Speaker 1: Hey, thanks for joining us today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope.
Speaker 1: We are so glad that you found us today. I've
Speaker 1: got a question for you. Are you feeling stuck like
Speaker 1: maybe you've hit a wall and just nothing's moving forward. Well,
Speaker 1: you're not alone and you're not without hope. You know,
Speaker 1: the Bible is full of people who faced impossible situations
Speaker 1: like Mary, Noah, Job, even the apostle Paul, and they
Speaker 1: all experienced one thing that changed everything, a breakthrough from God.
Speaker 1: So today Pastor Rick continues his series called Seeking God
Speaker 1: for a Breakthrough.
Speaker 2: Rick's going to.
Speaker 1: Walk us through biblical accounts of faith, prayer, and perseverance,
Speaker 1: reminding us that God still moves in powerful ways whether
Speaker 1: you're in a season of waiting or searching for hope.
Speaker 1: This series offers encouragement and biblical truth to help you keep.
Speaker 3: Going and get the breakthrough UNI.
Speaker 1: And now let's get to Rick with part one of
Speaker 1: a message called Why I Must Keep on Praying Persistently?
Speaker 4: Today, I want us to look at why must I
Speaker 4: keep on praying persistently? And the reason why I want
Speaker 4: to deal with this is because of all of the
Speaker 4: mysteries about prayer, and there are a lot of them.
Speaker 4: There are a lot of things about prayer I do
Speaker 4: not understand. I don't always understand how it works with
Speaker 4: the sovereignty of God and the will of man, and
Speaker 4: when you're praying for other people and they have a
Speaker 4: free will, I don't understand it all. I know that
Speaker 4: just God said do it, and he says it over
Speaker 4: and over and over twenty times. In the New Testament,
Speaker 4: he says, ask, I want you to ask. You have
Speaker 4: not because you ask not. Now, since our heavenly Father
Speaker 4: loves us, we know that, and since we know that
Speaker 4: he wants to answer prayer. He's commanded us asked for prayer.
Speaker 4: He has given us multiple promises about prayer, and he says,
Speaker 4: I want to ask, and I want to answer quickly.
Speaker 2: He's eager to meet our needs.
Speaker 4: The question, then, is, then, why do I have to
Speaker 4: pray more than one time? Why do I have to
Speaker 4: make the same request over and over to God? If
Speaker 4: I want what I'm asking for in prayer, and if
Speaker 4: God is clearly loving, and as we saw in the
Speaker 4: last message, He's never going to give you something bad.
Speaker 4: He's never going to give you something detrimental. He's never
Speaker 4: going to give you something harmful or unhelpful. But he
Speaker 4: will always give you what's good and what's best. He'll
Speaker 4: never give you a bad gift. And if God wants
Speaker 4: to do that, why do I have to ask multiple times?
Speaker 4: You know, Jesus said, we looked at this last week.
Speaker 4: Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking.
Speaker 2: That's a mystery to a lot of people.
Speaker 4: Why can't I just say one time and then God
Speaker 4: gives it?
Speaker 2: And he knows that.
Speaker 4: The Bible many times talks about being persistent in prayer.
Speaker 4: One example is there on your outline Colossiums, Chapter four,
Speaker 4: verse two. Be persistent in prayer. In other words, keep
Speaker 4: on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking. Don't just
Speaker 4: pray one time about something, keep on praying. Be persistent
Speaker 4: in prayer, and keep alert as you pray. In other words,
Speaker 4: don't fall asleep when you pray. That's a good principle.
Speaker 4: Remember there I was resting in the Lord.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 4: Keep alert as you pray, always giving thanks to God.
Speaker 4: Now we've looked four times at prayer, and every time
Speaker 4: it adds. Give thanks. When you're asking that we ask
Speaker 4: out of a grateful heart, gratitude for the past. We're
Speaker 4: asking about the future, But he says, always be grateful
Speaker 4: for what God has already given you. So why do
Speaker 4: I have to ask over and over and over and
Speaker 4: over and over? Does God have to be cajoled? Does
Speaker 4: He have to be pestered? Does God have to be bothered?
