Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you. Ephesians 3:20
Are We There Yet?
When our children were young, and we traveled long distances, we often drove overnight. The reason was simple: less misery for everyone involved. Onboard screens were becoming popular, but our van didn’t have such luxuries. However, my father engineered a special wooden stand that held a small TV that played VHS tapes. If you don’t know what those are, they were ancient technology popular in the early 2000s.
Even with all the distractions, one thing was inevitable. A question would make its way to the front of the car over and over: “Are we there yet?”
Most often, the first inquiry happened just a few minutes after the engine started and the wheels began to turn. The concept of distance and time does not naturally register with children or with adults, for that matter. All that is felt is the discomfort of being confined in a rolling box with few options for exercise, and entertainment that loses its luster far too soon.
Shameless Persistence
Along the way, my children didn’t interpret our first “not yet” as “never.” They simply asked again. And again. And again. That relentless, shameless persistence led to more stops and caving into food choices we would never allow on a normal day. It is amazing what a little pressure, applied in overwhelming amounts, can do to us as parents.
When the disciples asked Jesus about prayer, He used the analogy of kids in the van on vacation.
No, He didn’t.
But He did talk about shameless persistence. The neighbor who needed bread in the middle of
the night because of unexpected company eventually got what he requested (Luke 11:5-8). The woman who demanded justice eventually drove a judge who cared about neither justice nor people to address her need because of her relentless requests (Luke 18:1-8).
Jesus wasn’t suggesting God was like the reluctant neighbor or the unjust judge. Quite the opposite. If even a reluctant neighbor responds to persistence, and an unjust judge eventually responds to a woman’s cries for justice, how much more will He hear us and answer?
Prayer Is Not a Formula
We can read these parables, see the pattern of asking, knocking, and seeking (Luke 11:9-10), and turn these directives into a formula. Prayer can become a vehicle for getting God to do something for us because we believe that if we annoy Him with unending nagging, He will relent and give us the toy we think we need.
But prayer is not an equation, and cannot be solved like one. One ask plus one knock does not equal one answer. There is no meter in heaven counting the number of times we repeat the same ask, and there is no magic number that opens the vending machine of heaven.
Because prayer is not transactional, it is relational.
Honestly, God hears us the first time we ask. He hears the whisper under our breath that doesn’t even make it to words. He hears us, and because He loves us, the sound of our voice matters. He knows our needs: sickness, financial distress, relational dysfunction, but He longs for the conversation about each of those things.
Seen and Heard
I believe my kids asking, “Are we there yet?” wasn’t really about the destination; it was about trust. They didn’t have a gauge to measure how many questions were too many. The ask was as genuine the tenth time as the first. (If only ten were the number!) They weren’t testing a formula, and they didn’t interpret “not yet” as “never.” They simply kept asking because they knew we were listening and that they were seen and heard.
Don’t Give Up! Keep Asking
Maybe that’s why Jesus encouraged us to come like children (Matthew 18:3). Children aren’t governed by natural limitations, and they believe possibilities exist beyond what they can see. Ice cream and candy are definitely options for dinner. They don’t give up asking for what they want. They don’t calculate how many asks are enough or whether they used all the right words. They simply ask the person they believe has the answer.
Perhaps the invitation of prayer is not to figure out how to get God to answer, but to keep asking, keep knocking, keep seeking, and keep trusting. So, be shamelessly persistent. Not because persistence forces God to respond, but because engaging Him keeps our hearts turned in His direction, and that is exactly what captures His attention.