The Privileged Life: The Power of Perseverance in Prayer

“I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day…” (2 Timothy 1:3)

My cellphone rang just as I sat down to write this week’s devotional. It was our son, excited to share his good news about a job offer. Wow! What an unexpected joy…and a bit of a shock.

After we hung up, I praised God for His abundant provision. The shock was in His timing. This news was His response to a specific request lifted up earlier that day in my Moms in Prayer group.* I had no idea I would hear such a great outcome so fast.

Do you feel the same about swift answers? Are you astonished when He gives responses in the blink of an eye? God’s whirlwind work can catch me completely off guard…because, most of the time, I’m accustomed to waiting months and years to see His hand at work.

I’ve learned, from my youth and in the past year, that patience is a gift from the Holy Spirit—and—a discipline God asks me to exercise with Him. After all, He is overwhelmingly patient with me and my sinful nature. In return, I need to be quiet in the waiting, listening, and watching.

It’s hard. I don’t like waiting, especially if I believe I’m asking according to His truth and Scripture. But I don’t know His master plan. He might be working toward a completely different outcome in order to accomplish His will.

So, I’ve also learned the power of perseverance. He calls me to lift up my concerns to Him without ceasing. It doesn’t matter how many words I use or how flowery my language might be. What matters is that I communicate with Him constantly. He wants me to bring all of my hurts, longings, anger, sorrows, worries, and other concerns to the foot of His throne.

When I have unbroken fellowship with Him, I can lay my burdens upon Him and trust in His goodness…even if His response is “no” or “not yet.” It means I can rest in Him and praise Him in the process.

For prayers yet to be answered, He has called me to pray “without ceasing,” as the apostle Paul admonished us in the Holy Spirit, by his own example (see Romans 1:9, 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3, 2:13, 5:17).

I think of Simeon and Anna in Luke 2, both well advanced in years, having waited for decades for the promises of God to appear. These two senior saints showed up (by the direction of the Holy Spirit) at the temple in Jerusalem just at the exact moment Joseph and Mary brought their baby Jesus to be presented to the Lord.

God had long ago promised Simeon that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Anna, a widow, had served God with fastings and prayers in the temple, night and day, for most of her adult life. God’s answer may have been long in coming to her, but she responded to God “in that instant” by speaking of Jesus to all those who were looking for redemption in Jerusalem.

Simeon and Anna persevered in prayer, waiting at their stations in the temple, and God blessed them with seeing their Savior face to face—Simeon even held Him!

How do we persevere? We pray, we watch, we wait. We stand guard at our prayer stations, as if we are on a watchtower. We lift up our hands in accordance and acceptance of His will.

Not long ago at Hobby Lobby, I bought a shopping bag at the check-out counter to carry home some lovely purchases. (You have to watch yourself in there—it’s easy to get carried away with all the beautiful things, especially the items on sale.) The real treasure that day, however, was the bag. It was inscribed with this verse:

“…“O Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower, and I am stationed every night at my guard post.” (Isaiah 21:8—NASB)

It hangs now in my closet where it reminds me of my role as a lookout. I can’t orchestrate God’s answers to prayers. But I get to watch for them. My job is to stand firm—by day and night, as Anna did—at my guard post, with my eyes on God in anticipation of His handiwork here on earth. It’s a huge privilege.

Will you join me in “prayer without ceasing” this year? I’ll be happy to pray for you. Let’s stand on our watchtowers, wherever He has stationed us—serving as prayer warriors like Simeon and Anna, persevering with patience.

Holy Father, grant me Your peace and joy as I pray to You, according to Your will. Do not cast me away when I lose hope—help me to persevere and rest in Your good will, regardless of circumstances. Let me, like Simeon and Anna, lift up my heart’s cry to You, in faith that nothing will keep You from accomplishing Your good plans. Bless me, O Lord, as I share Your good news and the love of Your Son, Jesus, with others. In His name, Amen.

Nancy C. Williams is a Christian wife/mom with a writing career spanning more than 40 years in business and journalism. Williams is the author of the novel To Love a Falcon and the devotional book A Crocus in the Desert: Devotions, Stories, and Prayers for Women Experiencing Infertility. Her weekly blogs are featured on Crossmap.com. To follow Nancy’s posts and news, go to her home page at http://lightbournecreative.com and subscribe at the bottom.

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*Moms in Prayer is an international organization committed to helping moms, grandmothers, and others join hands together in small groups to pray for their children and schools. You can find out more here: https://momsinprayer.org