Speaker 4: Do I have to wear God down? Do I have
Speaker 4: to beg and beg and beg and bribe and plead
Speaker 4: and cry and bother until finally just God goes, okay, enough, already,
Speaker 4: shut up, I'm going to give it to you. Is
Speaker 4: that what kind of God we serve? The answer is
Speaker 4: absolutely not. That is not at all the reason God
Speaker 4: says I want you to ask multiple times. It's not
Speaker 4: for his benefit and it's for our benefit. In fact,
Speaker 4: we're going to look at two stories today that Jesus
Speaker 4: told that teach the exact opposite of that idea, that
Speaker 4: I have to wear God down, that I have to keep
Speaker 4: pestering and bargaining and bribing and then.
Speaker 2: Finally God just goes, okay, I give in. You can
Speaker 2: have this.
Speaker 4: In fact, Jesus told two parables that teach the exact
Speaker 4: opposite thing. Now, by the way, what it's a parable?
Speaker 4: You've heard this word parable? A parable is simply a
Speaker 4: story with a point. A parable is not just a story.
Speaker 4: It's a story with a lesson. It's a story with
Speaker 4: an insight. It's a story with the truth that God
Speaker 4: wants you to get. And the Bible tells us that
Speaker 4: Jesus Us never taught without using parables. He was the
Speaker 4: master storyteller, and these stories still relate to us two
Speaker 4: thousand years later because he was such a master storyteller
Speaker 4: and he just would deal with slices of life. Now,
Speaker 4: there are two kinds of parables you need to understand.
Speaker 4: There are comparing parables and there are contrasting parables.
Speaker 2: Let me explain this.
Speaker 4: In a comparing parable, Jesus tells a story and he's saying,
Speaker 4: this compares to God. God is like this, like the
Speaker 4: loving Father in the story of the Prodigal Son.
Speaker 2: God is like that.
Speaker 4: And when Jesus tells a story where he's saying this
Speaker 4: is what God is like, that's a comparing parable. But
Speaker 4: sometimes he says God is not like this. That's a
Speaker 4: contrasting parable. It's a contrasting parable. In no way people
Speaker 4: of the world are like this, but God's not like this.
Speaker 4: The two stories we're going to look at today, they're
Speaker 4: very brief, actually are contrasting, and God is saying, I
Speaker 4: am not at all like the people in this story,
Speaker 4: and he's getting rid of the idea that you have
Speaker 4: to beg and bargain and bribe God to have an
Speaker 4: answer to prayer. So let's look at these two stories
Speaker 4: and then we'll kind of unpack them. The first one
Speaker 4: is in Luke chapter eleven, and it's the story of
Speaker 4: a persistent friend. Look up here on the screen, and
Speaker 4: here's what this story is all about.
Speaker 2: Once, when Jesus had been.
Speaker 4: Out praying, his disciples asked Lord, teach us to pray.
Speaker 4: We talked about this last week. And by the way,
Speaker 4: when he said teach us to pray, he taught them
Speaker 4: what is now known as the Lord's prayer, and he
Speaker 4: taught them the model praises. Okay, here's how you started,
Speaker 4: our father. Remember we talked about that last week. It
Speaker 4: all starts with the right relationship. God is not some
Speaker 4: force in the sky. He's not a force. He's your father.
Speaker 4: And he's not like any human father who is inconsistent
Speaker 4: and uncaring and distant and distracted and sometimes demeaning. This guy, God,
Speaker 4: this Father is caring, he's consistent, he is a competent,
Speaker 4: he's capable.
Speaker 2: And he is always with you. He's close.
Speaker 4: And so he says, our Father, who are in heaven,
Speaker 4: hallowed be your name, your kingdom. Come, Your will be
Speaker 4: done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us
Speaker 4: this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts,
Speaker 4: our trespasses, as we forgive those who have.
Speaker 2: Sinned against us.
Speaker 4: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Speaker 4: For yours as the kingdom and the power and the
Speaker 4: glory forever.
Speaker 2: Amen.
