Pray and keep on…

Instead of fainting during the delays of your life – be persistent and pray. 

Remember GOD told Joshua to march around the walls of Jericho and they’ll all fall down.  It didn’t happen the first time they did it.  They had to do it seven times.  Seven days in a row.  And on the seventh day they had to do it seven times.  Why the delay?  If GOD was going to make the walls fall why didn’t HE make them fall the first time?  HE was teaching them to be persistent and pray. 

Galatians 6.9 (Mof), “Let us never grow tired of doing what’s right, for if we do not faint, we’ll reap a harvest at the right time.” 

This is the law of the harvest:  In life, you will reap whatever you sow.  What you plant you will sprout.  If you sow criticism, you will reap a lot of criticism in your life.  If you sow love, you will reap love back in your life.  If you sow generosity, you will reap back generosity.  It’s one of the laws of the universe.  We’ll always reap more than we sow. 

If I plant one kernel of corn, do I get one kernel back?  No, I get a whole stalk with thousands on it.  You always reap more than you sow.  But in the Law of the Harvest there is always a delay between sowing and reaping.  There’s always a season.  You plant in one season and you reap in another.  There is a delay in between. 

GOD wants to see if you’re going to keep cultivating, planting, sowing – see if you really mean business.  If GOD sees consistency in your life then the harvest comes.  It will not come immediately because it proves nothing if HE does it immediately.  No delay, no character development, no stretching your faith.

 

Calvin Coolidge:  “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence.  Talent will not.  There is nothing more common than unsuccessful men with talent.  Genius will not.  Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.  Education will not.  The world is full of educated derelicts.  Persistence and determination, alone are omnipotent.  The slogan ‘Press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

Jesus said that over 2000 years earlier.  Luke 18.1 (JB), “You need to pray continually and not lose heart.” 

Pray continually and lose heart are the two options you have in life.  You will always be doing one or the other.  If you pray continually you will not lose heart, you won’t be discouraged.  If you don’t pray continually, you will lose heart.  You will faint.  You will get discouraged by the problems you’re facing in your life – family, school, wherever.  You’ve got to keep on praying. 

What do you pray during the delay phases of life?  Pray “Help me hold on and not give up.”  The Bible says, “They that wait upon the LORD, shall renew their strength.  They shall mount up with wings, as eagles.  They shall run and not be weary.  They shall walk and not faint.”  They won’t give up.  They’ll keep on keeping on. 

Just a thought from the front porch…