Prayer and Revelation - Online Christian Library

not repeat our prayers, if we really believe that we have received, then we should notrepeat our requests. In the light of this example from Elijah, this position is clearlyunbiblical, but it is an unwarranted inference about our relationship with God from howhuman relationships usually work.Whatever Paul's "thorn in the flesh" was, he says, "Three times I pleaded with the Lord totake it away from me" (2 Corinthians 12:8), and it appears that he could have continuedto repeat his petition if the answer had not come. But since God gave him a reply (v. 9),he could stop praying. Then, in Luke 11:5-8, Jesus gives the following illustration:Suppose one of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him atmidnight, and say to him, "Friend, lend me three loaves; for afriend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothingto set before him"; and from inside he shall answer and say, "Donot bother me; the door has already been shut and my children andI are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything." I tell you,even though he will not get up and give him anything because he ishis friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and givehim as much as he needs. (NASB) 65Again, we must be careful to apply only the point intended by this illustration to ourrelationship with God, and not every possible aspect of the human relationship described.It would be absurd, for example, to take from this illustration that God is like a friendwho sleeps, whom we must awaken to hear our petitions. This is not the point of theillustration. God is not a human being, and he never sleeps (Psalm 121:4). Rather, thepurpose of the illustration is to encourage persistence – if a human friend will give youwhat you ask because of your persistence, how much more will God answer you if youhave persistence!The crucial question is what it means to have faith when we pray. Indeed, James writes,"But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a waveof the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receiveanything from the Lord" (James 1:6-7). So it is agreed that we must have faith, but thosewho say that we should not repeat our prayers jump without warrant from this premise,that we must have faith, to the conclusion that we must not repeat our prayers after thefirst petition.We should let the Bible define faith, instead of letting extra-biblical analogies fromhuman relationships or unwarranted inferences from biblical passages to define it. InLuke 18, Jesus gives a parable that will help us define faith in its relation to our currentdiscussion on persistence:65 Alternate translations to "persistence" may be "boldness" or "shamelessness," but these do not affect ourpoint here, since the intent of the passage as an encouragement to persistent prayer remains. Indeed, thekind of persistence we are speaking of here is not easily stifled by embarrassment.58