Most Christians do not listen to God. They go to Him to talk! Yet the Scriptures reveal that any person who was ever used of God learned to remain in His presence until he heard from Him.
Scripture makes it clear that the Lord wants to talk to every one of us. “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left” (Isaiah 30:21).
“Praying through,” a term coined by the early Pentecostals, to some meant staying on your knees until you were assured that you had received an answer from God. To others it meant continually coming back to the Lord until you had the answer in hand. (This was also called “persevering in prayer.”)
As a young boy in early camp meetings, I heard people testify, “I’m going to lay hold of the horns of the altar and I won’t let go until God answers.” Yet, I don’t believe this is the truest meaning of “praying through.”
The Lord led me to read chapter two of Nehemiah and I saw something I had never seen before. This chapter contains an encouraging story for all who come to the Lord with a heavy heart.
Nehemiah was a cupbearer to King Artaxerxes of Persia. This meant he tasted the wines before they were brought to the king’s table to be sure they weren’t poisoned. Over time, Nehemiah became a trusted servant to the king.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green; and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit” (Jeremiah 17:7-8).
We see in verse eight that the one who trusts God during hard times is “planted.” He is deeply rooted, stable and fruitful, always green with fresh life. When things in his life get dry and troublesome, he will not be afraid.
“When he was reviled, he reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not” (1 Peter 2:23).
An amazing truth connected with Christ’s suffering is that He never once defended Himself against those who mistreated Him. He punished no one and never retaliated in any way.
“But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty” (1 Corinthians 1:27).
When Moses came down from the mountain holding the Ten Commandments in his hands, he heard the people shouting and saw them dancing and carousing.
“Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies) . . .” (Exodus 32:25). The Hebrew word used here for naked is para, which means to “loosen up, expose, dismiss all restraint.” It also implies “a new beginning.”
The Bible addresses our efforts to please Him in our flesh: “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:3). Trying to establish our own righteousness is actually our flesh at work!
Trying to please God in our human power robs us of our joy and peace with Him. Any victories will be short-lived and we will fall into temptation again. The enemy will keep harassing us and a conversation with him might go something like this:
We can all say, “I am redeemed by the blood of my Savior, but I have not yet fully attained.” We sing and shout praises to our God and yet many of us still continue to strive to please Him.
You may win an occasional victory and feel so good about it. You tell yourself, “I did it. I knew if I put my mind and heart to the matter, I would get the victory.” Your tendency is to feel proud about what you’ve done and then go around judging others who aren’t victorious.
When Satan tries to convince you that you are unworthy to walk with the Lord and serve Him, you know it is not true. However, you may have a hard time being fully assured that He has made you clean and fit to stand before Him and faithfully serve Him. But the Word of God says that He has!