The Pacific Gospel Mission

Since 1877, the Pacific Gospel Mission has cared and preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the men and women of Chicago.  The mission was founded and funded by George and Sarah Clark from the very beginning and would quickly become a mission of massive size.  As a result of the increase, the Clarks, who had been bearing the cost of the mission, were unable to fund it any longer.

Despite their best efforts to fundraise, the financial burden came to a head to such a degree that if the Clarks did not garner the money, the mission would have to close its doors.  The Clarks spent the whole night on their knees in the house praying that God would provide the money to save the mission.

In the morning, when the couple emerged from its Morgan Park home, they looked with awe at their yard.  Filling the yard were hundreds of the highest quality mushrooms.  This was made even more remarkable because not only had there never been mushrooms in their yard before but it wasn't even season for them.  The couple spent all morning picking the mushrooms, then brought and sold them to the chefs at the Palmer House, the famed hotel.  The Pacific Gospel Mission was able to keep its doors open, all because of the providential hand of God Almighty.

The essence and point of this story is fairly self-evident.  God is a God who provides for those who earnestly seek after Him.  This is one of the keys to the Christian life.  No matter our circumstance, if we are seeking to live in the center of God's will and we are worshiping Him in faith and humility, He does and will bless us for our faithfulness.  Let us then continually and persistently come to God with our requests, big and small, so that we may be blessed by the Lord!

Praying Persistently

Think of this all-too familiar scene:

A parent is pushing the grocery cart as fast as they can through the store, navigating it like a needle and thread, sewing through the aisles and getting just the essentials so as not to be there any longer than needed.  The reason for their frantic but focused speed is because they have a loud, obnoxious child at their heels, incessantly begging for a piece of candy.  

With every expert weave of the cart and stop to dump product into the basket, the child makes the same whimpered plea, "Mommy! Please, just one!"  On and on the battle rages, the mother determined not to give in to her child and the child knowing that if he plays this game long enough he'll wear her down and get the candy.  By the time the mother and child get to the register, the kid is eating the aforementioned candy and the mother is harried and hoarse from yelling under her breath.  Persistence pays off.

There are two passages of Scripture that speak directly to the necessity of persistance in prayer (Matt. 7:7-11; Luke 18:1-8).  In the first, taken from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches that believers ask, seek, and know so as to see, find, and gain admittance.  The primary purpose is the pursuit of God's presence but it is also a matter of perseverance in prayer.

God does not simply want us to come to Him like a vending machine: fifteen minutes of prayer for a trinket, an hour for a new car.  Instead, we are to ask Him, to seek after Him, and to knock on His door with the persistent tenacity of a loan shark.  There is a progression to the pursuit of God and we should be aware that God does not ever grow weary of our pleas for His grace and provision.  In fact He encourages that we ask in His name and remain like a branch to His vine (John 14:12-14, 15:1-17).

The other relavant passage in this regard is Luke 18:1-8, recounts the Parable of the Persistent Widow. In it, Jesus paints a picture of the value of persistent prayer and the need for consistency in pursuing God to provide for us.  God desires for us to come to Him for our provisions, for our desires, and for our cares.  But to do so in persistence.  Therefore, let us come to God like the child wanting candy in the grocery store, knowing that He does not grow weary of our badgering.  Praise be to God that He cares for us and wishes for us to come to Him for every need with a perseverance that is powerful!