Some prayers seem to be answered quickly; other prayers seem to never be answered.
There are two schools of thought on what you should do while waiting on a prayer to be answered.
One says quite compellingly, that once you asked God for an answer, you wait and trust. Why, after all would a perfect God need reminded of something you asked for previously. So you exercise your faith by showing patience. Bring it to Him once and that is enough.
The other side of this debate says, show your faith and trust by continuing to bring the request to God. Not because He needs reminded but more so because you are demonstrating determination and faith in His ability to answer.
There seems to be at least some evidence on both sides here.
Philippians 4:6-7 “…present your request to God and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.”
This verse seems to say, present it to Him and trust.
Matthew 7:7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
In the original language the tense of the action words here indicate being persistent. Ask and keep asking, seek and keep seeking, knock and keep knocking.
I think what some people don’t understand is there is a time for both of these ways of praying.
If you sincerely asked God for forgiveness for something you did on May 6th 2012 for instance, that is enough. He forgives and there is no need to ask again.
However, if you are struggling with a temptation it’s ok to ask for strength to resist it daily or even multiple times every day.
If you told God thank you for getting you through a tough time, maybe once is enough here. But what would be wrong with thanking Him again whenever it comes to your mind.
Don’t worry about how all this works. God understands what we need before we ask. Our part is to ask, express and trust. Sometimes it will be a onetime expression or question, others times we will continue to ask. God will not be annoyed that we bring something up again.
The most important thing is trusting God with His part.
Written by Tom Wise © Finding Wonder 2013
