Life Walk Lesson 110: 12 Keys to Effective Prayer
Matthew 16:19 declares, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful) on earth must be what is already bound in heaven; and whatever you loose (declare lawful) on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven.”
Today, we will learn about the value of Persistent Prayer
In the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, chapters 7-9, God has a conversation with the Prophet Jeremiah — Jeremiah prays, and God answers. God speaks from His heart, and Jeremiah responds. God did the same thing with the Prophet Isaiah.
In these chapters God and Jeremiah are sharing their experiences for our benefit so that we can get to know how God walks with others. Then we can know what to expect when we ask Him for intervention in our circumstances.
KEY: The goal of prayer is conversation with God.
The Apostle Paul teaches us to pray without ceasing — always talking with God about everything, all the time, everyday — like you would when you get together with the person or people you love being with.
Jesus was tested in every area, the same as we are, so that He would know what it is like to be us. He knows when we go through things that are difficult — that we need God’s help, and sometimes we don’t even know how to ask, or what to ask.
After all, God has watched people for several millennia, and His own heart breaks for the situations humanity finds itself in, often cyclically because the devil has no new tricks. But God has never left us. God always helps those who ask.
Let’s see how God felt in Jeremiah 9:1-3, where it is written:
1. “Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
2 Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place for travelers; that I might leave my people, and go from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.
3 “And like their bow they have bent their tongues for lies. They are not valiant for the truth on the earth. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know Me,” says the Lord.”
Yes, God was having a moment!
KEY: Jesus often got away from the masses of people to pray to His Father in heaven, setting the example for us to follow also.
I include the passage in Jeremiah 9, because I believe the Lord was remembering the gift of the Shunammite woman to the prophet Elisha when he needed a place to stay while traveling.
When God came to earth, He walked with those who were faithful, and stayed with them, just as He promises to do for us. In John 14:23, Jesus says, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”
But when I first read that verse in Jeremiah 9, where God wanted a place to get away from His people, it reminded me of what Jesus said — that the Son of Man had no place to lay His head. Even from before He was born, there was no room for Him in the Inn.
It made me cry, and I wanted to open a Bed and Breakfast or Country Inn. Well God had other plans for my life, and that’s okay too. But it was my way of saying, as a baby Christian, Lord, You are welcome to stay at my house. God knew my heart and that I wouldn’t have been very good at being an Innkeeper anyway, so He gave me the good desires of my heart instead.
So What does Persistent Faith Look like to God?
KEY: Persistent faith takes the time it takes to persist until the answer comes. Never give up!
Jesus told a story so that people could understand what persistent faith looked like to God.
Luke 18:1:1-8
“Also [Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not to turn coward (faint, lose heart, and give up).
2 He said, In a certain city there was a judge who neither reverenced and feared God nor respected or considered man.
3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, Protect and defend and give me justice against my adversary.
4 And for a time he would not; but later he said to himself, Though I have neither reverence or fear for God nor respect or consideration for man,
5 Yet because this widow continues to bother me, I will defend and protect and avenge her, lest she give me intolerable annoyance and wear me out by her continual coming or at the last she come and rail on me or assault me or strangle me.
6 Then the Lord said, Listen to what the unjust judge says!
7 And will not [our just] God defend and protect and avenge His elect (His chosen ones), who cry to Him day and night? Will He defer them and delay help on their behalf?
8 I tell you, He will defend and protect and avenge them speedily. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find [persistence in] faith on the earth?
In Luke 17:5, we find the disciples asking Jesus to increase their faith. And Jesus answered them in verse 6, “…If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would obey you.’”
KEY: God promises to answer prayer before we even ask, because He knows our need already and is able to orchestrate events to bring about the desire of our heart, even before we know it.
In Psalm 139:4, the Psalmist prays, “Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O Lord, You know it all.”
And Isaiah 65:24 says, “It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.”
When God Answers Unspoken Prayers
Let’s look at what God did for a woman in ancient times, who also lived during a time when people could not be trusted, just as we read earlier in the Book of Jeremiah.
In 2 Kings 4:8-37 we meet a Shunammite Woman. Shunem was a small village located near the Jezreel Valley, north of Mount Gilboa, in the possession of the Tribe of Issachar., according to Joshua 19:18.
Beginning in verse 8…
8 “One day Elisha went on to Shunem, where a rich and influential woman lived, who insisted on his eating a meal. Afterward, whenever he passed by, he stopped there for a meal.
