The scripture calls us to perseverance. This can be applied to persevering in the Lord and, specifically, it is applied to prayer. Jesus tells us to pray and not lose heart (Luke 18:1). We are compelled to this perseverance in the parable of the friend who gets out of bed in the middle of the night because his neighbor, in need of bread, won't stop knocking (Luke 11:5-13). We must persevere in prayer because perseverance is a crucial element God has designed for answered prayer. What if, however, there was another layer of what persevering in prayer entails?
When Abraham's servant sets out to find a bride for Isaac, he prays a very specific prayer (Genesis 24:12-14). We know that the prayer comes to fruition exactly as the servant prayed. We have considered some other aspects of how all of this works in the design of God. I want you to note the servant's attitude that made this prayer effectual. He says: "Now then, if you are going to show steadfast love and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left” (Genesis 24:49).
What is fascinating is that, at this moment in the story, it seems that every aspect of the prayer had come to pass. Yet, in the verse above (v49), there is one element that remains: the servant needed to secure the blessing of Laban for Rebekah to wed Isaac. The reason this request is not stated separately in the prayer (v12-14) is because it was the heart of the mission. When the servant says "please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham" (v12) he is asking that whoever the woman would be that she would be permitted to marry Isaac. That was the specific mission that prompted the servant's specific prayer. The prayer is not answered until this happens. Having said this let me make my intended point:
Even when 99 percent of your specific prayer comes to pass, do not settle for less than success - 100 percent!
After every aspect of the prayer had come to pass the success he asked for (v12) had not. The servant's words in v.49 (see above) show us that, if Laban did not agree to give Rebekah to Isaac, he (the servant) would gladly move on until a bride was found for Isaac. He would not give up in praying because he only almost got what he specifically prayed for. No, he would have concluded that, although almost all of what he asked for happened, Rebekah clearly was not the right choice because he did not secure Laban's blessing. In other words he would not stop and be satisfied with a partial or nearly perfect answer. Instead, in faith, he would persevere until the Lord blessed.
Too often we stop praying when things do not go exactly as we desire. Or we settle for less than what we asked for concluding the Lord must not want to give us success. I do not pretend to know the sovereign plans of God so I am not saying that all that you ask for you will receive. James teaches us that we can ask, even specifically, with wrong motives and, as a result, never get what we ask for (James 4:1-4). Our motives in praying matter. Yet, I trust the Lord's ways with His people and, when our praying is motivated by and for His glory and kingdom, I stand in whole-hearted confident that I should persevere in my specific prayer until I get it as I have asked.
What the servant had seen up to this point was great, glorious and awesome; but it was not success. Success meant that everything he asked for came to pass. The power of specific praying happens when we are not happy or satisfied until we see the work of the Lord bringing about all that we have asked for because it is all for His glory. This servant was willing to leave a partially fulfilled prayer and to keep praying for the full answer. Are you?
Don't stop praying until the Lord grants you success.