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We Must Ask Perseveringly

"In everything give thanks..."

“Rejoice in the Lord always...”

Scripture

1 Thess 5: 17 “Pray without ceasing.”

2 Tim 1: 3 “I thank God...as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day.” 

Luke 18: 1 “That men always ought to pray and not lose heart.”

Others

George Müller

“The great point is never to give up until the answer comes. I have been praying for fifty-two years, every day, for two men, sons of a friend of my youth. They are not converted yet, but they will be! .... The great fault of the children of God is, they do not continue in prayer; they do not go on praying; they do not persevere. If they desire anything for God’s glory, they should pray until they get it. Quoted in Roger Steer, Delighted in God, (Wheaton, IL: Harold Shaw Publishers,1981), p.186.

Andrew Murray

“It is ‘through faith and patience we inherit the promises.’ Faith says most confidently, I have received it. Patience perseveres in prayer until the gift bestowed in heaven is seen on earth. ‘Believe that ye have received, and ye shall have.’ Between the ‘have received’ in heaven, and the ‘shall have’ of earth, believe—believing praise and prayer is the link.” Andrew Murray, With Christ in the School of Prayer, (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell, 1979), p. 64.

“Of all the mysteries of the prayer world, the need of persevering prayer is one of the greatest. That the Lord, who is so loving and longing to bless, should have to be supplicated time after time, sometimes year after year, before the answer comes, we cannot easily understand. It is also one of the greatest practical difficulties in the exercise of believing prayer. When, after persevering supplication, our prayer remains unanswered, it is often easiest for our slothful flesh, and it has all the appearance of pious submission, to think that we must now cease praying, because God may have His secret reason for withholding His answer to our request. It is by faith alone that the difficulty is overcome. When once faith has taken its stand upon God’s word, and the Name of Jesus, and has yielded itself to the leading of the Spirit to seek God’s will and honor alone in its prayer, it need not be discouraged by delay. It knows from Scripture that the power of believing prayer is simply irresistible; real faith can never be disappointed. It knows how, just as water in exercising the irresistible power it can have, must be gathered up and accumulated, until the stream can come down in full force, so there must often be a heaping up of prayer, until God sees that the measure is full, and the answer comes.” Andrew Murray, With Christ in the School of Prayer, (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell, 1979), p. 87.

Ellen White

“When upon Mt. Carmel he offered the prayer for rain, his faith was tested, but he persevered in making known his request unto God. Six times he prayed earnestly, and yet there was no sign that his petition was granted, but with a strong faith he urged his plea to the throne of grace. Had he given up in discouragement at the sixth time, his prayer would not have been answered, but he persevered till the answer came.... God does not always answer our prayer the first time we call upon Him; for should He do this, we might take it for granted that we have a right to all the blessings and favors He bestowed upon us... We (would) become careless and fail to realize our dependence was on Him.” Ellen White, Bible Commentary, Vol 2, pp. 1034, 1035.

“Christ desires nothing so much as to redeem His heritage from the dominion of Satan. But before we are delivered from Satan’s power without, we must delivered from his power within. The Lord permits trials in order that we may be cleansed from earthliness, from selfishness, from harsh, unchristlike traits of character. He suffers the deep waters of affliction to go over our souls in order that we may know Him and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, in order that we may have deep heart longings to be cleansed from defilement, and may come forth from the trial purer, holier, happier.... There is no danger that the Lord will neglect the prayers of His people. The danger is that in temptation and trial they will become discouraged, and fail to persevere in prayer.” Ellen White, Christ Object Lessons, pp. 175, 176.