Speaker 4: But after Jesus taught him the Lord's prayer, he then
Speaker 4: told them this story. And here's what he says. But
Speaker 4: Denny said, suppose you went to your neighbour's house at
Speaker 4: midnight and knocked on his door double hmm, and said,
Speaker 4: an out of town guest has just arrived at my place.
Speaker 4: He's hungry and I've got nothing to feed him, so
Speaker 4: I need to borrow three loaves of bread. Would you
Speaker 4: do that with your name? Wake him up at midnight?
Speaker 4: This is the persistent neighbor. Now, your neighbor would probably
Speaker 4: whisper from the inside of his house.
Speaker 2: Don't bother me. The door's already locked for the night.
Speaker 2: He's saying this from the bedroom, maybe out the window.
Speaker 2: The door's already locked for the night. We're all in bed.
Speaker 4: I can't wake up everybody just to help you.
Speaker 2: Now, he says. But even though he would not help you.
Speaker 4: Out of friendship at that particular moment, if you keep
Speaker 4: persistently knocking on his door, he's gonna get up and
Speaker 4: he's gonna give you what you need because of your persistence.
Speaker 4: All right, already, he says. You just keep on knocking.
Speaker 4: So Jesus says, I tell you this, this is a parable.
Speaker 4: By contrast, keep on asking and you'll get it. Keep
Speaker 4: on seeking and you'll find, And keep on knocking and
Speaker 4: the door will be open to you. For everyone who
Speaker 4: asks receive, and everyone who seeks will find. And if
Speaker 4: you keep on knocking, the door will be opened to you. Now,
Speaker 4: just in case we didn't get that message, she says,
Speaker 4: I'm not like that guy who's not going to give
Speaker 4: it to you out a friendship. He's just given to
Speaker 4: you out to get you out of his hair.
Speaker 2: He says. The principle there is you should keep on.
Speaker 4: Knocking, you keep on asking, keep on seeking, And Jesus
Speaker 4: wants you so badly to understand why you should pray
Speaker 4: about something more than once that he doesn't just give
Speaker 4: you one story.
Speaker 2: He gives us two. And let's look at the second parable.
Speaker 4: And in this he wants to emphasize that you should never, never,
Speaker 4: never give up praying for something that you're asking for
Speaker 4: until you've got it all.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 4: Now, here's the second story, and it's in chapter eighteen
Speaker 4: of Luke and it's first eight verses. This is called
Speaker 4: the story of the Persistent Widow. Similar theme one day,
Speaker 4: this is a different day. Jesus told his disciples another
Speaker 4: story to illustrate that they should always keep on praying
Speaker 4: and never give up. Now, before we take that verse down,
Speaker 4: I want you to notice something. He says, you should
Speaker 4: always keep on praying and never give up. In your life,
Speaker 4: you are always doing one or the other. If you're
Speaker 4: not praying, you're giving up. And if you're giving up,
Speaker 4: if you're discouraged this weekend, it's because you're not praying.
Speaker 4: Jesus said, we should always pray and not give up.
Speaker 4: What is the opposite of discouragement persistent prayer? What is
Speaker 4: the opposite of not praying persistently discouragement? So you can
Speaker 4: go through life either discouraged or diligent. You can be
Speaker 4: pressured into feeling bad about it, or you can be
Speaker 4: persistent in praying. And he says, you're gonna throughout life
Speaker 4: you're always doing one of the other. Anytime you get discouraged,
Speaker 4: you should ask yourself, have I stopped praying persistently? That's
Speaker 4: why you discouraged, because you've gotten your eyes off of
Speaker 4: God and onto yourself. On the other end, if you're
Speaker 4: praying persistently, it eliminates discouragement in your life. You're gonna
Speaker 4: pray or you're gonna give up. Now, then he says this,
Speaker 4: here's the story. There once was a big city judge,
Speaker 4: Jesus says, who didn't care at all about God or people.
