PERSISTENCE IN PRAYING THROUGH
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2 Chronicles 20: 1 - 30
Lesson
Prepared by: krisha of Solomon’s Wisdom FB page
Some points are taken from:
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
September 9, 2018
MEMORY VERSE:
Luke 18:1
And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to
pray, and not to faint;
INTRODUCTION:
Our lesson for today titled “Persistence in Praying Through.” What does it mean? “Praying
Through” is an expression and it actually means “you pray until you receive the
breakthrough, you pray until the answer comes or you pray until the
circumstances changes” (Dr.Brown of https://askdrbrown.org/library/what-does-it-mean-%E2%80%9Cpray-through%E2%80%9D
). While persistence
means the quality that allows someone to continue doing something or trying to
do something even though it is difficult or opposed by other people
(Webster). In Filipino means “Pagpupursigi
sa Patuloy na Pananalangin.”
Let me ask
you, do you see the urgency of persistence? Base on your experience, what motivates
you to persist in prayer?
lesson points:
1)
PERSISTENCE IN PRAYER COMES WHEN WE
REALIZE THAT WE HAVE NOTHING (2 CHRONICLES 20: 1 – 30)
Are we persistent in
our prayers? Are we destitute? Have we reached the place where we say, “God you
must answer this prayer because I have nothing? God said in the Bible,
“Without me, you can do nothing.” And we can say, “But Lord, I can do lots of
things. I can teach a Sunday School class. I can even get up and speak at a
conference. I can have a Bible study with men. I can sing and teach the choir. I can
play musical instruments. I can teach in kids at any level. I can do the
programs and do slideshows and many more.” But the problem is, without Him, we
accomplish nothing – and it’s when we realize this that we begin to be
persistent in our prayer life. Sometimes it takes us to nothing before we
realize that we can’t do it by ourselves.
In the Old Testament record, King
Jehoshaphat’s remarkable military victory over a coalition of enemy nations
came about by God’s direct intervention, but that doesn’t mean that Judah’s
king needed only to sit back and watch this victory happen (2 Chronicles 20).
His urgent prayers appear to be a critical element.
Jehoshaphat’s kingdom was in the south end of
ancient Israel. Some men came and told him that a huge number of the soldiers
of surrounding kingdoms had already amassed a vast army to wage war against
him. These enemy states included – Moab, Ammon, Edom, and several other
peoples, all located in present-day Arab lands of the Middle East.
The massive coalition was already on the
march around the southern region of the Dead Sea and was moving northward
toward Judah’s southern border.
The king was understandably alarmed. His
first move was to proclaim a fast for the whole nation. The people responded
and gathered in Jerusalem from every town to seek the Lord’s help.
King Jehoshaphat recognized the great company
of the enemies and he said in verse 12 “… neither know we what to do: but our
eyes are upon thee.” In verse 18, “And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face
to the ground: and all the Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before
the Lord, worshipping the Lord.
A prophet named Jahaziel then stepped forward
to announce the word of the Lord: “Do not be afraid or discouraged because of
this vast army. For the battle is not
yours but God’s.”
The story moves quickly to the conclusion. The
king appoints singers to lead the troops with singing. The Lord at the same time
creates a mysterious ambush against the enemy coalition which throws their
fighting forces into confusion. In their chaos, they begin to kill each other.
Jehoshaphat’s troops gather the spoils of
battle. They return to Jerusalem with joy. The fear of the Lord falls on
surrounding nations, “when they heard the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel”
(2 Chronicles 20:29).
Sometimes it takes a painful situation before
we realize that we need to be persistent. Don’t wait for the time we have
nothing before we realize we need God to have a successful ministry in this
world.
2)
PERSISTENCE IS REALITY (MATTHEW 26:36-46)
Have
we experienced the excitement in doing our ministry? Most people like to live and serve God when everything is exciting.
