Power of Persistent Prayer

Mark 10:46–49

Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”

This morning as I was reading my morning scriptures (Mark 10), I was reminded about Jesus’ being the servant of all (10:45). But as I was about to write that, my inner spirit compelled me to look again at the words and behaviors of Blind Bartimaeus.

There he is, on the side of the road, when he hears that Jesus is passing by. He begins to call out to Jesus. And he kept calling, despite the disapproving pressure of the crowd that told him to sit down and shut up. He just kept calling, “Son of David, have mercy!” And he kept at it until Jesus took note.

Two observations:

1. In today’s world, we cast Jesus/God/Spirit as soft touches. Ask … and apparently if you hold your mouth just right, God will answer in the positive. We deprecate any passages that suggest God doesn’t drop and stop everything to hear and answer our prayers. But that’s not the way Scripture illustrates it. The Bible shows that those who are heard are those who are persistent to the point of being a pest, like the troublesome widow (Luke 18:1–7) and in this case, Blind Bartimaeus.
2. Persistent prayer appears to be a rare commodity in the church today. Either we don’t actually have much faith, so we give up, or we just don’t want what we want badly enough.

Oswald Chambers said, “Prayer is not preparation for the battle; prayer IS the battle.”

Here are just a few things we pray persistently for:

• That God will remove every obstacle that hinders the work of the faithful
• That our leaders will be imbued with wisdom – pour it down on us like a Texas downpour
• That God would give us a clear and compelling vision for the future
• That we’ll be faithful with those God sends us
• That God will send us those no one else wants
• That God will grant us the resources to raise these people into faithful disciples of Jesus Christ

If you’re a prayer warrior, or want to be, I’d like to invite you to join us as we wade into battle with the forces that that have held the church hostage for decades. In the words of William Wallace, “Victory!”