Speaker 4: But there was an elderly woman, an elderly widow, who
Speaker 4: kept coming to this judge over and over, pleading for
Speaker 4: the judge to protect her rights and do something about
Speaker 4: a man who had cheated her. I want justice, I
Speaker 4: have my rights, she keeps, coming back to the judge
Speaker 4: over and over. Judge, you got to help me. And
Speaker 4: he didn't care less about her, he says, or even God. Now,
Speaker 4: it says, for a long time, this judge just ignored her.
Speaker 2: Please.
Speaker 4: He couldn't care less about this widow, interest in her
Speaker 4: helping her get justice.
Speaker 2: Or you know, protect her rights.
Speaker 4: The judge just ignored her please for help. But eventually
Speaker 4: he had had enough, so he thought to himself, you know,
Speaker 4: even though I don't care at all about what God
Speaker 4: or what this woman think, I'm tired of her pestering.
Speaker 4: I'm tired of her pestering request. So I'm going to
Speaker 4: see that she gets justice, just to get her to
Speaker 4: be quiet and stop bothering me. Note the same theme
Speaker 4: as the other story. Then the Lord said, now learn
Speaker 4: a lesson from this uncaring judge.
Speaker 2: He says, okay, guys, get the point here.
Speaker 4: Even if that corrupt, uncaring this guy has no compassion
Speaker 4: at all, He doesn't care about you or anybody else.
Speaker 4: Even if that corrupt, uncaring judge eventually gave in to
Speaker 4: that woman's request, won't God, who loves you deeply saying
Speaker 4: this guy's not like me, won't God who loves you
Speaker 4: deeply surely give you what is right if you keep
Speaker 4: crying out to him day and night. Jesus tells two
Speaker 4: stories to teach the exact same truth anytime Jesus tells
Speaker 4: two stories.
Speaker 2: To teach you one truth. It's that important.
Speaker 4: Why you should never give up in praying for something
Speaker 4: not to go. Well, I prayed and nothing didn't happen,
Speaker 4: so I just gave up on it. Now here's the contrast.
Speaker 4: He says, God listens to you. God cares, and God
Speaker 4: wants to answer, even if people don't, even if your
Speaker 4: neighbor doesn't they think you're being rude you're in the
Speaker 4: middle of the night, or even if some unjust, uncaring,
Speaker 4: unsympathetic judge says, forget it, I have no time for you.
Speaker 2: He said.
Speaker 4: God is not like either of them. He listens, he cares.
Speaker 4: And the point is this that God is eager to
Speaker 4: end answer your prayers. So why then doesn't God just
Speaker 4: answer it the first time?
Speaker 2: I ask?
Speaker 4: Why does he want me? And it says over and
Speaker 4: over scripture to keep on praying, keep on seeking, keep
Speaker 4: on asking, keep on knocking. Why does God want me
Speaker 4: to be persistent? So why does God want me and
Speaker 4: want you to keep praying the same request over and
Speaker 4: over and over till he gives it? Why does he
Speaker 4: want us to be persistent?
Speaker 2: Well, the Bible gives.
Speaker 4: Us a number of reasons, and none of them have
Speaker 4: to do with convincing God. He already knows your need
Speaker 4: before you even ask. That's not why you do it.
Speaker 4: There are a number of other reasons. You might write
Speaker 4: these down. They're all right here in the scriptures. Number
Speaker 4: one because it keeps my attention focused on God. When
Speaker 4: you pray about something over and over and over, where's
Speaker 4: your attention? It's focused on God. Now I've told you
Speaker 4: this many times that attention is the greatest gift you
Speaker 4: can give somebody. Guys, the greatest gift if you're married,
Speaker 4: the greatest gift you can give your wife is your attention.
Speaker 4: The greatest gift you can give your kids is your attention.
Speaker 4: Why Because your attention is your time, and your time
Speaker 4: is your life. You're never going to get that back.
Speaker 4: You can always give people money, but you can always
Speaker 4: get more money, but you can't always get more time back.
Speaker 4: You've got the same amount of time as everybody else,
Speaker 4: one hundred and sixty eight hours a week. When you
Speaker 4: give your attention to somebody, when you look someone in
Speaker 4: the eye, you're saying you matter to me, You're valuable,
Speaker 4: You're worth part of my life. It's the highest gift
Speaker 4: you can give people crave attention. God wants your attention.