Mostly the first three months in the ministry is full of excitement. I remember
when I decided to be in full-time ministry, the excitement and the good plans
were there. At first, you see that you have the time in doing the ministry: you
can visit, you can have more time in Bible studies, you can receive free food
from members, others offer you to sleep over, they gave you gifts during
Christmas and you can do lots in spiritual things. But time went on and all the
glamour quickly wore off. Suddenly, you missed your family, you saw your budget
was not enough to buy yourself some personal things, you noticed that you have
no privacy because your room was visited always by young people and sometimes
the church was used for basketball so it was noisy, you started to get
irritating to your fellow workers, though you have companions, you started
feeling alone doing the church work or cleaning and you started to think of
your future. To press my point, church life has a lot of persistence and
endurance. No matter who we are or what
job we have, if we are going to reach the world for Christ we will have to
persist. Persistence is a reality. The real world is not always exciting. It may
have exciting moments but in between those mountaintop experiences, there is a
lot of persistence.
If we all
stop and think about it, life is not easy for anyone. Every job includes endurance and persistence. Prayer takes persistence.
There are wilderness and dry times when you think you are the only one praying.
There are times when you feel as if you’ve prayed a thousand times without an
answer. Real purposeful ministry takes time and persistence as it develops.
Everything good takes endurance.
When we
are praying for something big, we need great patience. It takes both faith and patience to inherit the promise. We read
in Hebrews 6:11-12 “And we desire that every one of you do
shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: That be ye
not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the
promises.” The greater the purpose, the greater the faith and patience
are required.
In Matthew 26: 36-46, Jesus even prayed three times
regarding the cross. Following God’s will, takes persistence but sad to say the
disciples were found sleeping; they were reminded three times, but they were
very sleepy. We can conclude that persistence
is a reality.
3)
PERSISTENT PRAYER DOES NOT GIVE UP (LUKE 11: 5-13)
Beginning with verse 5, Jesus makes a
practical application. He said to His disciples, “Which of you shall have a
friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three
loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing
to set before him’; and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me;
the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and
give to you’? I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will rise and give him as
many as he needs.”
This
is the situation. Here’s Man A, and Friend B has come to visit him, but Man A
has no bread, and this is in the Middle Eastern culture, where hospitality is
huge. So Man A says to himself, I know what I’ll do. I’ll go to my next-door
neighbor and I will ask him for some bread. So he rushes over to his
neighbor’s house, and he knocks on the door and says, “Lend me three loaves of
bread,” and he explains his predicament. But his neighbor says, “I can’t do it.
I’m already in bed. Don’t bother me.” Jesus continues in verse 8: “I say to
you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet
because of his persistence, he will rise and give him as many as he needs.”
Not to give up means not to faint or lose heart. It is a steady prayer. It’s long-term
and not for the faint-hearted. It stands firm. It displays a trust in God that
says, “I am going to believe you for the answer in your way and your
timing.” When we persist in prayer, we cover every aspect of the need
from a variety of perspectives. We see it from the big perspective and from the
tiniest aspect. We don’t forget the prayer because we carry it with us, and
it’s in our routine. We knock and knock at heaven’s door. We are passionate
about it.
When the neighbor said, “Don’t bother me. I’m already in bed
with my children,” the man who needed the bread didn’t just hang his head
and go home. He kept knocking. Hey, I need something. He argued with the
man: “A friend of mine has come on a journey. I’m in a dire predicament.”
CONCLUSION:
We know that God is good and that He
desires to give us good gifts (Matthew 7:7-11; Luke 11:13). We can continue to seek Him
through prayer and to make our requests known to Him (Philippians 4:6). But in our persistence, we must be
willing to submit to God's will. God's ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). We know that whatever we ask in
His will is granted (1 John 5:14-15). We also know that sometimes our
hearts do not understand His will or His timing. At times we must be willing to
wait for God's yes to manifest. Other times we must be willing to accept no for
an answer. When we know God and trust His good character, we can repeatedly
bring Him the same request and rest in the fact that His response will be best
for us. God desires both our persistence and our submission.
https://www.compellingtruth.org/persistent-prayer.html
https://www.compellingtruth.org/persistent-prayer.html
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