Pray Persistently

'Go and look toward the sea,' he told his servant. And he went up and looked. 'There is nothing there,' he said. Seven times Elijah said, 'Go back.'"
1 Kings 18:43-44 (NIV)

How many times have you quit praying one day before your miracle?

Six times, Elijah sent his servant to scan the horizon for rain. Six times, the boy returned with the same disappointing report, "There is nothing there." The sky was completely empty. And most of us would have given up by prayer three. 

But Elijah kept praying because he knew that when you're praying for rain, there may not be a cloud in the sky, but God is in the sky.

Twice before, Elijah had experienced God answering his prayers immediately. Rain stopped for three years, and fire fell with the false prophets of Baal right when he asked. But this third prayer needed to be repeated seven times.

That is the mystery and majesty of prayer. Sometimes it's one and done. But most of the time, it is not "one" and done; it is not "won" until you are done. God's timing is not based on our clock. God's moving is not based on our calendar. 

God is never early nor late. He is always on time, but it's always His time.

Remember that it's not the length of your prayers, the language of your prayers, or the loudness of your prayers that impresses God. It is the lasting of your prayers. When you stop praying, you might be giving up just before you see God’s breakthrough.

What prayer have you abandoned? Pick it up again this week. Write it down and pray it each day. In prayer, you never give out and you never give up.

Prayer: Father, forgive me for quitting in prayer too soon. Teach me how to persist in prayer, to keep praying even when I hear "nothing there" six times in a row. Help me trust Your timing, Lord. In Jesus’ mighty Name, Amen.