Encouraging prayer God offers an open invitation for His people to talk with Him at any time about anything. On Encouraging Prayer, Dr. James Banks, author of the best-selling Prayers for Prodigals and many other books on prayer, provides weekly biblical insight to help you learn to love to pray. And now, here's James. Have you ever had one of those moments when you sensed that God was telling you?
Stop? Praying about this?
Well I'm guessing that doesn't happen every day. Most of us have had the opposite problem of knowing that we need to pray more, but there are Some times when you need to stop praying about one thing and move on to praying about something else and I love this topic. Yeah.
Well, you know, there's an interesting interchange in in Deuteronomy three. And it's kinda hard to watch. I mean, God's God's people are about to cross into the promised land. And here's Moses, you know, who has led them all of this way, but he's already been told that he cannot go in. But that doesn't mean he quits asking.
In in verse twenty six, Moses tells us about what happens, though. He gives us God's response to him after he keeps asking. And he writes, That is enough. The Lord said, Do not speak to me any more about this matter. And then God gives him direction as to how he can see the promised land from a mountaintop.
and he gives them further instruction about how to help the people after he's gone. But Those words, you know, do not speak to me any more about this matter. Kind of stand out, don't they? Yeah, they do, but we can't generalize from this one passage and say it's always a principle for the frist for the Christian faith, really, can we? I mean no, you you can't really, but if you are a persistent prayer, there there may well be times that you sense God is challenging you to move in a new direction with your prayers.
And that usually comes when you're asking for And then you sense God's saying, uh-uh.
Well, I've had that happen, that's for sure. One time I was praying for f for some help for a single mom and I r had a company that had promised to help me, but when it came time to actually help, and it was right before Christmas, that they didn't come through, and I really got frustrated. And I was pretty much telling God, This isn't how this was supposed to go. You know, you need to do something about this. And he pretty much just said, Robbie, if you want to help this lady so bad, why don't you help her?
And by that he meant do you have the courage to actually call a body shop, which is what she really needed? And he knew I had not had that courage thus far. And and interestingly, that prayer led to a completely sensitive direction and that lady's car got fixed on Christmas Eve that year. I'll never, ever, ever forget it. It's kind of like God is what happens when you have other plans.
Right. Exactly. Yeah, but this also raises an important question. How can you know when to stop asking God for something and when you need to continue to persevere? I mean, after all, scripture is full of those instances of people who kept per s persevering in prayer against all the odds until God finally really did give them what they asked for.
Right, right. And not only that, Jesus tells us to keep on asking and keep on seeking and keep on knocking. But in the Garden of Gethsemane, he said, Not what I want. But what you want. Or look at Paul, who said, pray continually.
And still, Paul got to a place with his thorn in the flesh. 2 Corinthians 12, where he asked three times for it to be taken away. And each time God said no.
So you realize after that third time, that was it. It's rarely ever easy, even though we may be grateful later that He did.
Sometimes at the time it's hard to understand, especially if you're asking for something good. That's exactly right. But here's where this is going. Notice a similarity between Paul and Moses' interchanges with God. In both instances, God communicated with them.
He told Paul, my grace is sufficient for you. And he kept leading Moses as well. I mean, in a way that, you know, you could tell was very intimate as he was charging him with helping the people. This shows us that this is a very personal thing. And the way we will know God's leading in this is to stay close and keep our relationship personal and tender with him.
In other words, don't let what you're asking for get in the way of the relationship. Exactly. And that's not always easy either, as you were saying. But if we keep our relationship tender, we will be able to discern when and where God is leading in a particular direction. And that's where I think a great prayer is, Lord, help me to want what you want.
You know, that's really what Jesus prayed in Gethsemane. As we pray that way, God will change our hearts. And, you know, just as we continue to give them to him in a matter. And would you say that there are things that you know you can always keep praying about? Oh, absolutely.
Especially if you're praying for a prodigal child or.
Well or someone you love to become a believer, never give up. But let God show you those other places where maybe your energies aren't so well spent. And that's one of the reasons why this is so important.
So we can emphasize what matters most.
So James, how about the person who comes at this from the angle of the Lord knows what I want, I've asked him for it, so I quit asking. Oh, I think careful there. I mean, I don't see that a lot in Scripture. I mean, what you see there more than anything else is persevering, like we were saying. But I don't think you ever see a person saying, well, I've prayed about this enough.
unless God had made it clear to them You know, that one instance is Paul, where it's very clear God took the initiative and not Paul.
So sometimes we may feel that way if something's minor, and that's okay, but in the big stuff, Man, I think we have to keep asking. Yeah, that makes sense, but While we're turning this over a bit, how about the person who says the instances you talk about, Moses and Paul, they're pretty tall orders. I mean, I'm not there yet, so I'm not sure I can really use this concept of knowing when not to pray about something in my own life. What would you say to them? I mean, I'd say that I have a long way to go as well.
Uh think about this though, but Both parts. Paul and Moses had such beautiful relationships with God. And that shows us something. Uh I think that when we want a relationship with him more than anything else, that's going to have an effect on what we're asking for. And I think the Holy Spirit will work in us and help us And sometimes that means correction along the way about the things that we're asking for.
So, you know, we may not feel like we're there yet, but this really is the direction. God is moving us in.
So it's really important. more about living for his kingdom and loving him. really more than anything else. Yeah, it is, and And he'll lead us in this. and help us go the distance as we pray.
I'm so thankful for that.
Well, let me wrap things up with a prayer that we can keep moving in that direction closer and closer to Him. Jesus, thank you for my friend and these wonderful challenges in prayer as we can move into a relationship. with you to where we we actually sense You're directing us. to change direction or stop going the wrong way. I pray that you would Stick close by us as we move closer into you.
I asked this. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You can hear more from Pastor James by visiting his website.
JamesBanks.org or by visiting Peace Church in Durham, North Carolina. May God bless you and encourage you as you pray. Mm.
