For everyone who asks and keeps on asking receives; and he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds; and to him who knocks and keeps on knocking, the door shall be opened.What father among you, if his son asks for a loaf of bread, will give him a stone; or if he asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent?
Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?
If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good gifts [gifts ]that are to their advantage] to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask and continue to ask Him! Luke 11:10-13
How many times have we been asked to pray about something for someone? Or maybe we or a loved one are going through a time of trial. We know that the Lord wants us to make our needs known to Him. But how many times should we pray? How long should we pray?
Clearly the Lord does not count it against us for frequent asking as we can see in the reading above. In fact he tells us to keep on asking.
When a young relative called us to tell us he had cancer, my husband and I began to pray for him. Even when the news was bad, we did not stop asking the Lord to heal him. Why keep on? Because we don’t know what the Lord’s plans are. Remember Lazarus, Dorcas and the widow’s son. Remember all the people that Jesus healed from the time of His ministry to today. The Lord gave this relative several more years of life and then took him to heaven. We never lost our faith and trust in the Lord. Did the Lord give him good things in answer to our prayers? Yes. He became so very close to the Lord. His relationship with his wife was strengthened. He fearlessly proclaimed the gospel to many of the broken people in his family.
Remember David when his child by Bathsheba was seriously ill? He fasted and prayed, but after the child died he washed himself and went back to his life. His faith and trust in the Lord never wavered.
So, back to our original question: “When do we stop praying?” When the Lord tells us, or until we see an answer to our prayers or the person goes home to the Lord.
Let’s keep on asking.
Jesus is Lord!
