Persistent Motivation #5: Prayer gives us victory over evil.
Jesus taught us to pray in Luke 11:4, “And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil.” Oh how we need to pray when we are tempted. We pray for strength and courage. But how much more we need to pray when we are under attack from “the evil one.” We pray for God to deliver us. There are so many verses we could consider here but one that really gets to the point is today’s verse found in Psalm 20:1. Nothing puts priority in our prayer life like “the day of trouble.”
Think about Jonah in the belly of that fish. Jonah 2:1 says, “Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God from the fish’s belly.” As one fellow said, “Jonah didn’t pray for all the missionaries everywhere. He prayed ‘Lord get me out of here!” I like the Psalmist’s praise in Psalm 40:2, “He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my goings.”
There are so many reasons to be persistent in prayer. Let’s look beyond the Model Prayer to some other passages of Scripture and see these other motivations.
Persistent Motivation #6: Prayer allows us to fellowship with God Himself.
Growing Christians have a longing for God. Their spirits groan for Him. While we love people here in this life, deep within we long to be free of the sin and sickness of this old world. We long to see the Savior face to face. We long for the joy of heaven. Do you have that longing to personally talk with God?