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Sledgehammer from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

While working in construction, I have had the pleasure of breaking up concrete with a sledgehammer. You can swing and smash, but nothing seems to happen for a while. You can get exhausted without making much of a dent if it is reinforced. Then finally, you swing, and it crumbles. You managed to break through because all those previous swings had weakened it.

I find that praying is a lot like that. Now, I know there are times to pray in faith and stand on it. When you pray and know that the Lord has heard you, then you wait patiently. 

The Apostle Paul asked the Lord three times to remove his "thorn in the flesh," but the Lord told him, "My grace is sufficient for you" (2 Corinthians 12:9). When Paul received the answer, he stopped asking. But unless you have that inner peace, then you keep praying until you do. 

That's how Jesus did it. On the night of the Last Supper before His arrest, Jesus went to the garden to pray. He knew Judas Iscariot had gone to betray Him and was bringing an army to arrest Him. Jesus went and prayed three times, saying the same words:

(Matthew 26:36–39 NKJV)  Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, "Sit here while I go and pray over there." And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me." He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."

(Matthew 26:40–44 NKJV)  Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done." And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.

Jesus lived as our example, and on the most stressful night of His life, He went back and prayed the same words three times. He kept smashing that rock until the peace came. That night, it was an angel who appeared from heaven and strengthened Him (Luke 22:43). 

You pray, then pray, and pray until the breakthrough comes. We are as weak as water today because we don't. "Bleh... I don't have time." The truth is that we don't believe it will help, or we would find some prayer time.

(Luke 18:1–5 NKJV)  Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying: "There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, 'Get justice for me from my adversary.' And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, 'Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.' "

We always ought to pray and not lose heart! Never give up on prayer. In the parable, you have a powerful judge, able to put people in prison, and a helpless widow. She had nothing to offer the judge, but she pleaded with him relentlessly until he gave her what she wanted. She kept hammering away at that rock until it shattered. 

Pray until the answer comes: "Lord, I know You heard me earlier, but this is important to me, and I would really love an answer from You."

It's not that God is like the unjust judge or doesn't care about our prayers, but spiritual warfare is going on in the heavenlies, and our prayers cause things to move. In the book of Daniel, there is a story where Daniel was fasting and praying for twenty-one days. Then a Man suddenly appeared to him. Daniel collapsed, and the men with him fled in terror. 

(Daniel 10:12–14 NKJV)  Then he said to me, "Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia. Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come."

The answer to Daniel's prayer began on day one, but there was a struggle in the heavenlies, and it was day twenty-one before he received the message. What did Daniel do? He kept fasting and praying until he got the reply. 

Like the Apostle Paul, it is best to move on when the Lord has given you an answer. Whether or not it is the answer you wanted to hear. Never try and change His mind, for He knows the end from the beginning and can see the havoc your prayer would likely cause. 

Example: King Hezekiah became sick and near death. The prophet Isaiah came and told him to put his house in order, for he would die. 

(2 Kings 20:1–3 NKJV)  In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, "Thus says the LORD: 'Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.' " Then he turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the LORD, saying, "Remember now, O LORD, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

(2 Kings 20:4–6 NKJV)  And it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "Return and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: "I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD. And I will add to your days fifteen years. 

Hezekiah recovered and lived another fifteen years, but during that time, he had a son named Manasseh, who became the most wicked king Israel had ever known and led the country away from the Lord (2 Kings 21:16). 

A mentor of mine went car shopping once and spied a cute little red Chevy Vega on the car lot. He put his hand on it and prayed, "Lord, is this the right car for me?" and heard, "No." Now he knew the Lord's voice and that it was Him speaking. He walked around the lot and didn't see anything else interesting. 

So he went back to the cute little red car and prayed again. He heard "No" a second time. He called his wife and told her about it, and she said, I don't feel right about that car. He looked around the lot again, laid his hands on the car, and prayed if this was the right one for him. This time he heard, "Yes! You need this car..." 

He bought it and started home, but it ran out of oil on the way. The engine blew, and it sat at the end of his driveway while he made the payments on it for the next two years. Sometimes, we need that car. 

Keep praying until you get your answer, but then let it go, even if it's not the answer you wanted to hear. 

You can pray this with me if you like: 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I love You and thank You today! Please give me wisdom in prayer, and help me discern when You are speaking to me. I want what You want, for You know best. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!