Pray Through: Pray till you get assurance that God has heard your Prayer
Key Verse
if we know that He hears and listens to us in whatever we ask, we [also] know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted to us] the requests which we have asked from Him. 1 John 5:15 AMP
Example 1: Lazarus
1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick.
6-7 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” John 11:11 NIV
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
SUMMARY
Jesus got assurance from God the Father (See vs 41b) beforehand that Lazarus would be raised from the dead. This is why He told Martha (vs 23) though the actual coming back to life happened only later (vs 43, 44)
Could this not be the reason that He stayed back when He heard that Lazarus was sick i.e. to Pray Through
Example 2: Ezra
21 And there by the Ahava Canal I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask Him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions. 22 For I was ashamed to ask the king for an escort of soldiers and horsemen to protect us from our enemies on the road, since we had told him, “The hand of our God is gracious to all who seek Him, but His great anger is against all who forsake Him. 23 So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and He granted our request.
31 On the twelfth day of the first month we set out from the Ahava Canal to go to Jerusalem, and the hand of our God was upon us to protect us from the hands of the enemies and bandits along the way.
SUMMARY
Ezra got assurance from God beforehand (vs 23) that they would have a safe journey, though the journey happened only later (vs 31)
