‘Praying through’ is a phrase I used to hear a lot in my church when I was a child. The pastor or mentors in the church would use this phrase to encourage the church, the people, to pray their way all the way through a situation. Many times, our church would hold hands and pray ‘through.’ I could feel, even as a child, the power in that prayer as we prayed through, but my young mind was still confused. My thoughts were…What does that even mean? How long is long enough? How do we know when we are done? Does God tell us “You can stop now?”
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16
As an adult, I get it now; prayer is effective when we pray as often as needed and for as long as is needed and we do not care about the time it takes. We can’t rush God into giving us a good feeling about something, but we can pray often and fervently! The time it takes for prayer then? It is until we get an answer from God, until we feel His peace surrounding our situation, until we see our wrong, until we are aligned with God, until we feel His presence, until we ask and receive forgiveness or until we reach a point of intimacy with Him and feel His love deeply. It can be all of these things and more. It’s just, until. The Lord will guide us.
I asked my mother once, “Momma, how long should I read my Bible, because I don’t have much time after homework.” She answered me, “It takes as long as it takes.” That changed my whole focus on being a Christ follower. She was telling me to read until. I heard from my pastor to pray until. She knew and my pastor know that seeking God’s wisdom in prayer and seeking Him in the Bible takes whatever time is enough in any relationship that is super special. It takes what it takes, as many times as it takes. The Lord will guide us:)
Aren’t you glad we have a God that listens to our repeated requests? He will never tell us to go away, stop bothering Him with our prayers. He never sleeps!
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 1 John 5:14
Dear Father God,
It is almost too hard to believe that we can talk to You, our Creator and sender of our Savior! I hope we never lose that reverence of all that You are and all You have done. When we pray to ask You to heal the sick, to uplift our friends who are going through trials, we know You hear us. Thank You for hearing and answering prayer! Thank You for being available 24-7 to everyone in the world. You have so much love. We want that love for others that makes us pray ‘until.’ We want Your will to be our top prayer request though. Please keep feeding us and teaching us to be less of ourselves so we can be filled with You instead. We praise You for all that You have done and will do in response to our prayers. We love You so much! Amen
Love and prayers to all of you,
Just me. Just His.
Tina
Glory in the Morning 