Don’t Give Up On Your Prayers

Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking receives, and he who keeps on seeking finds, and to him who keeps on knocking, it will be opened. – Matthew 7:7-8 (AMP)

While I was reading my devotional this morning, there was a particular paragraph that stuck out to me. The writer said, “I believe that many times people give up praying because they want instantaneous success and immediate answers. They start the process but don’t see it all the way through. But when you’re persistent to pray for what’s on your heart, know that God hears you and is constantly working behind the scenes to help—so don’t give up!”

I don’t know about you, but I’ve definitely been guilty of what the devotional author was talking about – giving up on praying for something because I didn’t get an answer right away, or at least see some progress pretty quickly.

It’s really easy to pray for something for the first time, or the second time, or maybe even the third time. But when you find yourself praying every single day for the same thing and nothing happens, it can be super frustrating and discouraging.

Have you ever been there? Have you been praying for God to move in a certain way or grant you a certain desire or point you in the right direction and…crickets? It’s disheartening, isn’t it? And when those feelings of discouragement and hopelessness start to settle in, the thought of throwing in the towel starts to look pretty darn enticing.

But let me ask you this: what do you have to lose if you keep praying? What are you sacrificing by continuing to press forward in your prayers? I mean, if you think about it, you’re going to be waiting either way. You’re going to be looking for answers either way. You’re going to be hoping either way, right? So why not keep praying?

Or here’s another question: what could you miss out on if you stop praying? My stomach sinks when I think about that question. What if God wants to come through in a really amazing, unexpected way by answering my prayers? What if He wants to surprise me with something that is far greater than I could ever ask for or imagine (Ephesians 3:20)? What if He has something to teach me in the waiting and the searching and the hoping? And what if I miss out on all of that because I give up?

This topic reminds me of a picture my brother sent me several years ago. It was a drawing, almost comic-strip-like, of two men digging underground searching for diamonds. The man digging in the top tunnel is headed toward the diamonds, still with quite a distance to go before he reaches the undiscovered treasure. Meanwhile, the man in the lower tunnel has turned around and started walking back, having given up on his quest. What he didn’t know, but what we can see looking at the image, is that he was mere inches away from discovering the diamonds.

What if he hadn’t given up?

I know this image is just a meme, but it breaks my heart every time I see it because I wonder how many people have been in the same spot as that man in the lower tunnel – so close to what God had for them, but they gave up too quickly.

I don’t want to be the girl who gives up praying too soon, and I don’t want you to give up too soon either. So let’s be the ones who keep pressing on, even when it feels like we’ve been waiting forever. Let’s be the ones who keep digging, even when we have no idea how much further we have to go. And let’s be the ones who keep praying, even though we’ll never know all that God is doing behind the scenes.

You have no idea what hangs in the balance of your perseverance and your persistence. So keep on praying, friend. And trust that He’s listening and He’s working, even when you can’t see it.