BellaOnline Forums Family Christian Living How long to pray

It is not easy to keep on praying when you are continually disappointed. How long do you pray before you give up?

My article this week is about the parable of the persistent widow.
Persistent Prayer

I vote for King David's strategy...fast and pray with all your might until the situation is over, then get up, take a bath and eat. Never give up while there's a chance for a YES answer, until the NO is final.

Then again, Paul apparently stopped asking for the thorn in his flesh to be removed after three requests. I'm thinking sensitivity to how God's leading you to pray is paramount in each situation.

I think you are right. Pray until you know you have an answer. I think Paul got his answer after the three requests. "My grace is sufficient."

But it you have no answer, keep praying.

How often do you pray about something though? If I pray for someone to be healed of cancer for instance, how often do I pray for it? I have been told that prayers get answered in God's time which is obviously different from our time so do you pray everyday? Every hour? Every week?

Isn't once enough to pray for something without "being annoying"? If God answers prayers in His time, who are we to keep asking for something knowing that He is going to answer it with a yes or a no?

I have a feeling that God would never consider it annoying to have His children talk to Him. He is a much better parent than I was - I remember that my daughter would say "Mom" so many times I thought about changing my name.

According to the parable I wrote about, God wants us to ask and keep on asking until we get satisfaction. I think that when we are in tune with God, satisfaction will come when we know we have an answer even if the answer is not what we wanted.

Ok, so maybe He wants us to keep asking so He knows we are serious about our prayers and not just asking or praying about something because it will make us feel good about ourselves or just "fulfilling our Christian duty?"

Many times I pray just to fully check in. In our busy lives when things are not always going particularly well or particularly bad I try to pray just tro thank God for another day and let him know that I am thinking of him as well as review my actions and interactions with others during that day.

I understand what you mean, Maureen. God knows everything anyway. It does seem that once would be enough. It's just that, that isn't what the Bible says to do.

P.U.S.H - Pray Until Something Happens