I went to a lot of my granddaughter’s soccer practices and games this past year—it was fun to watch her practice and play!  She wasn’t at all intense about the game; my daughter observed that her daughter was more of a team mascot than an actual player.  She was entertaining to watch, though, as she pranced up and down the field.

There were a couple of phrases the coaches used consistently, and one stuck out in my mind— “Follow your shot!”  The point being, don’t just kick the ball and let it go, hoping that one of your teammates will either run up to make a goal or keep it away from the other team.  It is important to stay engaged, stay alert, and stay close to the ball when you’re playing soccer!

With the intense conflict in this nation and around the world, the enticements and deceptions of the enemy, and personal trials, temptations, and conflicts, prayer is now (and always has been) an essential part of every Christian’s life.  I am convinced that the concept of following your shot in soccer relates very well to our prayer life because we have an “opposing team” whose sole purpose is to defeat us.

Jesus told this parable to emphasize the importance of persistence in prayer:

“He said, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man.  And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, “Give me justice against my adversary.”  For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, “Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.”’  And the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unrighteous judge says.  And will not God give justice to His elect, who cry to Him day and night?  Will He delay long over them?  I tell you, He will give justice to them speedily.  Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?’” (Luke 18:2-8)

Faith and tenacity in prayer cannot be separated!

Jesus also told a parable about a persistent man who pestered his neighbor (at midnight!) to lend him three loaves of bread because he had an unexpected house guest.  In concluding the story, Jesus said:

“So I say to you, ask and keep on asking, and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking, and you will find; knock and keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who keeps on asking [persistently], receives; and he who keeps on seeking [persistently], finds; and to him who keeps on knocking [persistently], the door will be opened.  What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish?  Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?  If you, then, being evil [that is, sinful by nature], know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask and continue to ask Him!” (Luke 11:9-13 Amp)

I’ve had moments in my life when I stopped praying about something because I could see hints of change and what I considered answers to prayer start to happen; then, seemingly out of nowhere, there would be a turnaround that I did not expect.  I would forget the aggressiveness of a hungry lion, intent on devouring the unsuspecting.  When righteousness is at stake and the enemy is hard at work with his evil plans, staying consistent and remaining persistent in prayer is essential.  Particularly as we are hastening towards the elections in the United States, we must not forget that satan, the one who seeks to steal, kill and destroy, also has a lot at stake in this country—we mustn’t let the enemy lull us into sleep, passivity, or indifference.

To be candid with you, though, I have often treated prayer as my granddaughter plays soccer—prancing up and down the field, kicking at the ball when it gets close, but not playing assertively or dynamically engaged with making the goal or helping the team.  Observing the political climate, the battle for biblical morality and gender identity, defending the lives of unborn children, and the ability to “lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Timothy 2:2), passive—feeling based, less than complete engagement and commitment to—prayer just is not going to be adequate for the battles ahead.  We must neither forget the lying nature and deviousness of the enemy, nor underestimate the strength and the ability of Almighty God to act on behalf of His people when we pray.

“…the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.  Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.  And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.” (James 5:16-18)

Another approach to prayer that I’ve observed in myself is not an approach at all; instead, it is a backing away, an averting the eyes attitude vaguely reminiscent of the religious people Jesus was talking about in the parable of the good Samaritan.  I’ve read reports of the persecution and martyrdom of Christians in other countries, as well as the growing animosity and legal actions taken against Christians in the United States.  I’ve seen pictures of homeless people, reports of missing children, and have heard the accounts of spreading illnesses.  The news is full of violence, earthquakes, and tsunamis and I think I have become a bit desensitized to the barrage of tragedy and evil burgeoning around us. 

It is easy to send up a fleeting prayer when I see or read these things.  But intentionally turning aside in my thoughts, stopping, and bending down in prayer—and “following my shots”—to minister to the needs of others requires thoughtfulness and the desire to do so.  I recognize in myself a combination of “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew26:41), and, “…I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out” (Romans 7:18) when it comes to prayer and intercession.

However, I am so grateful that I’m not stuck in the brokenness of my humanity, because I have God’s assurance that:

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

“And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in [me] will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6)

“…it is God who works in me to will and to work for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13)

And, because we have asked, we have the Holy Spirit to help us as we pray:

“Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  And He who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” (Romans 8:26-27)