The word be constant here carries the idea of being steadfast, or to persevere.
In Acts 6 a complaint arose about certain widows being neglected in the distribution of food. It says in verse 2 and following…
And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
This word “devote” is the same word for being “constant” in prayer.
We see Jesus teach on this at the beginning of Luke 18: And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
I love that the purpose of the parable is laid out clearly in verse 1: Jesus taught this parable for two reasons:
- That they would always pray.
- That they would not lose heart.
God wants us to come before him in prayer continually and not give up. This widow would not give up and the judge finally listened and acted. God is not like an earthly judge who doesn’t hear the first time or doesn’t care, and acts only out of annoyance. In contrast, God hears the first time, and wants to give His people justice. Yet, He wants us to come to Him over and over and over again in dependence.
We get a unique view into the heavenly perspective of prayer from Daniel chapter 10:
In verse 10-14, Daniel is having a vision… it says:
And behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. And he said to me, “O Daniel, man greatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you.” And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia, and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come.”
His words were heard the first time… and yet this angel was apparently prevented from coming for 21 days. He made it clear that he came because of Daniel’s prayers.
Two big take-aways from this:
- Our prayers matter.
- This angel coming was a direct result of Daniel praying.
- A delayed answer to prayer is a call for more prayer.
- Just like we saw in Luke 18, Jesus taught them so that they would always pray and not lose heart, we don’t fully understand what is going on in the heavenly realms, but we have this small insight into it and it is a call to continue in prayer, not to give up.
Lastly, Jesus demonstrates perseverance in prayer for us in Luke 6:
In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles:
Before Jesus called his 12 disciples, he got alone and prayed all night.
May we come before God with steadfastness in prayer. May we be persistent. May we not lose heart when we don’t get an immediate answer. And may we come with hearts of submission to the will of God just like Jesus praying three times in the garden, He prayed to His Father, “... yet not my will, but Yours be done.”
