Pray Until You Have Peace

Note from Chris Vaught: This is part two of “Positioning Yourself for God’s Provision”. You can read part one using the following link:  https://chrisvaught.net/2019/05/18/positioning-yourself-for-gods-provision/

Have you ever heard someone say, “Well, all we can do is pray about it,”? If you were God, wouldn’t you take that as an insult? Think about it. God has given each of us the greatest opportunity possible. It is a privilege without an equal. Through the power of prayer, we have been given personal access to the throne room of God. The presence of God is now available at any time, from anywhere through the gift of prayer.

Why has the Lord Jesus granted us access to the Father through prayer? Because He loves us. What we are concerned about, concerns Him. What interests us, interest Him. God offers to us a relationship, and we all know that a relationship isn’t very strong if there is no communion or communication. We are invited by the Sovereign to enjoy both. We can commune with God in fellowship and worship and share with Him whatever is upon our heart through prayer.

Not only do we have the opportunity to speak to God, but He assures us that He will speak to us. Jesus said in John 14: 26 that the Holy Spirit will bring back to our remembrance whatever He has spoken. If for no other reason than that, we should be regularly reading, studying and meditating upon the Holy Scriptures. When we pray, we talk to God, then the Holy Spirit speaks back to us through the Scriptures. How wonderful of a truth this is!

Now, God doesn’t always answer our prayers when or how we might ask. That too is a blessing since we see life through a very narrow lens, but God simultaneously sees the beginning, the end, and every part in between. So in those moments when our prayers aren’t immediately answered, or it seems that the answer is different than what we have asked, what do we do? We pray until we get peace. Far too many of us have missed out on blessings simply because we gave up too soon.

Jesus taught of a woman who went before an unjust judge (Luke 18). The arrogant judge turned her away, but the woman would not take “no” for an answer. She went back day after day. Finally, the judge gave her the request because of the woman’s persistence. Our goal should never be to persuade God to bend His will to ours. Yet, Jesus taught through this story that we should pray persistently. Pray to the God who loves us and don’t stop until we get an answer. In other words, pray until you get the peace that God has heard and will answer your prayer according to His perfect will.

In this second part of our four-part blog entitled, Positioning Yourself for God’s Provision, let’s go back to 1 Samuel 1 and see how Hannah, the wife of Elkanah not only pursued after the presence of God, but she also learned to pray until she got peace!

So Hannah arose after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the tabernacle of the Lord.  And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish. Then she made a vow…And it happened, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli watched her mouth. Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you!”  But Hannah answered and said, “No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. ~ 1 Samuel 1: 9-11

The heart of Hannah was so burdened that she left the family table and immediately went to the House of Worship in Shiloh. You can imagine how passionately she must have been praying if the priest assumed that she was drunk. However, after the priest realized that she was pouring her heart out before God, Eli said, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him.” – vs. 17

That is exactly what Hannah did. After years of coming to the place of worship in Shiloh and praying for God to answer her prayer, she finally got the peace that God had heard and would answer and she was able to go from there in peace. What if Hannah had stopped praying one year, or even one day before she got her peace?

Whatever you are seeking God for, learn from Hannah and don’t give up. Position yourself for God to answer according to His will. Pray and don’t stop praying until you get peace in your soul.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” ~ Philippians 4:6-7

The peace may be God saying, “I Will.” It may be God saying, “Not now.” It even may be God saying, “No.” The key is persistence in prayer until you get peace. Then you can move onto the next step. We will talk about that next time here on the blog.