Habakkuk. Two three. And the last one is the same. And

you know sometimes God will grant you as I was just saying. God grants you a promise

early. And now that he has given you the promise early it will require waiting for an appointed

time. And during that time many things will challenge the truth of that promise. The substance

or the authenticity of that promise will be tested. And you will begin to doubt it

because too much time is going by. Nothing is happening. Oh man if you can stand on it

because sometimes too much time is passing. He gave it to you early. It's deliberate.

He could have told you in 2027 but he told you in 2021. Two years have gone by. Three

years have gone by. Four years have gone by. And you're thinking to yourself gosh man this

is not true. People laugh at you. People laugh at you. People laugh at you. People laugh

at you. People laugh at you. People laugh at you. People laugh at you. People laugh at

you. And as it begins to happen you think to yourself no. And yet in Habakkuk 2.3 what

does it say? This vision is for an appointed time. It will not fail. The righteous shall

live by faith. That's why we need to be successful. And that's why we need to be successful. And

This vision is for an appointed time. It will not fail the righteous shall live by faith

In

Romans 4 17 what does it say 25 30 years have passed by and now

Abraham is at a place where he's saying I did not waver

But as time passed I began to glorify God even though I knew my body was important

I began to glorify God because I was fully convinced that what God had said he would do

This is when God gives you something early so that you can wait for the appointed time

But in the waiting for the appointed time everything about that promise will be shaken the reason for persistent prayer here is to prove

Your faithfulness and reliance upon him who is always faithful

Some make it through

James

James 1:4

Chapter 1 verse 4 says that these kind of testings where you persist and you don't see a result yet

These kind of testings mature you

It matures you

Beautiful a and this will allow you to prepare the younger ones

Guys as each generation

Continues know that you're going to meet generations that are more and more instant generations than you can imagine

Everything at just

One one button you press and you get what you want at that time

You have to remember Jesus's words when I come to the earth will I find anyone?

with faith

Why because faith requires persistence?

Will I find anyone with faith part of the reason you may not find anyone with faith is because everything is instant

If you don't get it instant you do not know how to persist you just don't know

Yesterday I was writing down two columns of people someone was writing down two columns of people

And I gave it to the summon to do it because I thought this will take forever to arrange it

And then and someone did something with chat GPT and they pressed a button and everything came out beautiful

I'm thinking of myself

That's the generation we live in persistence patience

Why would you have that?

As the older ones walk this they will be able to teach the younger ones the way to live

So these are the reasons Jesus asks that we persist in prayer not lose heart

Some of the critical factors we'll go as far as we can go and then stop some of the critical critical factors for persistence

one

Persistence is the most important thing

Some of the critical critical factors for persistence one

Is your prayer an abstract activity outside you

Or does it carry

The urgency

Of heart

I want to say that often unless it's something that deeply involves me and it's

Important to me unless it is about

Something that's happening with you or with your life or with the church that's deeply important to me often prayer becomes an outside abstract activity

Oh father dish salty needs a job

So in the name of Jesus Christ I just pray father that out of the goodness of your heart

And you would give the shawlty a job that he likes hallelujah. Amen

that

Is not how the shawlty prays for a job

When he prays for himself

So some of these are the critical

Requirements for persistent prayer is it an abstract activity outside of you or is it

An urgency of heart and I want to say to the you say this to you you can't take on too much to pray

Don't

When someone comes and asks me i'll say I hope I remember

Because there's a great likelihood that I won't

Unless I write it down. So do not take on too much friend. Don't don't don't don't it doesn't work

You will not be able to pray

From the urgency of heart take what you can and then move on to the next one

Any questions on that one?

These are the requirements for persistent prayer

At some point when

Don and kazia share their story

You'll hear about how they were praying for aliyah kim

I remember him asking me to pray for him and I prayed but my god I'd have loved to hear how they prayed and how

I prayed it had been completely different because it's a matter of the

heart

next one

More than the content of the prayer more than the content of the prayer

Are you aware

Of the nature of the one you're praying to

Are you aware of the nature of the one you're praying to

Remember guys jesus has earned for you both the place

And the right to be heard

Jesus has earned for you every time you pray jesus has earned for you both the place hebrus 4 16

Now we can approach the throne of grace boldly

and

Have what we need from him

He has earned for you and for me both the place and the right to be heard

John 16 verse 26

John 16:26

I love what jesus says if you read it from the message he puts it this way

You don't even need to come and ask me you can ask the father directly. He'll speak to you directly

You don't have to go through me. That's what jesus says

beautifully

And so are you aware john 16 verse 26 and 27 berri

John 16:26

And the first one is hebrus 4 16

So

Are you aware

you know

We don't think much of it, but imagine the 12 disciples

They've always only known yave

Jehovah god

They they don't take his name and then along comes jesus and they go to him in matthew 11 and they say hey jesus

Can you teach us how to pray?

And he says our father it must have freaked them out

Because they know he's a messiah

They know he's the most high god

but he's

Teaching them how to pray and he's

Telling them listen call yave our father

And and he would have said it differently he'd say go say

I must have blown their minds because they've heard him call him

And they're thinking to myself themselves. Oh shucks

He wants us to have the same intimacy that he has with his father

For us it's become too common but imagine what we're doing in persistent prayer

We're going saying the same thing the same affectionate intimate term that jesus used to use we're using the term abba

And if you actually ponder that for a second you will not be able to pull away from the goodness

To splendor

The nearness

Of this god

Abba same words that he used to use

So when they heard our father

Who art in heaven they understand who art in heaven hallowed be their name very well. They know that better than us

But they don't understand abba

So beautiful

So more than content are you aware these are the requirements for persistent prayer because very often guys

Resentment

Creeps in

With time

I have experienced this where i'm trusting god for something

It's been four years five years six years and now some days I get up and I think to myself

Is this ever going to happen resentment creeps in with time?

And when resentment creeps in resentment cripples persistence

And that is when you have to go back to this word abba and it'll take you back to the goodness

Nearness

Splendor I don't know why i'm writing in that small space

Resentment

Is caused

by time passing

resentment cripples persistence

And throws a shroud on the face of god. It becomes very hard to persist in prayer

Who is a person that you feel resentful towards and can't even express your resentment

because

Recently something like this happened where I was feeling resentful

about something that has been taking too long and I don't have the confidence and I

don't know what to do and I was feeling pretty lousy about this thing that

I was feeling so down that I was going telling her. I don't know you said this i'm not too sure and I

I was doing my usual morning

and

Then it came to my daily reading and my reading for that day was

Job 15 verse 11 to 13 job 15. Let me read to you job 15 11 to 13 from

Job 15:11–13

uh the message

Even in my misery god is kind

And here's what it says are god's promises not enough for you

One day spoken so gently and tenderly

Why do you let your emotions take over lashing out and spitting fire?

Pitting your whole being against god by letting words like this come out of your mouth

Resentment develops as time kicks in and things are not happening resentment cripples persistence

And if you ever get resentful it's job 15 11 to 13 from the message it should set you right

Okay at 6 30. We haven't gotten too far. So

So

We'll do the rest later two more points that you can write down

one

When it comes to critical factors or persistence the help of the spirit you have the help of the spirit when you're struggling

persistence

Is helped

By the spirit

When you're at loss

For words

For words

And thoughts

Romans 8 26

When you do not know what to say when you reach the end of the words you have when you don't even know how to form

Your thoughts thoughts then romans 8 26 says the spirit will still begin to present

Your thoughts and your grow and your prayers to god through groanings through

Moaning through weeping inside you he'll still present it before god jacob

Even though you're not using words and thoughts

And so sometimes when you get to that point

When you don't know how to pray anymore and you know that you have to stay with it to see what needs to happen happen

Then begin to fall back and say spirit of god would you take over sometimes tongues may work

Sometimes you don't even feel like speaking in tongues because it doesn't make any sense to you

Well, then go into those places where you begin to groan

Read romans 8 26

Romans 8 26

Romans 8 26

Meanwhile the moment we get tired in the waiting or in persisting

God's spirit is right alongside helping us along if we don't know how or what to pray. It doesn't matter

He does our praying in and for us making prayer out of wordless sighs and aching groans

Come on, man

Lean back on him

You know, we trust the spirit, but we don't trust the work of the spirit

There's a difference

Trust the work of the spirit

He's not a standby as in a spare tire he's a standby as in you can't stand so please stand by

That's not scriptural but made sense

Yeah

Persistence is helped by

Persistence is helped by other friends

Who hold me up

You can ask some of the guys here during covet when things were

Um all shut down i'd actually taken another place to meet where some of the leaders used to come

And we would sit there and pray

Just sit there and pray

Because when you don't know how to stand and pray and you call two or three others persistence becomes easy

Read ecclesiastes 4 12

Hey judah, what are you doing here man?

