Not giving up on persistence

We've been praying for various people and situations for some time now (over a year), it's probably the longest time I have stuck at it, in interceding for anything or anyone. In the past I'd have prayed a while, then simply moved on to pray about whatever else I felt "moved" to pray for. I now realise that I've been pretty fickle in terms of my prayer life, too often I've prayed as an "ad hoc" conversation, where, whatever came to mind, came up in conversation. Recently it's dawned on me that if I only ever talk about what's currently on my mind, it's a bit of a one way relationship.

Through the process of praying regularly and in a more disciplined way, I can now see that those one way conversations have also been pretty shallow. Persevering in prayer for the same few important things, I soon found myself running out of steam....I mean how many ways are there to ask Father please will you...? The longer I pressed on, the worse it felt. I found myself reciting a shopping list mantra of the things I was interceding for. Then one day I bored even myself with my uninspired praying, and found myself saying "Father I don't know how to pray for these things, I've re-worded and re-phrased it ad infinitum, what should I pray?" Gradually I realised that this was what I should have been doing all along!

As a Christian I'm a disciple - someone who is learning - I'd lost sight of that important principle in my prayer life. I sat in the driving seat as if I was running things, when the whole point is that God is in charge. So, for some time now I've been asking Father how I should pray about things, rather than simply diving in and talking from my viewpoint.

As I've done that I've realised that my persistence has paid some great dividends - No, I've not yet seen the people around me fully healed or saved, (though I have seen some encouraging progress) above all I've learned much about myself, and the changes God wants to make in me. I've learned (again) that listening in prayer is at least as important as speaking. I've learned that prayer is both more fun and much harder work that I'd realised. I've also learned that asking God to direct and guide my prayer life is every bit as important as speaking to Him about the situations I'm interceding for. So don't give up on persistence, stick with it, don't just re-phrase the same old thoughts ask God to guide you to new ones - It's well worth the effort!