What is tenacity? What is faith?
They are not necessarily the same thing.
Tenacity in our faith means we believe God can do what He says He can do, so we pray accordingly. Otherwise, tenacity is little more than human endurance and it’s nothing short of amazing how much human beings can endure. People have mind-boggling ability to “hang-on” in the direst of circumstances.
But that isn’t necessarily faith.
We read incredible stories every day of people facing horrific obstacles, like being lost in the mountains in a snowstorm and surviving. Their stories of survival leave us breathless. And some of those heroes lay claim to no particular faith.
That is not a criticism nor a judgment. Not everyone who accomplishes great things is a follower of Christ. That’s just the way it is.
But I am talking to “followers’ today.
We are to be spiritually tenacious. Let me repeat that phrase, “spiritually tenacious”.
And nowhere is tenacity more important than in our prayer life.
my prayer chair (this is the title of my older blog)
WE JUST CAN’T QUIT
We can’t quit praying for that one person who confuses and frustrates us.
We can’t quit praying for that one situation that never seems to get resolved.
We can’t quit praying for that one that needs healing.
WE JUST CAN’T QUIT
We can’t quit praying for our nation.
We can’t quit praying for school violence to end.
We can’t quit praying for God’s purpose to be fulfilled in our world.
WE JUST CAN’T QUIT
I’m just like you. I sometimes feel like my prayers are coming up in smoke. You notice though I said “feel” not believe. For I do believe my prayers are always heard.
I can think of no other dimension of our spiritual life that require more tenacity than in our prayer life.
How about you? Are you praying faithfully even when it seems hope is gone? Yes, there will be times when we don’t see our prayers answered as we would like and I don’t think we should try to make ourselves feel better by offering trite reasons why either. If Jesus didn’t, then who are we to think we can?
So let’s not give up the good fight. Let’s not be weary in doing good. If God did that, where would we be?
God bless and have a good day.
