Pentecost Sunday
Why do I need to keep praying persistently? Prayer doesn’t start with formulas. It starts with knowing who you’re talking to.
Luke 11
5 Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, 6 ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ 7 And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The
door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ 8 But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence. 9 “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
Luke 18
1 One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up Jesus directly connects persistent prayer with refusing to give up. You’re always doing one or the other. If you’re not praying persistently, you’re giving in to
discouragement. 2 “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. 3 A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give mejustice in this dispute with my enemy.’ 4 The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, 5 but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’”
6 Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. 7 Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?
Persistent prayer isn’t about wearing God down it’s about building us up.
Why persistent prayer matters:
1.Persistent prayer
When you give someone your attention, you’re saying, “You matter to me. You’re worth part of my life.” That’s powerful.
Persistent prayer keeps you connected.
Psalm 25:15: My eyes are always on the Lord, for he rescues me from the traps of my enemies.
Psalm 105:4: Search for the Lord and for his strength; continually seek him.
2.Persistent prayer teaches me about
When we’re waiting for an answer, it’s easy to think God is doing nothing. But actually, He’s doing some of His best work in us.
Zechariah 13:9: I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure.
I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘These are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”
Don’t miss that: the testing comes before the answering.
God will test you with stress before He trusts you with success.
God isn’t withholding the answer to punish you—He’s preparing you to carry the weight of the blessing.
FOUR KEY areas where God wants to grow you through persistent prayer.
1.Persistent prayer
It forces me to ask the question: “What do I really want?”
Persistent prayer is what separates “I kind of want this” from “This is burning in my heart.”
Psalm 37:4: Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
2.Persistent prayer
It forces me to ask: What’s really most important to me?
Worry is a window into your priorities. If you worry about it constantly, it’s because it occupies a central place in your life.
Matthew 6:32-33: These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
Psalm 84:11: For the Lord God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right.
3.persistent prayer tests my maturity.
Prayer is not transactional—it’s transformational. And persistent prayer is one of the ways God shows you where you need to grow.
When I keep asking God over and over again, it doesn’t show immaturity—it actually reveals maturity.
Maturity means you learn the difference between delay and denial. You realize that God’s delays are not God’s denials.
2 Chronicles 32:31: …God withdrew from Hezekiah in order to test him and to see what was really in his heart.
Before every blessing, there’s a
Deuteronomy 8:2: 2 Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands.
That’s the goal: to grow your character.
Am I willing to let God change me, not just my situation?
Romans 6:13: …give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.
4.Persistent prayer tests my faith.
Do I trust my feelings—or do I trust my Father?
Jeremiah 29:11: For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
Galatians 6:9: So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.
So why do we persist in prayer? Not to convince God—but to let Him shape us while we wait.
• He’s shaping our desires.
• He’s testing our priorities.
• He’s maturing our character.
• And He’s building our faith.
God answers prayer. Always in one of these four ways:
When my request is not right, God says no. He’s a good Father—He won’t give you something that will harm you.
When I’m not right, God says grow. You’re not ready yet. Your character needs to catch up with the blessing.
When the timing’s not right, God says slow. The answer is coming—but it’s not time yet. He’s preparing the way.
When the request, the timing, and I am right, God says go. And the breakthrough comes.
So what do we do in the meantime?
Ephesians 6:18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.