Persist or Surrender – How Do I Pray?

You have heard this before: “Just give it to God, let go, he’s got this. Exercise your faith. Leave it at the altar.”

You’ve also heard this: “You have keep praying until your prayer is answered.”

Naassom Azevedo

Which is right? They both sound good. Is there a time when continuing to pray about something indicates a lack of faith? Is there a time when failure to persist in prayer will result in unanswered prayer?

There is a way for us to pray that makes sense. There is a time to persist and a time to surrender.

Persistence in Prayer

Jesus told us to persist in prayer. The parable that opens Luke 18 was given to the disciples so that they would always pray and not give up. Jesus said: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. (Matthew 7:7 – ESV) What it literally means is ‘ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking.’

We are to continue to pray until we receive an answer!

Surrendered Prayer

Sometimes, a prayer of surrender is completed in a moment. 1 John 1:9 tells us “if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Notice that it says all! If God has cleansed you from all unrighteousness.  Why do you need to continually pray for forgiveness?

Granted, if we sin again, we must pray again but we don’t continually pray for forgiveness for past sin that has been forgiven already. When we are sincerely following Jesus and have been forgiven, God does not hold past sin against us.

General Guidance for Prayer

Prayers of repentance receive an immediate answer. When we are sincere and thorough in the attitude and prayer of repentance, we will receive a witness to our spirit that we have been heard, forgiven and transformed.

When we experience guilt for past sin that has been repented of and forgiven, that guilt is false and is from the devil. He wants us to dwell in the past failures and sins that have ruled our lives. He wants us to continually feel guilt.

Prayer to God for the release of those feelings of guilt will also be answered immediately. It is not God’s will that you wallow in guilt!

When we are praying and interceding for someone, we must persist in that prayer until it is answered. I pray for friends and family that are unsaved. I will pray for them until they are saved. Then, I will continue to pray for their spiritual growth and health. In other words, never stop praying for the people in your life!

When we are praying for healing, we continue to pray unless God shuts us down. Listen to the apostle Paul’s experience: Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:8-9)

We must also heed the experience of Jesus with the widow who was pleading for her daughter. You can read the story in Matthew 21. This Canaanite woman was ‘rejected’ by the disciples and by Jesus but she persisted and her faith and persistence resulted in a healing touch!

Persistence in prayer is a sign of great faith! If God does not grant your request right away, keep on praying until he gives you an answer. If your prayer is outside of his will, he will make that clear to you in his time.

Your Turn

If you need a surrendered prayer, pray it now!

Have you given up in some of your prayers? Don’t give up until God tells you to give up!

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