Keep Asking

Keep Asking

Bible Blast: Read Genesis 25:19-26

Never stop praying. 1 Thessalonians 5:17

In 2001, I started to have endless thoughts about Africa, especially while I was praying. I didn’t even know anyone who lived on that continent, but I was suddenly burdened or called to pray for the countries of Africa. I could not stop being obsessed with the many needs of the people there, so I finally went to my mom and my husband. I asked them to pray for God to open the door for me to do what God wanted me to do in Africa. The calling became so powerful that I begged God to show me his plan before December of that year, but he did not. Did I stop praying? No. I kept on praying. Another entire year went by before December of 2002, when I received an e-mail I will never forget. It began, “Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” It was a request to write a curriculum to teach purity and to share the message of salvation in the government schools of Zambia, a country in Africa. The man had been praying for someone like me to come, and I had been praying for a way to go to Africa. Finally, God answered our prayers and helped us find each other. Together we reached 75,000 students with the message of purity and with the Good News of salvation through Jesus. I’m so glad that I kept praying!

Look at Genesis 25:20. How old was Isaac when he first married Rebekah? He was forty. We find out in Genesis 25:26 how old he was when he finally had a baby with Rebekah. He was sixty. So how many years did he pray for a baby? Twenty years! That’s a long time to keep on praying, but that’s just what God wants you and me to do.

Sometimes God doesn’t answer us right away because he wants us to have a better understanding of what we need or what we are asking for. Sometimes he waits so we can really be grateful for the gift when it comes along. Other times God makes us wait because we simply are not ready and we need to mature. Only God knew the reasons Isaac needed to wait. But while he waited, Isaac kept on praying.

Girl Gab: Mom, has God ever asked you to wait a long, long time for something you prayed for? Tell your daughter about it. Daughter, tell your mom what you think Rebekah was doing and how she was feeling during those twenty years of praying and waiting. Just guess. There is no right answer or wrong answer. Pray together that God would give you patience and persistence in your prayer life.