RUNAWAY KNOCKS

(Post by: Madie Hobbs)

What is something that you have given up praying for? I want you to think of that something and keep it in mind. It will be important later on.

Earlier this year, my mom found a sermon by Charles Spurgeon, The Importunate Widow, and it is SO good! I get so excited every time I read it.

The sermon focuses on the topic of consistent prayer. The scripture which he bases the sermon on is Luke 18:1-8, which is one of my favorite parables about prayer. (If you would like to hear more about that parable, go and read another blog post that I wrote called, “Will He Find Faith?”) https://thefew.blog/2020/01/16/will-he-find-faith/

In this scripture, Jesus was teaching His disciples to always pray and never give up. I feel that so often we pray for something, and we expect results right away. We expect God to fix it the exact way we tell Him to.

Most of the time when nothing happens immediately, we just stop praying because we didn’t hear an audible voice from heaven. We suppose that it must not be important to God, so we give up and go on about our day.

I am here to tell you Church; He cares!

Here is a small portion of Spurgeon’s sermon:

“When we ask God for a mercy once, we are not to consider that now we are not to trouble him further with it, but we are to come to him again and again! If we have asked of him seven times, we ought to continue until 70 times seven; in temporal mercies there may be a limit, and the Holy Spirit may bid us ask no more, and then must we say, “the Lord’s will be done,” If it is anything to our own personal advantage, we must let the Spirit of submission rule us so that after having sought the Lord thrice, we shall be content with the promise “My grace is sufficient for you,” and no longer ask that the thorn in the flesh should be removed. But in spiritual mercies, and especially in the united prayers of a Church, there is no taking a no for an answer! Here, if we would prevail, we must persist! We must persist incessantly and constantly, and know no pause to our prayer till we win the mercy to the fullest possible extent.”

Might we be a Body of believers who seek God constantly and incessantly! Might we be a body that believes that the Lord hears us and will actually answer. Church let’s pray.

As Lilly and I were talking about what I wanted to write in this post, I realized that when we pray, we let the enemy know that we believe the Lord can help us. The Lord knows what’s on our hearts, but through prayer, we remind the Devil who’s really got the power.

Every year I pick out one word to focus on during my devotion time. For 2020, I chose the word “wait.” This year I picked out a quote for the year and, surprise, surprise, it came from Spurgeon’s sermon! It says this:

“But, brothers and sisters, how many times we ask of God, and have not because we do not wait long enough at the door? We knock a time or two at the gate of mercy, and as no friendly messenger opens the door, we go our ways. Too many prayers are like boys’ runaway knocks-given and then the giver is away before the door can be opened! O for divine grace to stand foot to foot with the angel of God and never, never, never, relax our hold, feeling that the cause we plead is one in which we must be successful, for souls depend on it, the glory of God is connected with it, and the state of fellow men is in jeopardy! If we could have given up in prayer our own lives, and the lives of those dearest to us, yet the souls of men we cannot give up, we must urge and plead again and again until we obtain the answer.”

We must persevere in our prayer! If you have been praying for something for a long time, keep praying! If you have been praying for something for only a little while, keep praying! We must pray!

Just because you’ve been praying for something for a while doesn’t mean that the Lord doesn’t hear you; or is neglecting you. He just wants you to be faithful and wait. He will answer.

Remember how I asked you to remember something you have stopped praying for? Well, here is my challenge to you. Pray for whatever that is, and continue to pray for it.

We cannot give up the souls of men. They depend on our prayer. So, let’s not let our prayers be like boy’s runaway knocks.

“Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! {Isaiah 30:18}

Church, let’s pray.

SO WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE?

= Have you been praying for something for a long time?

= How did this post affect you personally?

= What are you going to do differently?