Title: The Power of Persistence / Topic: Prevailing Prayer

Today’s Reading: Isaiah 60; Isaiah 61; Isaiah 62; John 1

Scripture: Isaiah 62:6 I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest, 7 and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth.

Observation: God is giving his people instructions on praying for Jerusalem. He tells them to keep praying and to give Him (God) no rest until they see the results of their prayers manifested in the physical world. God is giving us the key to prevailing prayer (the kind that gets answered); it's persistence! Other scriptures in the New Testament make the same point (see I Thess. 5:17; Luke 18:1-6). God himself says this kind of "nagging" is a good thing!

Application: These verses are a challenge to me. In our world of quick fixes and media that constantly overstimulates our brains, I think we've all developed short attention spans. Praying persistently seems monotonous, laborious and pointless to us. We want results instantly and if we don't get that we tend to just give up. If we want the miraculous happening with regularity, we must learn patience and persistence in order to prevail. Prayer is a powerful weapon in our spiritual arsenal but most of us need practice on the shooting range. I know I do! Let us renew our efforts and commit to becoming powerful prayer warriors so that we can see God's kingdom established on earth as it is in heaven.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, Help me to discipline myself to quiet my soul before you and engage in intercession with the faith and regularity that brings about the manifestation in the physical realm of what I pray for in the spiritual realm. This world has so many hurting and spiritually blind people that need Your deliverance, so many sick that need Your healing, and so much demonically inspired hate that needs Your angelic forces to defeat it. Help us to give up some of our personal entertainment and "down-time" to engage in the intercession that will set captives free and establish Your kingdom here.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.