Ecclesiastes 4 12

Ecclesiastes 4 12

Ecclesiastes 4 12

Starting at verse 10

Verse 9 it's better to have a partner than go it alone share the work share the wealth

And if one falls down there are other helps but there was if there's no one to help tough

Two in a bed warm each other alone you shiver all night

By yourself, you're unprotected with a friend. You can face the worst

Can you round up a third a three-stranded rope isn't easily snapped

One of the mistakes

We make is

either because of shame

or because we

Don't want to share some of the deep difficult things in our lives

We end up having to carry our burdens alone with jesus

jesus can carry them, but he also put others in your life so that

You could spread

Your burdens to them and when you don't and you go into independent mode either because you think oh no

I don't want to burden them. These are my own

Independent problems or this is too shameful. No man

I refuse to do that. I refuse to be a private person

There are certain areas of my life that will be private

But if my problems are private then how in the world can you publicly display a god at work?

One of the qualities of leadership is to live a public life

A life that can be seen in its flaws falls falls and then in its rising fixing restoring and rescuing

Otherwise it becomes pretend right you only show people your good side. I think it's my left side. Sorry

No, it's my right side because most photographs I stand like this because I think I look thinner if I stand like this

Yeah

No, it's my it's my left side because there's more hair here than here

I don't know it gets confusing

Plus in the photograph it reverses anyways

Ah she's you're listening right? Okay

Last point

If you want to persist in prayer you have to overcome mental drift

Mental drift is when you start praying for something and

Your mind just drifts

Mental drift this was not a problem in the ancient days. This is a recent problem

And so the only solution for mental drift is to take your phone and put it somewhere far away

Where you'll have to get up and walk and get it

The reason we don't put our phones away is because but I read my bible on my phone

And I make notes on my phone and if I want to google the meaning of something I have to look at my phone

But I also have to answer the whatsapp by Remy the instagram by Sheldon the facebook by Dilna

And check on the weather and what's happening with I don't know who

Yes

Mental drift is a serious threat to persistence

We'll do the rest later. Mental drift is not

Overcomeable except if you put your phone

Sufficiently far away if you have a recliner

Then it's even better because then you put your phone and you put it up

To put it down and go get the phone is so

Very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very

Difficult that you will stay without your phone

Surprisingly this is a serious problem

Let's pray

The good thing about peace meningitis we'll get 15 minutes more for a break. Yeah

So father

Can you teach me to engage in some persistent prayer this week?

For someone who's a pastor of a church it ain't good enough

For someone who belongs to a church where things are being birthed that I knew that will affect the earth

For a church that has to battle powers in certain places if progress is to be made

Then it ain't good enough in my life and it ain't good enough

In the life of the leaders in this church and in the church

So this week could you begin the process of teaching all of us and me

How to persist in prayer

Some of it can be our own personal needs some of it can be a deep need in someone's life that we are aware of

Some of it can be for the things that this church is engaged in

You're saying pick what you want pick what you want. It doesn't have to be about church and kingdom

It can be your own personal need

But can you go dig out promises and can you come and stay with me?

Can you pick one of these points?

The last few are so interesting they're all about you even though you're the time you're the one i'm inviting to persist in prayer

It's about you

Jesus please help us practice this it's an important step in our journey

Please help us practice this

And over the next three weeks we just want to bless this church may this church prosper

We've been here for almost two years

And i've enjoyed it my thank you that you opened up a new space for us, but we bless forest city church

And pray that this church may know what you want for them and may step into it with boldness and the

The rental that we leave now that others will come and help them with

Payments and stuff like that. So we bless this church. We thank you for peace men and night in advance

They're very kind about they open the church and they're giving it to us for less too

So we are grateful for how you keep opening doors

This church has always been one that never pitches tent

But keeps moving and builds altars. So we bless you. It's been great spending time with you as a group in jesus name

You