The Power Of Persistent Prayer

Introduction- Ask for what you want.

In her article,

Women: ask for what you want: How one female entrepreneur is helping women negotiate in business

Gigi Ries

My first day on the job, I got pulled over. My boss was in the passenger seat, and we were on the way to renew her license at the DMV. Focusing more on her email than on the road, she had told me to turn left.

Blinker on, in the middle of the intersection, I saw the words in their (unfairly small) red font: No Left Turn, 9am-11am Mon-Fri. But it was my first day, and telling her no seemed impossible. I took the turn.

What happened next was something I’d remember long after the fact. Leaning across the seat to talk to the officer, my new boss asked for something on my behalf: leniency.

“Officer, just, please…I told her to turn left. I’m her boss, and it’s her first day working for me. If you could, please, consider being lenient with her.”

The officer paused.

“It’s her first day. I told her to. I’m just asking if you could be lenient.”

He looked at me.

“How old are you?”

“Seventeen.”

He looked at my license he held in his hand.

“Seventeen is too young to have a driving record.”

I couldn’t believe it. I thought the chance I was going to get let off had come and gone. I thought my fate was sealed. I was wrong.

My first day working for Annette, I was a timid and unassertive 17 year old girl. I didn’t feel as if I could say no to my boss at the intersection. I didn’t feel as if I could explain myself to the officer, or ask to be let off. I was silent in the face of conflict and subject to the will of others.

That was two years ago. I’d like to think I am more confident now. But I know for certain that the month I spent working for Annette changed my perspective on what is possible in situations of conflict. Now, when I’m faced with a situation, like with the police officer two years ago, where I have two choices: say nothing and not get what I want, or ask for what I want and maybe get it, I ask.

One of the biggest reasons the gender wage gap exists is that women are less likely to negotiate for higher pay than their male coworkers.

But Annette’s program, Irresistible Requests, is working to help women make the power moves necessary to get the pay and position they deserve. The key, according to Annette, is asking for more.

“Making a request is the most pivotal type of communication that there is,” said Saldana. “It’s what gets life to move. It’s what gets projects to go forward. It’s what creates openings and relationships. It’s what gets a raise. It’s what produces a sale. There’s no movement if you can’t ask and invite people to be in that movement.”

Annette works to help women overcome mental barriers that might keep them from making a life-changing request.

“I really teach to all genders, but there’s a reason that I’m focusing on women,” said Saldana. “Asking for what you want is hard and there’s a lot of misconceptions and barriers in our own mindsets about what that means for our future, what that means about how people will perceive us.”

Though making requests is necessary to advance a career in today’s economy, women have good reason to be cautious about asking for what they want. According to the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, a woman who explains why she is qualified or mentions previous successes in a job interview can lower her chances of getting hired.

Annette helps women to navigate negotiation successfully by utilizing a self-assessment that outlines a woman’s leadership style within the framework of three archetypes: the Idealist, who dreams big, the Force of Nature, who relies only on herself, and the Commander in Chief, who has worked hard to get where she is and expects the same from everyone else.

Once Annette has identified which archetype her client most resembles, she works with them to identify how this affects the way they communicate.

“If you’re not aware that that’s your fundamental way of moving through the world, then you’re not owning it,” said Saldana. “You’re not responsible for it and you’re left without a flexibility or fluidity in how you speak. And therefore you could be leaving people with an impression, especially for a Commander in Chief, that actually is working against you because you asked them in such a way that they don’t want to do it for you. So you get a lot of false ‘yes’es because you’re in a position of authority and people have to say yes, but they don’t deliver.”

From there, Annette works with her client to cater their approach to negotiations by leveraging the best parts of the three archetypes when the time is right.

“Just having that as knowledge is useless,” said Saldana. “What we know is really, really useless. It’s what you do. It’s what you use. And communication and language (I think) is the most under-utilized tool that we have…in terms of what’s possible.”

“You had the power all along, my dear.” -Glinda the Good Witch, The Wizard of Oz, tells Dorothy

Transition To Body

Jesus came from a nation which loved prayer.

The Jewish Rabbis said the loveliest things about prayer.

‘God is as near to his creatures as the ear to the mouth.’

‘Human beings can hardly hear two people talking at once, but God, if all the world calls to him at the one time, hears their cry.’

‘A man is annoyed by being worried by the requests of his friends, but with God, all the time a man puts his needs and requests before him, God loves him all the more.’

Jesus had been brought up to love prayer; and in this passage he gives us the Christian charter of prayer.

The Antidote To Worry Is Confidence in God

Matthew 6:32–34 ESV

32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

The antidote to worry (vv. 25–34) is a robust confidence in God’s willingness to give his people all that they need. In vv. 25–34 the focus was explicitly on need rather than desire, and here too the son’s requests are for basic food, not for luxuries.

Body

Groove Of Prayer (Matt. 7:7)

Matthew 7:7 ESV

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Illustration: The Isley Brothers’ put out Groove With You off of their 1978 Album titled Showdown released on their T-Neck Records label. The song went on to become a top 20 R&B

Oh, I've been thinking of you

And you've been thinking of me

Oh, I'll give all that I have

If you'll give all that I need

And oh, oh, oh, lets be fair

And I think its time we cleared the air

You've been watching me, I've been watching you

You know I've been wantin to groove with you

Girl, speak your mind

Groove with you

You been thinking all of this time

Groove with you

Aw baby what I wouldn't do

Groove with you

Just spending my days with you

Groove- as a routine (as in grind) an established and often automatic or monotonous series of actions followed when engaging in some activity

Matthew 7:7 (An Exegetical Summary of Matthew 1–16): to ask’ [BAGD, all translations], ‘to ask for’ [BAGD, LN], ‘to demand’ [BAGD, LN], ‘to plead for’ [LN]. The present tense imperative form of this verb is translated ‘keep on asking’ [NLT]. This plural verb means to ask for with urgency [LN]. In this context, ‘ask’ refers to asking God for what one needs

Ask-

to ask for with urgency, even to the point of demanding—‘to ask for, to demand, to plead for

Seek-

to try to learn the location of something, often by movement from place to place in the process of searching—‘to try to learn where something is, to look for, to try to find.’