Speaker 4: You know, the Bible says God is constantly thinking about you.
Speaker 4: How about if you thought about somebody all the time
Speaker 4: and they never thought about you. Well, that probably was
Speaker 4: true when you're in junior high school because there's somebody
Speaker 4: you thought about all the time and they.
Speaker 2: Were totally oblivious to you.
Speaker 4: And you know how painful that was that they did
Speaker 4: not even notice you when all you could do was
Speaker 4: think about them because you are in love in your
Speaker 4: mind with that person. God says, I want your attention,
Speaker 4: And so when you pray about something over and over
Speaker 4: and over, you give God your attention. God loves to
Speaker 4: have your attention because he's always thinking about you. One
Speaker 4: of the reasons God loved King David in the Old
Speaker 4: Testament of the Bible is because David gave God his
Speaker 4: attention all the time.
Speaker 2: Look at these two verses Psal.
Speaker 4: I'm twenty five point fifteen, David says, my eyes are
Speaker 4: continually looking to the Lord. That's another word for being persistent.
Speaker 4: I'm continually looking to the Lord for help, and he
Speaker 4: alone can rescue me from all the traps supposed to
Speaker 4: be plural.
Speaker 2: All the traps.
Speaker 4: You know what, You're gonna have a lot of traps
Speaker 4: in your life this next week. He's the only one
Speaker 4: who knows them in advance. Have you ever gone up
Speaker 4: a mountain road and you're behind a truck and they're
Speaker 4: slow and you'd like to pass them, but you can't
Speaker 4: see around the curve. And how great it would be
Speaker 4: if you could call in a like a helicopter and
Speaker 4: they could say, yeah, it's clear around the corner because
Speaker 4: they could see what you can't see. God can see
Speaker 4: what you can't see. He can see the traps you're
Speaker 4: going to have this next week, this next month, and
Speaker 4: next year, He says, Focus on me continually, and I'll
Speaker 4: show you how to be rescued from all of the
Speaker 4: traps some one oh five verse four.
Speaker 2: Look to the Lord for his strength, seek his face.
Speaker 2: How often? Yeah?
Speaker 4: Constantly circle that so it keeps my attention focused on God.
Speaker 4: God wants you to keep asking because it keeps your
Speaker 4: attention focused on him.
Speaker 2: Question.
Speaker 4: Do you talk to God more when you need something?
Speaker 4: Of course you do.
Speaker 2: If you never needed anything, would you talk to God
Speaker 2: as often? No?
Speaker 4: When you talk to God the most when you're in
Speaker 4: deep pain, so it keeps me focused on God continually.
Speaker 4: There's a second reason, and it's because having to wait
Speaker 4: teaches me about myself. Having to wait teaches me about myself.
Speaker 4: You're going to learn some things while you're praying for
Speaker 4: an answer that you won't learn any other way. This
Speaker 4: is going to be a mind opening message for some
Speaker 4: of you because you learn not just about God, you
Speaker 4: learn about yourself when you don't get everything you want instantly.
Speaker 4: When you pray and God says, well, let's just see
Speaker 4: about how long it's going to take before that prayer
Speaker 4: gets answered. Some prayers are answered immediately, but some take times, weeks, months.
Speaker 4: Two of the most important prayers I've ever prayed. One
Speaker 4: of them took thirteen years and one of them took
Speaker 4: almost twenty five years. But God answered it, and they
Speaker 4: were the most important prayers in my life at that time.
Speaker 4: Why it takes a long because while I was working
Speaker 4: on the prayer, God was working on me. And there
Speaker 4: are no number of tests that happen when you pray
Speaker 4: about something over and over and over that reveal more
Speaker 4: about you. Notice this verse Zachariah says in Zachariah thirteen,
Speaker 4: verse nine, God says, I will test and purify them.
Speaker 4: That's you and me. I'll test and purify them as
Speaker 4: silver is purified by fire. Every wonder when you're going
Speaker 4: through the fire. Why you're going through it. It's for
Speaker 4: testing and for purification. I will test them as gold
Speaker 4: is tested. How do you test gold? You put it
Speaker 4: in a big vat and you heat it up until
Speaker 4: it gets so hot that all the impurities are burned off.
