Let God Talk to You: When You Hear Him, You Will Never Be the Same

or second or one-hundredth time, he or she keeps hammering away

until it is accomplished. The strong man of prayer keeps on praying

until he prays it through and obtains what he seeks. We should be

careful about what we ask from God. But, when we do begin to pray

for a thing, we should never give up praying for it until we receive it

or until God makes it very clear and very definite that it is not His

will to give it. 3

The psalmist also gives us the perspective that patience is
not idle waiting, but a dynamic expectancy that must be
nurtured:

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my

hope.

My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for

the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.

PSALM 130:5–6

Patience, in fact, is active waiting! Not to oversimplify with
this example, but our family dog of fourteen years, Keziah,
would patiently wait for us to get out of bed, feed her, walk her,
and come home from work and pet her. She would wait at the
front door or the kitchen cupboard, or lay by our feet, her eyes
watching our every move until she received what she was
waiting for. She never doubted that we’d take care of her. She
knew we loved her. And her waiting proved that she trusted
us.

Patient waiting is not passive—it is being watchful, alert, always

looking and listening for God to come to you.