#5 - The Perseverance of Prayer - Pr. Opanda Wamalika | Morning Devotion

brothers and sisters. We praise God for granting us this morning once again that we may appear before him and worship him in truth and spirit. Welcome to today's devotional thought. Let's pray. Our Father and our God, we thank you so much for giving us this time that we may listen to your word. May your Holy Spirit impress the truth of this word our hearts to transform us after the similitude of the divine nature. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. We today are going to talk about the perseverance of prayer. And um like all the presentations that we made, our key text has always been Ephesians chapter 6 verse 18, which says, "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints." I said in this text, Paul packed a lot of truth. And uh the truth about prayer that are packed in this text present the privilege of prayer. Seven privileges of prayer. When he says praying always, that one is the possibility. Persistence of prayer. That's the praying always. Persistence of prayer, which we talked yesterday. With all prayer, that's possibility of prayer. And supplication, that is the petition of prayer. In the spirit. That's the power of prayer. Being watchful. That one is the precision of prayer, which we shall not have time to talk about. To this end with all perseverance. This is persevering prayer, the perseverance prayer, and supplications for all the saints. That is the purpose of prayer. Seven Ps. Today, it is perseverance of prayer, and the text that is going to guide us in our discussion is Luke chapter 18 verse 1 to 8. Uh in part says, "Then he spoke a parable to them that men always ought to pray and not to lose heart." He continues, "Then the Lord said, 'Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall not God avenge his own elect, though he bears long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.'" I'm just summarizing. I already talked about that. Our preacher also, the speaker, has spoken about that. The story of the widow and the unjust judge. Of all the mysteries of the prayer world, the need for persevering prayer is one of the greatest. It is also one of the greatest practical difficulties in the exercise of believing prayer. That's very important. I believe that some of us here uh pray. At one point, you find that God is quiet. You know that you need this answer, but he's quiet. That is a difficult a practical difficulty in the exercise of believing prayer. 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. When after persevering supplication our prayer remain unanswered, it is easier often for our weak flesh to think that we must now cease praying because God may have a secret reason for withholding answer to our request. I have found myself in that. When I dropped in the university because of lack of school fees many years ago I prayed and prayed and prayed that God may open a way for me to resume my studies, but God was quiet. After praying for 4 years and God was quiet I told him God I am not continuing my with my studies anymore. And the next year as I I'm telling him I will become a businessman buying tomatoes and onions and doing this business and I will not blame you. Because after all many businessmen never went to university and they are more money than the people who went to university and they are teaching. So, I cannot feel bad, but I meant it. I meant it that I am going out. I'll no longer be a teacher who has been training without finishing the training. I don't know why God after I told him that, decided to act so fast. I just It was at 10:00 p.m. I was still in school. I just got a call from the education director telling me "Go to the union." That time we were still here. "Fill bursary forms. The church has granted you a bursary." >> [laughter] >> I think God did not want me to go out. Later, I discovered when I was studying this thing that I should have hunged on. Probably, the blessing would have been greater. It's not easy to hang on, my friend. Praying for one thing for one year and nothing is coming. Try and you'll see. It is by faith alone that the difficulty is overcome. When one's faith has taken its stand upon God's word and the name of Jesus and has yielded itself the leading of the Holy Spirit, it need not be discouraged by delay. It knows from scripture that the power of believing prayer is irresistible. Faith. We were discussing seriously in the vehicle when we were traveling yesterday uh for supper for dinner. And uh I said a statement that uh when you are committed to God it's easier to believe. But when you are living in a world of sin it's very difficult to believe. For example, you find yourself in a difficult situation and you are praying to God to deliver you from that situation. And you know very well that you are living in a world of sin, it's very difficult to believe. But I mentioned something which those I was with were feeling not very sure. I said, "But should that person living in sin believe God acts?" Are you seeing that thing? That's how faith is powerful. Should that alcoholic prostitute, because those are the ones we think are the worst of sinners should they choose to believe God acts? How much more we who at least have left the world and come to church? Will make God to act when we believe. There's a a good example, just like water to exercise the irresistible power it can have must be gathered up and accumulated until the stream can come down in full force. When you dam water and the stream is going down. See, when you dam the water, and the water is coming, it doesn't show you that it is powerful. It's just filling up. It's just filling up. Filling up. And you continue damming that water. When the power of that water is now full, you will see how it will break that dam. Even if the dam is in concrete. That must often be a heaping up of prayer until God sees that the measure is full and the answer comes. Actually, no single prayer you pray to God is in vain. No single prayer. The moment you just say, "God." God is a lot. So, when you pray and pray and pray, you are heaping up the power of prayer to cause that which you are praying for to happen. So, you wait. Not a single believing prayer can fail of its effect in heaven, but is treasured up to work out an answer in due time to him who perseveres to the end. The conduct of God of of our God and the Father. Now, let's focus on the two statements which our Lord Jesus sets forth