The unexpected blessing of consistent prayer
I like consistency. I run the same route every day for my morning run. I know the exact places on the course where I will hit distance goals. I know the houses where there are dogs and which ones bark, which ones will come out to meet me, and which ones just watch me run by. I know where the pavement is uneven and where it is smooth. The consistency of running the same route and learning all these details allows me to give little attention to where I am and where I am going. It allows me the freedom to just enjoy the run because the details of the route, distance, and road hazards are so well known they require little notice.
The familiarity provided by consistency also allows me to focus on other things. I have employed prayer prompts for many years to remind me to pray for certain things. Prayer prompts are places and things that remind you to pray for a specific need when you see them or pass them by. Once, a pastor asked me to pray for an issue his family was facing. So, every morning when I ran past his home, I prayed for him and his family. Over the years, the specifics of what I pray as changed. But every morning, as I run down his road, I still pray for him, his family, and his church. Around the block from this pastor is a home where there once was a Georgia State Patrol car often parked in the driveway. Daily, when I pass by this home, I pray for the members of our church who are in law enforcement, their safety, and their families, and that they would have a ministry among their peers and those they interact with in their work. On the same street as this house is another home where a lady lives who lost her husband a few years ago. I prayed for her and the Lord’s comfort in her grief for a long time. As the years have passed, when I reach this home, it now prompts me to pray for others who I know of who are grieving. About a half mile from this home is another house where friends who do not know Jesus live. When I pass their home, I pray for their salvation. At another home, I pray for a health concern. At another, I pray for broken relationships to be restored. And still, at another, I pray for a couple who enjoy prominence in the community but are far from the Lord. I pray for God’s grace to convict them of sin and restore them to a right relationship with God.
Sometimes I pray for other things. For example, there have been times when one issue is so heavy on my heart that praying about it consumes the entire time I am running. Other times I pray for people and issues that are currently on my mind. Yet, because I go by the same houses and run the same streets every day, I consistently pray for the same people and issues every day.
Paul instructs the church in 1 Thessalonians to “pray without ceasing.” Likewise, in Luke 18, Jesus taught His disciples, with a parable about a widow who would not quit pleading for justice, to be persistent in prayer. I have long understood this principle but have only recently come to appreciate the unexpected blessing of consistency in prayer.
Prayer is a part of every Christian’s life. I have been a follower of Jesus since childhood and thus have been praying most of my life. Yet, honestly, for most of my years, I have approached consistency in prayer as a duty to perform or command to obey, not as a blessing to receive. However, I have been surprised to discover that consistently praying over the course of years has not been a burden, nor has it become drudgery or simply perfunctory. Instead, it has become a great blessing and encouragement to me.
Many of the things I pray for in the predawn hours while I run are “big things.” Things that only God can accomplish and things that will not come to be unless the Lord wills them. When you pray for such things irregularly, you have no real expectation of seeing the Lord answer your prayer and thus often pray with little expectant hope. Yet I have been blessed to discover through consistent prayer how regularly I can see how the Lord has answered my prayer.
Most of the houses that prompt prayer on my route were established as such because I knew of a need of someone who lived in the home. I began by praying for their specific need. However, over the years, as the Lord answered the original prayer requests, I kept praying as I passed by the house but broadened my prayer beyond the initial need to other related things. A few months ago, I was running my familiar route, praying as I passed by several homes on the same street, when I realized how God had graciously answered almost every original prayer concern for that street. At that moment, I was dumbfounded as I realized how good and gracious God had been. The original needs I had prayed for were not small things, and only because I was consistently praying every morning did I come to see how God had met these needs.
That morning my usual petitions gave way to spontaneous praise and thanksgiving for God’s goodness. And yet even while praising the Lord, I ran past the one house on this particular street where what I have been praying for, to my knowledge, has not yet come to be. Like the other things I had prayed for on this street, the needs at this particular home can only be accomplished by the power of God. Salvation, repentance, restoration, restored family relationships, broken marriages rescued, and bearing a positive witness for the gospel are just some things I know need to happen at this home. I had prayed for these things many times before but on that morning and every morning since, I prayed more confidently and hopefully than ever before. Consistency in prayer has given me a perspective I had not known before.
Some may find the repetitiveness of my regular running route uninspiring. Some may need new scenery to keep their interest and motivation to put in the daily running miles. But I will stick to my familiar route because, in the consistency of running past the same houses and praying for the same needs daily, I have discovered a wonderful blessing. I have seen how the Lord is working, blessing, healing, restoring, and building His kingdom. There may be better routes to run, but none are more exciting and encouraging than the one I run every day.
