Day Two: Pray with Persistence

Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Mark 10:46-48 NIV

Let’s talk about the first key to praying breakthrough prayers: persistence. Have you ever noticed how Bartimaeus refuses to let anyone or anything shut him up? The crowd tries to silence him, but the Bible says:

“Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’” Mark 10:48 (NIV)

Bartimaeus had a need, and he wasn’t about to let the opinions of people stop him from getting to Jesus. That’s the heart of persistent prayer.

Persistent prayer says:“I’m not letting go until something changes. "I'm not stopping just because it didn’t happen the first time. "I'm still praying even when it feels like heaven’s been silent.”

What if Your Breakthrough is on the Other Side of ‘One More Time’? How many times have we given up too soon? We prayed once… nothing happened so we moved on. But Jesus said:

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened…” (Matthew 7:7)

In the Greek, those verbs aren’t one-time actions. They actually mean: “keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking." That’s persistent prayer. Breakthrough often comes after the resistance, after the silence, after everyone around you says, “You’re doing too much.”

Is it possible that you stopped praying for something because you got discouraged? Is it possible that you have given up in places God's not finished with yet? This is your wake-up call: bring it back to Jesus again. Because the kind of prayer that breaks through is the kind that keeps going.

Let us pray:

What’s the prayer you gave up on too soon? Write it down again. Speak it out again. Cry out again. Bring it to Jesus again. Because just like Bartimaeus, Jesus might be a moment away from stopping right in front of you.

Ready for day three? Click HERE!

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This devotional was inspired by a portion of a message I preached called "Fix It, Jesus." Check out the full message here!