Jesus taught about how to pray in a way that is very different from what we hear today in many places. Many people think that we are only supposed to pray for someone once and then stop. These people think that if we pray for them once and they don't get what we asked for, it's because they are sinful or don't have faith.
Jesus did not teach this, though. Check out the Bible verses below.
Luke 18:1-8
1And he told them a story to show that people should always pray and never give up;
2Saying, "There was a judge in a city who didn't care about God or people:
3There was a widow in that city, and she went to him and told him, "Get even with my enemy."
4
And for a while, he didn't. But then he thought to himself, "Even though I don't fear God or care about people,
5But because this widow bothers me, I will get even with her so she doesn't keep coming back and making me tired.
6The Lord said, "Listen to what the unfair judge has to say."
7
And will God not take care of his own people who cry out to him day and night, even though he waits a long time?
8I promise you that he will get back at them quickly. But when the Son of Man comes, will there be faith on earth? (KJV)
This is not hard at all. Jesus said that even a judge who didn't care about a widow's plight or justice would stand up for her if it helped the judge who didn't care about her.
Then Jesus said that God would also take care of His chosen people's needs when "they cry to him day and night."
Now, crying out to God day and night doesn't sound much like the religious cliches that are popular today. No. When we pray for and help someone, but the answer doesn't come right away, we keep going. We do not quit. We keep praying for them until God takes action based on our "day and night crying out to Him."
Paul adds to what Jesus said. He told us that we should pray all the time. See the next Bible verse.
1Thes 5:17
17
Pray all the time. (KJV)
Matthew was careful to write down what else Jesus said about this subject. Check out the Bible verses below.
Matt 7:7-8
7
Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you:
8For everyone who asks gets what they want, and everyone who looks for something finds it, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. (KJV)
In the verses before, "ask," "seek," and "knock" are all Greek verbs that are in the present tense. Greek present tense verbs are mostly used to say that something is "happening all the time now." So, the above verse means to ask and "keep on asking," look for and "keep on looking," and knock and "keep on knocking" all the time right now.
Those who ask and keep on asking will get what they want.
What happens when you do things Jesus' way? Doing anything based on the lack of faith of many people today is dangerous, useless, and leaves the people for whom we pray completely helpless. Keep going, my dears, and you will win. You'll get something. This is the key to having a strong prayer.
