Forever and ever, and ever and ever…Amen?

Right after Jesus had finished telling his disciples what we call ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ in Luke chapter 11, he continued giving them advice about how to talk to God. He uses the example of going to a friend’s house to borrow three loaves of bread. Jesus says, ‘if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.’

 

I try to pray about everything when I talk to God. There are the smaller things, like coursework and essays that I ask God to help me with. Then there are the larger things to do with family, friends and my church. I also try and pray for massive things like world peace, our Government, and the community that I live in.

 

It has occurred to me recently that I’m not taking Jesus’ advice when it comes to praying for my community. I’m not gonna lie, this prayer struggles to last for more than 60 seconds, and the next day it’s like I’ve never prayed it.

 

I’m not saying that prayer is like a slot machine, you can’t see it as pushing money in and hopefully the more you put in, the greater the chance is of something happening.

 

There’s also times when I have prayed for things and it hasn’t been answered. That’s tricky.

 

But in a world where a Facebook status barely lasts a day, it can be even harder to have this shameless persistence that Jesus talks about. When praying for my community, I have decided to set time aside a regular time each week to persistently pray and knock on the door of heaven.

 

I love my community and I desperately want to see God in more places, in more moments, and for Him to be more visible in me, but to see something so amazing, I think I’m gonna have to change my 60-second prayer habit. Maybe by finding new ways to pray- being more creative perhaps, or just being more intentional.

 

But we should be encouraged! 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, ‘if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.’

 

So the challenge is, how can we keep on praying for our communities? How can we be shamelessly persistent in our communication with God about our neighbourhoods, estates and cities?