Knock-

to knock on a door, as a means of signaling one’s presence to those inside—‘to knock.

The three balancing clauses in each of these verses add up to a strong exhortation to persistent prayer. Seek and knock are metaphors for prayer, not separate exhortations (‘knocking’ is found also in Rabbinic sayings as a metaphor for prayer). All three imperatives in v. 7 are present tense, which indicates continuous, persistent prayer. It is such prayer that will find an answer (cf. the parables of Luke 11:5–8; 18:1–8).

The fact that he is asking the Father shows that he knows that what he seeks is within the gift of God. Perhaps the meaning is that the praying person does not know exactly what he should be praying for, but he knows that the Father will not lead him astray. There is also the thought of prayer with a greater intensity than would be implied when the person is doing no more than asking.

The Holy Spirit Helps Us Pray Right

Romans 8:26–27 ESV

26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV

14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Guarantee Of Prayer (Matt. 7:8)

Matthew 7:8 ESV

8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

And as he seeks the good gift from God, he is to know that he will find. For a second time we notice that the answer to prayer is certain. So is it with the third way of looking at praying: knock. It is not said at what the praying person should knock, but the imagery is that of a closed door that he cannot open (NIV brings this out by inserting “the door” before “will be opened”)

Receives- to acquire possession of something—‘to take, to acquire, to obtain

Matthew 7:7 (An Exegetical Summary of Matthew 1–16): you will receive what you ask for’ [NLT], ‘your request will be granted’ [BNTC], ‘God will give to you’ [NCV]. The agent of this passive verb and the one in the next clause is God [TH]. This verb means to give an object, usually meaning to give something of value

This verb means to receive or accept an object or benefit for which the initiative rests with the giver, but the focus of attention in the transfer is upon the receiver [LN].

Guaranteed Because We Seek God Diligently

Proverbs 8:17 ESV

17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.

Guaranteed Because We Are In Jesus Christ

John 15:7–8 ESV

7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

Guaranteed Because We Please God

1 John 3:21–24 ESV

21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

Goodness Of Prayer (Matt. 7:9-11)

Matthew 7:9–11 ESV

9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

7:9–10 Round loaves of bread resemble smooth, brown stones. Certain fish in the Sea of Galilee resemble snakes.

The attentive reader of this sermon will hear an echo of the Lord’s Prayer (6:11) in the saying about asking a father for bread, and more generally to the whole section in 6:25–34. “All good things” would include both material and spiritual things. Here we have an image of God as generous and longing to bless us if we will but ask.

Matthew 6:11 ESV

11 Give us this day our daily bread,

The Good Gift of the Holy Spirit

Luke 11:13 ESV

13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Good-

pertaining to having the proper characteristics or performing the expected function in a fully satisfactory way—‘good, nice, pleasant.’

Heavenly Father’s Good Gifts

Psalm 107:8–9 ESV

8 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! 9 For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.

Good & Perfect Gifts From Above

James 1:16–17 ESV

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

God Is Good

Psalm 107:1 ESV

1 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!

Psalm 143:10 ESV

10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!

Psalm 25:8–10 ESV

8 Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. 9 He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. 10 All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.

Taste & See That The LORD Is Good

Psalm 34:4–9 ESV

4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. 5 Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. 6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. 8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! 9 Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!

Transition To Close- Our Good God answers persistent prayers

Luke 18:1–8 ESV

1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’ ” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Have Faith To Ask in Prayer

Matthew 21:22 ESV

22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

Powerful prayers of the righteous

James 5:13–16 ESV

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

God rewards those who seek Him

Hebrews 11:1 ESV

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:6 ESV

6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Ask For the Glory of God

John 14:12–14 ESV

12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

Close- Our Good God

Give thanks to he LORD, for he is good

1 Chronicles 16:34 ESV

34 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

Surely Goodness& mercy shall follow me

Psalm 23:5–6 ESV

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Plans for your welfare

Jeremiah 29:10–13 ESV

10 “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

All things working together for good!

Romans 8:28–30 ESV

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Free gift of God

Romans 6:23 ESV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God gave his only son

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus persistence in prayer

Mark 1:35 ESV

35 And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

Luke 6:12–13 ESV

12 In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles:

Jesus Persevered In Prayer

Luke 22:44–46 ESV

44 And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 45 And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, 46 and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 68.12 ἐκτενής, ές; ἐκτενῶς

pertaining to an unceasing activity, normally involving a degree of intensity and/or perseverance—‘without ceasing, continuously, constantly.’

Luke 23:34 ESV

34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.

Luke 23:46 ESV

46 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.

Pray at all Times in the Spirit

Ephesians 6:16–18 ESV

16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,

The old hymn writer sang :

What a friend we have in Jesus,

all our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry

everything to God in prayer!

O what peace we often forfeit,

O what needless pain we bear,

all because we do not carry

everything to God in prayer!

Acknowledge the LORD through prayer

Proverbs 3:5–7 ESV

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. 7 Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.