“And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:7)

Of all the mysteries of the prayer world, the need for persevering prayer is one of the greatest. We cannot easily understand why the Lord, who is so loving and longing to bless us, should have to be petitioned time after time, sometimes year after year, before the answer comes. It is also one of the greatest practical difficulties in the exercise of believing prayer. When our repeated prayers remain unanswered, it is easy for our lazy flesh — maintaining the appearance of pious submission — to think that we must stop praying because God may have a secret reason for withholding His answer to our request. Faith alone can overcome difficulty. Once faith has taken its stand on God’s Word and the name of Jesus, and has yielded itself to the leading of the Spirit to seek only God’s will and honor in its prayer, it need not be discouraged by delay. It knows that to exercise its power, it must be gathered up, just like water, until the stream can come down in full force. Prayer must often be “heaped up” until God sees that its measure is full. Then the answer comes.

When the answer to our prayer does not come at once, we should combine quiet patience and joyful confidence in our persevering prayer. To do this, we must try to understand two words in which our Lord describes the character and conduct of our God and Father towards those who cry day and night to Him: “He is long-suffering over them; He will avenge them speedily.”

The Master uses the word speedily. The Father is not only willing, but is most anxious to give them what they ask. His everlasting love burns with His longing to reveal itself fully to His beloved and to satisfy their needs. God will not delay one moment longer than is absolutely necessary. He will do everything in His power to hasten the answer.

But why — if this is true and God’s power is infinite — does it often take so long to get an answer to prayer? And why must God’s own elect so often, in the midst of suffering and conflict, cry day and night? “He is long-suffering over them.” “Behold! The husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, being long-suffering over it, till he receive the early and latter rain” (James 5:7). Of course, the husbandman longs for his harvest. But he knows it must have its full term of sunshine and rain, so he has plenty of patience. A child so often wants to pick the half-ripe fruit, while the farmer knows to wait until the proper time.

In his spiritual nature, man, too, is under the law of gradual growth that reigns in all created life. Only on the path of development can he reach his divine destiny. And only the Father, who determines the times and seasons, knows the moment when the soul or the church is ripened to that fullness of faith in which it can really take and keep a blessing. As a father who longs to have his only child home from school, and yet waits patiently until the time of training is completed, so it is with God and His children.

Insight into this truth should lead the believer to cultivate the corresponding attitudes of patience, faith, waiting, and praise, which are the secrets of his perseverance. By faith in the promise of God, we know that we have the petitions we have asked of Him.

There may be things around us that have to be corrected through prayer before the answer can fully happen. The faith that has believed that it has received can allow God to take His time. In quiet, persistent, and determined perseverance, it continues in prayer and thanksgiving until the blessing comes. And so we see a combination of what at first sight appears to be so contradictory: the faith that rejoices in God's answer as a present possession, combined with the patience that cries day and night until that answer comes. The waiting child meets God triumphantly with his patient faith.

The great danger in this school is the temptation to think that it may not be God’s will to give us what we desire. If our prayer agrees with God’s Word and is led by the Spirit, don’t give way to these fears. Learn to give God time. He is long-suffering over you. He wants your blessing to be rich, full, and sure. Give Him time, but continue praying day and night. And above all, remember the promise: “I say unto you, He will avenge them speedily.”*

"Lord, Teach Us To Pray"

Lord my God, teach me to know Your way and in faith to learn what your beloved Son has taught: "He will avenge them speedily.” Fill us with the assurance that you won’t delay one moment longer than is necessary, and that our faith will hasten the answer....
Above all, O blessed Teacher, Author, and Perfecter of my faith, let my whole life be one of faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me! In You my prayer gains acceptance and I have the assurance of the answer, Lord Jesus. In such faith I will pray always, ceasing never. Amen.

By the author

*Excerpted from With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray. Copyright 1981 and published by Whitaker House, 580 Pittsburgh Street, Springdale, Pennsylvania 15144, U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Andrew Murray (1828—1917) was born and raised in South Africa, He was the minister at the Dutch Reformed Church of Wellington in his native land from 1871 to 1906. He taught and wrote so much about the deeper Christian life.