David Diga Hernandez - Persistent Prayer: How to Partner with God

If you’re facing a difficult circumstance, if you’re believing God for a miracle, persistent prayer works. Perhaps you feel as though you’re hanging on by a thread. Maybe you feel like quitting; maybe you feel like everything is coming against you. Perhaps you cannot see how the future has anything good in store for you. There’s power in persistent prayer. There’s power when we approach our Heavenly Father in faith continually. Matthew chapter 7, verse 7, says this: «Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.» Verse 8: «For everyone who asks receives; everyone who seeks finds; and to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.» In Luke chapter 18, we see a powerful parable beginning at verse 1: One day, Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. He said there was a judge in a certain city who neither feared God nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, «Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.» The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, «I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice because she is wearing me out with her constant requests.» Then the Lord said, «Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?» Now, we must understand that persistence is not desperation; it’s faith. The very fact that I’m continually going to the Father is proof that I believe there’s power in prayer. Now, here I have a question: I’ve looked at scriptures like this and considered the power of persistent prayer. The Bible is very clear that there is something to be said about persistence in prayer; that much we know with certainty. But here’s my question: If God is sovereign, why does persistent prayer work? I want you to really think about that question. If God is sovereign, why do we pray? If ultimately, after all our praying and seeking His face, God will simply accomplish His will, what’s the point of praying? If none of us, by persistence, can persuade God and if none of us, by persistence, can move His hand, why do we pray? What is the point of praying persistently if ultimately God is going to do what He wants to do? Even in the scriptures where it seems as though men of God changed God’s mind, we actually find, upon closer examination, that it was God’s will that He did what He did, and it was God’s will that they would even ask for His will to be accomplished. God is sovereign; God is in control. Yes, we have our free will. Within the sovereignty of God, we have our free will, and God ultimately will accomplish His purposes. So if God is sovereign, why pray? We know that the Bible says to pray persistently. I’m not saying we shouldn’t; the Bible’s very clear on that. But my question is, how does that work exactly? I mean, it’s not like my prayers can move God. It’s not like my prayers can force Him to do something He never planned on doing in the first place. What exactly is the power of persistent prayer? Why exactly do we continually go to Him? Why exactly do we keep bringing our requests before Him in faith if ultimately, He is sovereign? I remember one time I was ministering in Southern California, and I was preaching for a friend of mine. I went to his church, where about 30 or 40 people were in attendance. It was a small gathering, but the power of God moved amazingly. There were miracles that took place that night. I’ll never forget that there were two people in the prayer line. Now, because the crowd was so small, this was a time when I was actually able to lay hands on every single person who was sick in those meetings. We were able to do that because there weren’t as many people attending. So, I was going down this prayer line laying hands on various individuals, and I’ll never forget a woman who had been blind. I don’t recall if she had been blind since birth or if she had been blind for several years. Either way, it had been a very long time since she had seen. I remember laying hands on her, and as I prayed for her, she cried out to God. Tears streamed down her face as she said, «Please, Lord, please, Lord, please, Lord, heal me.» I remember praying for her, and she began to regain some of her sight. She hadn’t seen shadows or light in a very long time, and she started to cry and say, «I can see light! I can see shadow! I can see people moving!» She began pointing at movement in the room that minutes before she hadn’t been able to see. It was wonderful, but she didn’t receive the fullness of her healing. I felt such compassion for her, wondering, «God, why don’t you heal this lady? Please, Lord, do the miracle!» She received a partial healing, but not a full one. I went down the prayer line and continued to pray for people. Then a mother brought her son up to the altar. This boy had snuck out of his house and gone to a party.