Don't Accept No for an Answer....Even from God?

I was reading the Bible and learned something that really gave me a lot of encouragement. If you've read some of my previous blogs on prayer and faith then you'll recall how I learned that Christians are to pray on God's promises in boldness. But in everday experiences sometimes it seems that my prayers aren't answered. Sometimes it seems that God is saying "NO".

Now I've heard some Christians before talk about this sort of thing and they will say that once you've receieved the answer --NO-- from God its time to submit to his will and give up. This never went well with me because it seems to contradict all the verses about faith and praying on God's promises ect ect. So here is what I learned...

There are a couple scriptures of Jesus that illustrate that we are not to give up in prayer. That we are to pray until we recieve what we asked for. Here are two of them that really opened my eyes.

The first is in Matthew 15:21-28. Whats happening here is that a Canaanite woman (Jews didn't like Canaanites much) is following Jesus crying out for his help to heal her very sick daughter. Since Jesus is God in the flesh...and she's asking for his help...this represents prayer. Jesus hears her and doesn't answer (verse 23). This is like when we first start praying and we feel like God isn't answering us. Then she cries out louder for his help and he turns to her and says: NO. (verse 26) ....so lets stop here. If she then left and went away, if anyone asked her what happened she could have said, I asked (prayed) for help many times and he (God) said no. So that settles it...and she would be correct. However, the scripture doesn't end there. Instead of giving up after hearing Jesus (God) say no, she asks again. (verse 27). So lets get this straight...Jesus (God) said a definite NO to her request (prayer) and she continued to ask again after getting a NO.

And it finishes with verse 28, "Then Jesus answered, 'Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.' And her daughter was healed from that very hour."

So she asked (prayed) again after hearing a NO, and Jesus (God) answered her prayer and was pleased by her great faith... this is astounding! This shows clearly that we can and should pray even after getting a NO from God. And what about her request, was it a small prayer? No, it was a HUGE prayer, for healing. While God can accomplish all things, to us some prayers are...bigger..than others. It would seem to us that physical healing is bigger than asking to find your lost car keys. But God used this example that he knew we thought of as a "Big prayer" to illustrate that in everything we should keep praying and not give up!

Jesus also gives two parables about this subject of not giving up in prayer with Luke 18 and Luke 11:5-8. So when you pray in faith, don't ever give up praying--even if you hear God say no. For what greater faith is there than to pray even after God tells you no. Don't ever give up! Through that kind of faith he will give you what you asked for.

"If you believe, you shall recieve whatever you ask for in prayer."
Matthew 21:22