9 She said to her husband, “Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God passing by us continually.
10 Please, let us make a little walled upper chamber and let us set a bed for him there, and a table and a chair and a lampstand; and it shall be, when he comes to us, that he can turn in there.”
11 One day he came there and turned in to the upper chamber and rested.
12 Then he said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite.” And when he had called her, she stood before him.
13 He said to him, “Say now to her, ‘Behold, you have been careful for us with all this care; what can I do for you? Would you be spoken for to the king or to the captain of the army?’” And she answered, “I live among my own people.”
The prophet new already, by revelation of the Holy Spirit, that she would need an advocate with the King before she even knew it, but we will get to that in a few moments.
Continuing on in verse 14…
14 So he said, “What then is to be done for her?” And Gehazi answered, “Truly she has no son and her husband is old.”
Here we see that God also knows the desire of our heart, even when it is too hard to say it out loud because we don’t have it yet. Elisha and Gehazi had clearly spent enough time with this precious woman and her husband, to have observed the desire of her heart, and articulated it for her.
Let’s continue:
15 He said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood in the doorway.
16 Then he said, “At this season next year you will embrace a son.” And she said, “No, my lord, O man of God, do not lie to your maidservant.”
Let’s grow our faith a little right here. How many times have we desired something and felt it was completely out of reach, or felt hopeless that it would ever materialize? I believe everyone has experienced this at some point in their lives. But look what God did for her because of her generosity — which is one of the results of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
17 The woman conceived and bore a son at that season the next year, as Elisha had said to her.”
The story doesn’t end here, however. The Shunammite woman would encounter God once again, but his time she had greater faith than before.
Let’s continue:
18 “When the child was grown, the day came that he went out to his father to the reapers.
19 He said to his father, “My head, my head.” And he said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.”
20 When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her lap until noon, and then died.
21 She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door behind him and went out.
22 Then she called to her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God and return.”
23 He said, “Why will you go to him today? It is neither new moon nor sabbath.” And she said, “It will be well.”
24 Then she saddled a donkey and said to her servant, “Drive and go forward; do not slow down the pace for me unless I tell you.”
25 So she went and came to the man of God to Mount Carmel.
“When the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Behold, there is the Shunammite.
26 Please run now to meet her and say to her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?’” And she answered, “It is well.”
27 When she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. And Gehazi came near to push her away; but the man of God said, “Let her alone, for her soul is troubled within her; and the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me.”
28 Then she said, “Did I ask for a son from my lord? Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me’?”
And here, let me take a moment to remind us that there is great grace during times of grief, when we have that “little faith” — because things aren’t as they are supposed to be.
KEY: God does understand our frailty, and helps us become strong in faith again.
2 Timothy 2:13 encourages us in our moments of faithlessness:
“If we are faithless [do not believe and are untrue to Him], He remains true (faithful to His Word and His righteous character), for He cannot deny Himself.”
We can also recognize her spiritual warfare in this moment, and as we will see, she still had great faith to believe that the man of God could do something for her and her son.
KEY: Our goal is unwavering faith, and that grows by experiencing God’s faithfulness.
Let’s continue:
29 “Then he said to Gehazi, “Gird up your loins and take my staff in your hand, and go your way; if you meet any man, do not salute him, and if anyone salutes you, do not answer him; and lay my staff on the lad’s face.”
I learn from this also, that it is so important to remain focused on the commission given by God — to accomplish it without entertaining distractions, especially in life an death situations were absolute obedience to God’s instructions is imperative.
KEY: Always obey God, and obey quickly.
Continuing:
30 “The mother of the lad said, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” And he arose and followed her.”
And here we have a prime example of her persistent faith again!
KEY: The tenacity required at times to hold onto a promise, irregardless of the seeming impossibility of it, is God-given, for Romans 12:3 says we have all been given a measure of faith.
Let’s continue:
31 “Then Gehazi passed on before them and laid the staff on the lad’s face, but there was no sound or response. So he returned to meet him and told him, “The lad has not awakened.”
I learn from this that sometimes it is inappropriate to delegate. Someone else cannot fill in for us when we have been anointed to do something. Even if they can get there first, because they can run faster, it is still ours to do and God does not take our commission away from us just because someone else can get their faster, or has more ability than we do in some way. That’s encouraging to me!
Let’s continue:
32 “When Elisha came into the house, behold the lad was dead and laid on his bed.
33 So he entered and shut the door behind them both and prayed to the Lord.
34 And he went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth and his eyes on his eyes and his hands on his hands, and he stretched himself on him; and the flesh of the child became warm.
