Many prayers are in the will of God, but they are not instantly granted when we ask. Perhaps repeated asking will lead us to making a special priority of this need. (Google image, Seek God)
We become so convinced that the answer is important to God's kingdom that we are willing to give ourselves more fully and with more determination to prevailing prayer. Being convinced it is the will of God, our asking now intensifies to seeking.
Seeking is prayer that is willing to hold on in intercession until the answer comes. It searches to find any possible reason why the answer to prayer may have been hindered.
Is there some hindrance in my life that hinders my answer? Have I really understood God's will in the matter? Is my faith what it should be? Is there some step of obedience I can take that will speed the answer? Seeking often involves heart searching.
Seeking may involve intense heart yearning, desires that burn in the soul like a flame, a heart that cries out in tears to God. God said through Jeremiah,
"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your
heart" (Jer. 29:13).
Moses had given Israel the same assurance:
"You will find him if you look for him with all your heart and
with all your soul" (Deut. 4:29).
The Psalmist added,
"Blessed are they who...seek him with all their heart"
(Ps. 119:2).
Serious intercessors will gladly intensify their asking into seeking when this is needed. They know that as a by- product of their seeking for God's answer as they wait on God, their own strength will be renewed and their own walk become closer to God.
Their hearts agree with David, who said,
"My heart says of you, Seek his face!' Your face, LORD,
I will I seek" (Ps. 27:8).
Their hearts do what David said in verse 14,
"Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD." David realized that prolonged prayer is sometimes required, so he said, "Wait patiently for him" (37:7).
David's seeking in prayer is repeatedly mentioned in the Psalms. Can you feel David's heart-cry as he says,
"O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul
thirsts for you, my body longs for you.... Because you
are my help....my soul clings to you" (Ps. 63:1, 7-8).
The early church used seeking, prevailing prayer for the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost. Any intercessor who has learned to prevail with God has used the prayer of earnest seeking again and again. God gladly hears and answers such prayer yet today.
R. A. Torrey believed there are few people who are converted to Christ without someone praying for and seeking their salvation. He gives the example of his own conversion in the middle of the night.
He was not converted in church, Sunday school, or in personal conversation with anyone. He went to bed without any thought of God or salvation.
He awoke in the night, God spoke to his heart, and he surrendered his life to Jesus in perhaps five minutes. He writes:
"A few minutes before, I was about as near eternal perdition
as one gets. I had one foot over the brink and was trying to
get the other one over....I thought no human being had
anything to do with it, but I had forgotten my mother's prayers,
and I afterwards learned that one of my college classmates
and I afterwards learned that one of my college classmates
had chosen me as one to pray for until I was saved."
Torrey adds,
"Oh, the power of prayer to reach down, down, down where
hope itself seems vain, and lift men and women up, up, up
into fellowship with and likeness to God."
(Torrey, How to Pray, 27-28).
Used by permission of the author and Duewel Literature Trust, Inc., Greenwood, Indiana (With Jean's impressions added)
Mighty Prevailing Prayer
#100 Level 2 of Prevailing Prayer: Seeking
by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
(pp. 173 -175) Zondervan
Today's Bible verses-
NET Bible (1 Chron. 16:11)
"Seek the LORD and the strength he gives! Seek his presence continually!"
(Ps. 71:16 KJV) "I will go in the strength of the Lord God: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only."
Today's quote-
Samuel Chadwick- "God takes account not only of what we want but of why we want it. He looks at the heart. There are some people to whom He will not give audience. Sin shuts men out. "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me" (Ps 66:18). Unbelief shuts men out (Heb. 4:11, 11:6). An unforgiving spirit shuts men out (Matt. 5:23-24; 6:14-15; Mark 11:25-26). An unstable mind shuts men out (James 1:7). A condemning conscience shuts men out (1 John 3:21-22). A self-seeking motive shuts men out (James 4:3). Faith works in those who pray that they may ask aright." (Taken from p. 106 of Chadwick's book, THE PATH OF PRAYER).
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Or email me at jowildflowers@gmail.com
"Oh, the power of prayer to reach down, down, down where
hope itself seems vain, and lift men and women up, up, up
into fellowship with and likeness to God."
(Torrey, How to Pray, 27-28).
Used by permission of the author and Duewel Literature Trust, Inc., Greenwood, Indiana (With Jean's impressions added)
Mighty Prevailing Prayer
#100 Level 2 of Prevailing Prayer: Seeking
by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
(pp. 173 -175) Zondervan
Father, help us be determined to seek Your Face for what seems important to us and Your kingdom.
May we look for You with all of our hearts and with all of our souls, that we may find You.
We understand that in waiting on You for answers to our petitions, we become strong and learn to take heart while we wait, knowing that prolonged prayer sometimes is necessary.
We ask for Your blessing in our efforts to become effective intercessors in our seeking for Your will to be done.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
May we look for You with all of our hearts and with all of our souls, that we may find You.
We understand that in waiting on You for answers to our petitions, we become strong and learn to take heart while we wait, knowing that prolonged prayer sometimes is necessary.
We ask for Your blessing in our efforts to become effective intercessors in our seeking for Your will to be done.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Today's Bible verses-
NET Bible (1 Chron. 16:11)
"Seek the LORD and the strength he gives! Seek his presence continually!"
(Ps. 71:16 KJV) "I will go in the strength of the Lord God: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only."
Samuel Chadwick- "God takes account not only of what we want but of why we want it. He looks at the heart. There are some people to whom He will not give audience. Sin shuts men out. "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me" (Ps 66:18). Unbelief shuts men out (Heb. 4:11, 11:6). An unforgiving spirit shuts men out (Matt. 5:23-24; 6:14-15; Mark 11:25-26). An unstable mind shuts men out (James 1:7). A condemning conscience shuts men out (1 John 3:21-22). A self-seeking motive shuts men out (James 4:3). Faith works in those who pray that they may ask aright." (Taken from p. 106 of Chadwick's book, THE PATH OF PRAYER).
Upcoming posts-
Giving God the Time of Day
25th- Saturday's post by Leah Meahl
#101 Level 3 of Prevailing Prayer: Knocking
28th- Tuesday's post by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
#102 Jesus Said We Would Fast
30th- Thursday's post by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
White Robes
4/1st- Saturday's post by Lee Forbes
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Or email me at jowildflowers@gmail.com
Samples of Jean's crafts
(Published by Lighthouse Publishing
31-day Devotional
+ Jean's testimony
[Maybe just choose a title each
day that interests you]
Samples verse from p. 48-
If You Have Faith
You can Make It
If you have faith you can make it;
At times you may feel "down,"
So ask God to help you take it
And wipe away your frown.
We are to pray when life seems tough
For Jesus to guide us.
We'll find that He will be enough
When in Him we do trust.
At times you may feel "down,"
So ask God to help you take it
And wipe away your frown.
We are to pray when life seems tough
For Jesus to guide us.
We'll find that He will be enough
When in Him we do trust.
of the Carolinas. Used by permission).
A great gift for someone who may need help
to prepare for marriage, and for those in a
to prepare for marriage, and for those in a
marriage, wanting some helpful advice.
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