“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.” (Colossians 4:2-3)
Persistent Prayer
It’s no secret that Duke’s Marvin Bagley III is an incredibly gifted athlete. The freshman averaged 21 points and 11 rebounds per game and won ACC Player of the Year honors. Part of what sets Bagley III apart is his ability to jump multiple times to get rebounds.
“The most amazing thing to me is [Bagley’s] second, third and fourth jump being just about as high as his first one,” teammate Grayson Allen told The Chronicle.
Following up misses is important in basketball and it’s important for Christians when it comes to prayer. When we pray, it shouldn’t be a one-time deal. We need to pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and be in consistent conversation with God. After we pray about something once, we should keep praying about it! It often takes time for God to reveal His answer to our prayers, which is why following up is so important.
I’ve found in my own life that most of the clearest answers I’ve gotten to my prayers came way later than I initially hoped. It was a good reminder that God works on His timeline, not mine. Prayer takes patience because God doesn’t always respond right away. In the end though, He will answer our prayers. Let’s be persistent!
– Joshua Doering
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