Three times in not always a charm. 2 Corinthians 12:8

“For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.” 2 Corinthians 12:8

Paul was a great ambassador for Christ.  He preached the truth, was used by God in amazing ways through demonstrations of power in the Spirit… healings… miracles… and yet, he prayed three times and received the following answer,...

“My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” (v9)

Just how desperate was Paul in this instance?  Enough to move from being led by the Spirit to looking to the example of others who had so they could imitate them…

“And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again.” 1 Kings 17:21

At the end of his rope Paul must have thought, “What am I doing wrong?  Why won’t this demon leave me?  What should I do?”  And in that he remembers Elijah.  Elijah saw great demonstrations of God’s power.  And Elijah saw fit to pray three times over the widow’s dead son.  And God answered him.

So Paul must have been thinking, “That’s it!  I pray just like Elijah… I’ll pray three times!”

So why the different outcome?

Because there is no set “formula.” 

You can’t force God to act.  He is not bound by some rule that says He MUST answer or grant you your request if you do such and such.

I needed to learn this.  I found myself in a difficult situation… and I thought about “re-doing” an approach in prayer that had “worked” before.  That was when the Lord put Paul and Elijah on my heart.

We can’t force Him.

We don’t need to.

We have the confidence that He will answer… that He will provide… that He will heal…

Not because of anything we can do or have done, but because He has said it.

Period.

We can’t choose God’s timing.  But we can choose God.

Jesus promised that whatever we asked according to His will… we receive.

I looked for the “immediately” before that receive… but I couldn’t find it.

But I also couldn’t find the “never.”

Prayer is a conversation with the Lord.  He started it… He will finish it.

We have His Word on it.

SDG