the character and conduct of our God and Father towards those he allows to cry day and night to him. This will help us to combine quiet patience and joyful confidence in our persevering prayer. There are two statements only. One, he is long-suffering over them or he bears long with them. I'll be in a while explaining what that means. Number two, he will avenge them speedily. Underline the word speedily. Let's start with the second, we come to the first. He will avenge them speedily. What does this mean? The blessing is all prepared. God is not only willing, but most anxious to give us what we ask. Know that. That God is anxious to give us what we ask. His everlasting love burns with a longing desire to reveal itself fully to his beloved. And to satisfy their need. God will not delay one moment longer than it is absolutely necessary. He will do all in his power to hasten and speed the answer. He's long-suffering. But why, if this be true, and his power infinite, does it often last so long with the answer to prayer? Usually, young people, students in the university, 20, 21, 22, they have that problem. And we pray, we pray, and one says, "Pastor, I am going to defer." I don't think I've I can say, "Don't. Let's pray." Some remain. And push on with me, others disappear. Go home for 1 year. I call. "Did you get school fees?" "We have not yet gotten school fees." I said, "Come back. Just come. Stay around the university." Let's pray. And why must God's own elect so often in the midst of suffering and conflict cry day and night? The answer is he is long-suffering over them. He is bearing long with them. He suffers as he waits for them to remain in suffering for some time. The general but classic illustration of the long-suffering of God is what it means and what it means is the reign of sin in the face of a God who cannot come to terms with it whatsoever. God has to withhold his divine omnipotence for some time. And this causes him pain. The fact that God cannot come to terms with sin, yet sin is around, causes God pain because he has to persevere. He has to bear long with it. He's waiting. God can and does remove people from trouble and provide instant answers to prayer. I told you he has provided instant answers to very many of my But more often, underline that, more often, he allows people to remain in trouble for some time or to wait for an answer to prayer for some time. Whenever he allows the latter, that's when he waits. What have I highlighted? He joins them in their suffering or waiting, whatever the case might be. Psalm 46 says, "The Lord is my refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble." And we always like singing with Jesus in the vessel we can smile at the storm. We love enjoying singing that song especially when when we are not in trouble. The moment you are in trouble, you can't smile at the storm. I want to give biblical examples. Please let me underline the point that I've said. When you pray and God does not remove you from trouble, he actually joins you in that trouble. That is very important and I'm going to give a few biblical examples. The first one is the story of the pilgrimage of Israel from Egypt to Canaan with God in their midst. Exodus 25:8, God says, "Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst." So that as they are moving from Egypt to Canaan, I'm moving with them. And Moses understood this thing until he said, "God, if you won't go with us, we are not going." In other words, the challenges they were going through, the sun, the snake, and what have you, God was right there with them. The second is the three Hebrew boys in the burning fiery furnace where Jesus joined them right in the fiery furnace. Jesus would have stopped Nebuchadnezzar from sending the three boys into the fiery furnace, but he allowed them to enter there and Jesus entered there. The third is John on the island of Patmos. If there is anything John wanted to be delivered from was banishment on the island of Patmos. It was terrible. Alone, he didn't have a blanket. It was rocky. Reptiles are there. And so he says that while I was worshipping silently on the Lord's prayer on the Lord's day, he had a voice behind him. And he knew that's the voice of Jesus. And he thought Jesus had come to deliver him. When he looked behind, he started seeing visions, including the vision of the lamb slain. What Jesus was telling him that the lamb slain is the solution to your problem. After he has revealed him all the to him all the visions, eventually Nero died, and the one who took over as the emperor of Rome removed John from the island of Patmos. Patmos. Perhaps the classic example here is the incarnation. God in human flesh was enough suffering for him. This is why the author of the Hebrews speaks of Jesus thus, "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." God came down, took our nature, and stayed in the midst of sin and sinful man. He saw sin happening. That was great pain for him. When God does not deliver you from trouble, he joins you in trouble. Hebrews 2:17-18 says, "Therefore, in all things he had to be made like his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered, he's able to aid those who are suffering." Therefore, parents of God cost him more than it costs us. You must know that and I'm giving that illustration there. It is more like a father who forbears his son having a nail removed from his foot in the days when there weren't anesthetics. When I was a teacher somewhere, one student on Sabbath we could on one Sabbath we could say, "All right, this Sabbath afternoon we are putting about five, six teachers on the podium who know the scriptures and students can ask any question." And they would ask. So, one student asked this question. Of course, usually very intelligent students, if they are on the side of God, they are very good. But when they are on the other side, they can be dangerous. So, this is what he asked. "If God so loved us so much, why didn't he himself come to die? Instead, he sent his son." Are you seeing how that question is? Why not he himself? The answer is that using human illustration, we know that families have problems. But a family where the relationship between a father and a son is good, you love your son and he loves you. He adores you. He speaks great things about you. He's the only son. When he starts suffering, you suffer in him. And you know what? The father suffers more than the son who is actually suffering. That thing is there