Speaker 4: And how do you know when gold and silver is pure?
Speaker 4: Because the silversmith can see his reflection in it, and
Speaker 4: God can see.
Speaker 2: His reflection in you.
Speaker 4: When all the impurities have burned out of your life,
Speaker 4: You've been through the fire, he says. Then after I've
Speaker 4: tested them, after I've purified them, then they will be.
Speaker 4: They will pray to me and I will answer. Notice
Speaker 4: that the prayer answer comes after the test. Does that
Speaker 4: sound vaguely familiar. We spent ten weeks on Daniel, looking
Speaker 4: at ten tests of Daniel, and I said, before every blessing,
Speaker 4: there is a testing, and God tests you with stress
Speaker 4: before he trusts you with success. That principle of Daniel's
Speaker 4: life is one of the principles of persistent prayer. God
Speaker 4: is going to test you before he blesses you. And
Speaker 4: he says, I'm going to test you, and in this test,
Speaker 4: you're going to learn a lot about yourself. If you
Speaker 4: give up praying, you're never going to learn these lessons.
Speaker 4: He said, what do I learn? What do I specifically
Speaker 4: learn about myself when I have to pray specifically and persistently. Well,
Speaker 4: let me just mention four areas, four areas that God
Speaker 4: wants me to grow, wants you to grow. Write these down.
Speaker 4: The first would be this praying persistently test my desires.
Speaker 4: Praying persistently test my desires, and what that means is,
Speaker 4: I asked the question, and what do I really want?
Speaker 3: Hey, thanks for listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. And
Speaker 3: now here's Pastor Rick with a letter from one of
Speaker 3: our listeners.
Speaker 4: You know, we get letters and emails from people all
Speaker 4: around the world and from all ages, and here's one
Speaker 4: that I got from a listener in Indonesia. His name
Speaker 4: is Steven and he's twelve years old. He wrote, Dear
Speaker 4: Pastor Rick, thank you for the powerful way that you've
Speaker 4: impacted my life. I'm just a twelve year old schoolboy
Speaker 4: in Jakarta, Indonesia. But I listened to the broadcast every
Speaker 4: morning on the way to school. My life has changed
Speaker 4: completely this year. I'm at a new school, and my
Speaker 4: family's just about recovered from some financial problems, but I'm
Speaker 4: still having to.
Speaker 2: Learn a whole new way of life.
Speaker 4: Some days I really feel bad and I ask God
Speaker 4: to help me, But then the Daily Hope broadcast comes
Speaker 4: on the radio, and you always say something helps me
Speaker 4: feel better, and I know that at that moment God
Speaker 4: is trying to speak directly to me through you. So
Speaker 4: thank you ever so much. Well, thank you, ever so much, Steven.
Speaker 4: I love hearing from people like you literally all around
Speaker 4: the world who've been impacted through through Daily Hope. You know,
Speaker 4: by the way, I want to thank all of those
Speaker 4: of you who support us regularly with your financial gifts
Speaker 4: every month. We can't do this without you, but because
Speaker 4: of you, we're able to minister to people like this
Speaker 4: twelve year old boy, Stephen in Jakarta, Indonesia. You're never
Speaker 4: gonna know this side of heaven the number of lives
Speaker 4: that you have impacted because of your gifts to Daily Hope.
Speaker 4: Thank you, thank you, thank you. When we get to heaven,
Speaker 4: we're all going to rejoice and see the results there.
Speaker 3: Hey, if you'd like to support Pastor Rick's Daily Hope,
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Speaker 3: or you can text the word hope to seven oh
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Speaker 3: three oh nine.
Speaker 1: And really, from the bottom of our hearts, we thank
Speaker 1: you so much for your support. Your gift to Daily
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Speaker 3: Hey, be sure to join us next time when we
Speaker 3: look into God's word for our daily hope.
Speaker 1: This program is sponsored by Pastoriks Daily Hope and your
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