Focus: Pray Through (Pt.3)

Text: Jh.16:24

"Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full."

Asking and receiving fulfill our joy. Answered prayers gladden the heart. Until our joy is full, we will keep praying.

God has given us the ability to pray through. Blind Bartimaeus kept crying out loud for the Lord Jesus Christ to help him until He stopped for him. Even when the people tried to stop him, he refused to be silenced. He was not only desirous of the Christ's mercy, but he was also determined and persistent to receiving it. The Lord Jesus Christ stopped for him, granted his request, and restored his sight.

Concerning the woman of issue of blood, Matthew says, "For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole" (Mt.9:21). In the original text, she didn't just say it; she kept saying it - "If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole." With every step she took to go to Jesus, she was constantly and continually saying to herself, 'If I could get to and touch him, I would be healed.' What a faith! A touch was all she needed to be healed. She took her chances and got what she wanted. Like her, you too can pray through.

Another example is Zachariah. The angel of the Lord said to him, "Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son…" (Lk.1:13). After many years of praying to God for a child and getting no result, the Lord finally responds. God didn't let him die without seeing the answer to his prayers. 

God is not always a fast-runner, but He is never a late-comer.

Christ Himself invested quality time in prayer. Luke reports, "And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God" (Lk.6:12). He gave himself to protracted times of prayer. He spent a whole night interacting with his Father and praying through. Believe God and pray through! Jesus Christ prayed through; you will, too, pray through. 

Prayer changes not only things around us; prayer changes us, and that includes our views and values. Prayer changes us internally and externally, vertically and horizontally, and also, eternally.

Asking and receiving in prayer make for full joy. Until you have received, keep on asking. Until you encounter God's reality, keep praying. Until you experience fullness of joy, keep being in touch with heaven. Until you see clearer and know better, keep praying, looking to God and into His heart. Pray through and keep the faith. Jude says, "Building up your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit." I say to you, keep praying; don't stop. Your God is a prayer-requiring and prayer-answering God.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter