Should We Pray Once With Confidence or Daily Until Answered?
I was recently asked if we should pray a petition once and be confident in and at peace that God has heard us and is working, or if we should pray about it every day till we have an answer.
In most cases, I think we should continue to pray for things that we believe are God’s will until our prayers are answered. I believe that it’s possible for the Spirit of God to give someone a conviction in their spirit to pray for something once and be done. But I think it’s more normal for God to encourage people, “Hey, stay steady in prayer. Keep praying. Don’t give up.” Jesus told specific parables and taught specifically about the importance of persisting in prayer. Our general attitude should be that we’re going to persist in prayer. A “one and done” prayer is only valid if someone is specifically prompted by the Holy Spirit to do such a thing.
Now, there are some people who would say that to pray for something more than once is a demonstration of unbelief. That is a very incorrect understanding of Scripture. It is not unbelief to repeatedly pray for something, and I can assure you of that for at least two reasons. First, Jesus specifically told us the value of persistent prayer. He did it in direct teaching and in some of the parables that He told. Jesus told us the value of persistent prayer; He wouldn’t tell us the value of something that was a demonstration of unbelief. Secondly, Jesus prayed more than once for something. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed the same prayer repeatedly. In talking to God about his thorn in the flesh, Paul prayed the same prayer repeatedly. Jesus and Paul would never be presented to us as examples of unbelief in prayer.