psychologically. And even it had been said, I'm just giving that analogy that if you love your wife very much, if you love your we generally love our wives but some love their wives more than others. I hope your husband love you more than so. And you take Let me just use my example. I have three children. The first born um the one who took my wife for to deliver. The other two I never. Do you know why? I suffered greatly when we were in the car. I was thinking she's going to deliver in the car and I was thinking she would die. That that's how I was thinking she would die. I wanted the driver to speed that vehicle like an airplane. He could push but I'm not here I'm not seeing we are moving. When my my husband mhm I feel terror flowing from here to here. And people have said that even when you reach the the ward and you are out, they give you a newspaper you'll read it upside down. You are not aware that it's upside down. All the mind is in the ward. It was terrible. No wonder I never escorted her again. I will never escort her again. It was terrible. I'm told that there was a rule in in Europe in Britain that a husband must take his wife to the labor ward many years ago. Men who took their wives there fainted and collapsed on the ground. Then they said never. We shall kill all the men. What is making him collapse? He's suffering. When you the person you love is suffering, you suffer, too. So, God suffered greatly seeing his son suffering. So, when you are suffering and God is not answering, don't think he's a sadist who is not feeling. He's right there with you suffering even more than you are suffering. So, when it becomes necessary to delay answer to the prayer of his saints, God bears long with them. There are a number of reasons why God delays answer to prayer. That's very, very important. When we pray, that's number one. When we pray, God sets in motion a process leading up to the answer to the prayer. God does not unnecessarily overrule his natural laws or even the moral laws simply because he's in a hurry to answer our prayer. This is what the parable of the growing seed teaches. The parable of the growing seed for the earth yields crops by itself. First the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head, but when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle because the harvest has come. God has so many ways he does his things. But ordinarily, because the universe is being guided by natural laws and the relationship of people are being guided by moral laws, the moment you pray, God starts an answer. Fixing things, selecting uh the vehicle that will have to come. Doing this so that eventually an answer to your prayer will naturally arrive. He does not just disturb people on the market. They are trying to do this, stops vehicles, does this because he's in a hurry to answer your prayer. No. The prayer must be answered through natural, social, and so on events. Because God is the one who established those laws. That's number one. Number two, it is a true testimony of scripture that through bearing long with his faithful people, God has achieved in creating character dispositions which no other method will have done. Of these dispositions, the greatest are patience and faith. Through these two virtues, God has to take his people to the next level of divine revelation. When you are patient enough and you have faith, God now takes you to the next level of divine revelation. Commenting on this text, Andrew Murray wrote, "It is the Father in whose hands are the times and seasons, who alone knows the moment when the soul and the church is ripened to that fullness of faith in which it can readily take and keep the blessing." What's divine revelation? Right from creation to redemption to judgment, including all that God has done for and with man, the end result is one. What is it? The glory of God. This is the revelation of God in the world. The glory of God is that which evidences the presence of God. Anything done to the end that the presence of God is sensed. That then is the glory of God. Literally, the presence of Jesus in the fiery furnace and the voice and the visions of John the revelator all present the glory of God. In quiet, persistent, and determined perseverance, the man of God continues in prayer praising and thanksgiving until the blessing comes. And with it earlier or in concurrence, the revelation of the glory of God becomes its greatest achievement. Christian, give God time. He will perfect that which concerns you. I give one comment on the glory of God. God cannot do anything in the world which is not going to manifest his glory. God cannot answer any prayer that will not manifest his glory. His glory is any evidence in the world or in your life which shows that God is there. Are you seeing that? Yes. Evidence of the presence of God in your life is his glory. Why would God waste resources answering prayers of people and his glory is not being manifested? So, he would like his glory to be manifested, him to be revealed, so that people may worship him. So, when you are persevering, the last comment is this. I I I've noticed and I I gave that illustration that when you are praying and praying, you are heaping up prayer, prayer, prayer. And then when the answer comes, it comes with great power. Just like the prayer of Mary and Martha that Jesus may come and heal Lazarus. He delayed for four days. Had he come earlier, he would have healed Lazarus, right? But they would not have seen the miracle of the resurrection. But when he delayed, the answer was greatest. When God delays in answering your prayer, be prepared for the answer. It will be big. Therefore, pray, persevere, have faith, and praise God. Stop crying and complaining. I want to pray for someone. Let's pray. Father in heaven, it's easier said than done, but it is true that sometimes you delay apparently in answering our prayer. But we have learned that you delay so that the answer may be big, powerful, and glorify your name. But you also answer prayers instantly. It is our desire that you answer prayers instantly. But should you choose to delay, help us to praise you and to pray and persevere until the answer comes. For surely, the answer will come. We thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to learn this thing the whole of this week. If there is one good thing that we have learned, may the Holy Spirit use it to cause us to move closer to you than we were before. We praise you. We glorify you in Jesus' name. Amen.