35 Then he returned and walked in the house once back and forth, and went up and stretched himself on him; and the lad sneezed seven times and the lad opened his eyes.
I learn something from this sequence of events — Elisha’s evaluation of the circumstance included saying that the child was dead. There was no question here about the circumstance he was dealing with. He acknowledged the death of the child. That was the reality in that moment.
Elisha shut everyone else out, and then prayed. We also see that the prophet’s staff didn’t work, praying once didn’t work, walking around praying didn’t work — Elisha had to literally get on top of the situation, and remain absolutely focused, and not give up until change occurred.
KEY: Never give up! Have faith in God, no matter what it looks like.
36 “He called Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite.” So he called her. And when she came in to him, he said, “Take up your son.”
37 Then she went in and fell at his feet and bowed herself to the ground, and she took up her son and went out.”
God Never Abandons the Faithful
Now, let’s look at a passage of Scripture in 2Kings 8:1-6 where God orchestrated the events to come in her favor, even through the hardships to come.
- “Now Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, “Arise and go with your household, and sojourn wherever you can sojourn; for the Lord has called for a famine, and it will even come on the land for seven years.”
It is interesting to me that the death and resurrection of her son occurred during a time of a coming famine. Scholars say that the son probably suffered heat stroke while out in the field with his father. Lack of water and high temperatures are detrimental to people working hard in soil that is unyielding, but God provides a solution to save them.
Just as a side note, from Matthew 13, the Parable of the Sower tells us, by metaphor, that a loving and receptive heart is the good soil that produces an hundredfold. So a loving and receptive heart, because of the indwelling Holy Spirit, can produce love, joy, peace, etc., etc. [Galatians 5:22-23]
And according to John 10:10, Jesus came to give us life, and that life even more abundantly. So, whether the need is physical or spiritual, God has the answer to the unspoken prayers in our heart.
Let’s continue:
- “So the woman arose and did according to the word of the man of God, and she went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.”
So this would be like someone today moving from the region of the Sea of Galilee, in northern Israel, to the area of modern-day Gaza, in the far south, for seven years. Just as Jacob and his family had to go to Egypt to escape the famine, and Jesus and His family had to go there to escape certain death, this woman was also sent into enemy territory for a while. Even David says, in Psalm 23:5
5 “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my [brimming] cup runs over.”
Let’s continue in verse 2 of 2 Kings 8.
“At the end of seven years, the woman returned from the land of the Philistines; and she went out to appeal to the king for her house and for her field.
- Now the king was talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, “Please relate to me all the great things that Elisha has done.”
- As he was relating to the king how he had restored to life the one who was dead, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life appealed to the king for her house and for her field. And Gehazi said, “My lord, O king, this is the woman and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.”
Remember we saw that earlier, where Elisha knew, by the Holy Spirit, that she would need an advocate?
KEY: The Holy Spirit is our advocate and prays according to God’s will for us, even when we don’t know how to pray.
- “When the king asked the woman, she related it to him. So the king appointed for her a certain officer, saying, “Restore all that was hers and all the produce of the field from the day that she left the land even until now.”
God restored not only her land but all the produce that had been gathered for seven years! I can surmise that she was not growing lettuce or carrots, but perhaps grain which would have lasted a long time in a silo. Either way, whatever it was, it was an absolute miracle to have everything that was lost during the famine returned to her family.
KEY: Even if we have lost everything, God can restore it all and even double, as He did for Job.
If we have lost health and well being, God can restore it completely. If we have lost reputation, God can restore it. If we have lost relationship with God, family, or friends, God can restore relationship. If we have lost anything that we value or care about, God can restore it. Entrust everything to God and He will keep it safe for you.
Encouragement:
Isaiah 58:11-12
11 “And the Lord shall guide you continually and satisfy you in drought and in dry places and make strong your bones. And you shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.
12 And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of [buildings that have laid waste for] many generations; and you shall be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.”
In Christ all things can be repaired, and restored, for it is written, “the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.” [Luke 19:10]
KEY: No matter how long it has been since we prayed, when we pray and ask God to help us, He hears and answers and orchestrates the best outcomes for all concerned, because it isn’t just about us. He always answers. Just trust Him with the timing and the method. His ways will always have the best outcomes.
Be blessed to be a blessing, with the unique gifting that God has given you to help others live well, and experience God in their lives through you.
"Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMPC),
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Used by permission. www.Lockman.org
