When should I keep on asking?
July 9th, 2008 — Sidharth Mohandas
By Sidharth Mohandas
“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” [Mark 11:24]
If you take this verse in it’s context, you will realize that Jesus said this to His disciples after He cursed the fig tree. However, in this instance you don’t find Jesus persisting in prayer, instead you find Him cursing the fig tree and believing it to be done, and it was so.
There are two basic things that we need to consider in the above passage:
(1) You must find basis for faith in God. You can’t have faith in God for something that is not revealed to you as His will.
(2) Secondly, the verse is applicable only at a personal level.
Let me clarify these with an example…Before I received the Spirit baptism, the Lord spoke to me from His Word about His will for me to be baptized in the Spirit. I sought the Lord, and initially I kept on asking the Lord to fill me with His Spirit. However, sometime later the Lord brought the above verse to my mind and in response to it I believed that I had received the Spirit. Within few minutes I was filled with the Spirit and spoke in a language unknown to me. So here you can see that (1) I found a basis from the Scriptures that it was God’s will for me to receive His Spirit and (2) no one else could believe and receive for me, I myself had to believe that I had received the Spirit even before I saw any manifestation. That would obviously prevent me from asking any more.
If this is so, then when should a person keep on asking or persist in prayer? Of course, we know a number of passages teaching us to ask and keep on asking, to persist in prayer and so forth. But where do we draw the line?
Here’s the principle that will make it clear to you: You need to keep on asking where you cannot receive or appropriate by faith.
As I mentioned in point (1), you cannot have faith in God for something that is not revealed to you as His will. Therefore, if you and I are uncertain about what Abba wills, it demands a continual asking, seeking and knocking from our side.
At the same time coming to point (2), we realize that this verse is on a personal level. I can believe that I have received something I’ve asked for only at a personal level. For example, I cannot receive the salvation of the Lord for my family. They have to personally believe and receive it. This calls us for persistence in prayer. Other areas that would require you to pray continuously would be praying for the government, for the nation, for the church and so forth
When I pray for my individual needs, I can believe that I have received even before I see the manifestation and close the case. However, intercessory prayer demands my continual prayer.
I encourage you to come to this place of prayer where you can take God at His Word and close the case the very moment you present it before the throne.
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. [1 John 5:14-15]
At the same time, I also encourage you to persist in prayer in areas where you need to. Probably you’re seeking Him for new direction, or for the salvation of someone in your family. Do not give up, ask and keep on asking!









