Recently, I shared a book review of this book. Andrew Murray’s book on prayer has been life-changing and confidence-building for my own prayer life.
As I sit with my coffee each morning, I find myself drawn to prayer. There are days I need to pray and just talk to God. I share my heart and just sit with His presence. Other times, I am burdened by the ones I loved. But there is one thing that seems to be the hardest part of prayer.
UNANSWERED PRAYER….
One of the things that Murray talks about in his book is what we do when prayers go unanswered. He says this: “Of all the mysteries of the prayer world, the need of persevering prayer is one of the greatest.”
I’ll admit praying the same prayer, over and over again, is the hardest part of prayer. If we are repeating the same petition, day after day, sometimes it is because we are facing an unanswered prayer.
There are prayers I pray every day because I need fresh grace, fresh love, fresh joy, and fresh starts every day. I pray for wisdom and patience as I parent and compassion for those around me. I don’t mind lifting up that prayer to God because it reminds me to be reliant on God daily. Dependence on God is a good and beautiful thing.
The prayers I find exhausting are the ones for that “one person” who is not walking with God. Or the prayer for forgiveness from a sinful action, I find myself falling into again and again. The prayers for healing, relief, a different outcome, or a miraculous way forward: those prayers are sometimes the hardest.
ANDREW MURRAY
It is by faith alone that the difficulty is overcome. When once faith has taken its stand upon God’s word, and the Name of Jesus, and has yielded itself to the leading of the Spirit to seek God’s will and honour alone in its prayer, it need not be discouraged by delay. It knows from Scripture that the power of believing prayer is simply irresistible; real faith can never be disappointed. It knows how, just as water, to exercise the irresistible power it can have, must be gathered up and accumulated, until the stream can come down in full force, there must often be a heaping up of prayer, until God sees that the measure is full, and the answer comes.
The answer is often not what we think, either. Remember back to those times you have prayed for what you have right now. Were there years and tears begging God to give you what you might hold in your hands right now?
WHEN ANSWERS DON’T COME
Did the prayer go exactly as planned? Do you find yourself now on the path that you imagined? Or is this path better? If you have walked with Jesus for a long time, you know that the path is never what we think, and His ways are always, ALWAYS better. Even if the path includes grief, death, loss, and heartache – God changes us as we pray with an open hand.
I think for me, what helps me continue to walk through the hardest part of prayer is to lift my requests up with boldness, but also with an open hand. We can say:
“God, I really want this thing right there…but I also give it up to you. I open my hands to what blessing, promise, or provision You have in store for me. If this thing is not for me, or if it is not how I envision, let me trust that your plan is better.”
Friend, if you are struggling with unanswered prayer, remember to persevere! Pray this prayer by Murray with me today:
O Lord my God! teach me now to know Thy way, and in faith to apprehend what Thy Beloved Son has taught: He will avenge them speedily.’ Let Thy tender love, and the delight Thou hast in hearing and blessing Thy children, lead me implicitly to accept Thy promise, that we receive what we believe, that we have the petitions we ask, and that the answer will in due time be seen. Lord!
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Sarah Frazer
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