Children of God must cultivate the habit of persistent prayers so that they may attain their full potentials. The importance of prayer cannot be overemphasised when we consider what those who take time to pray gain. The Bible says;
"Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit." James 5:17-18

The prayer of Elijah that brought about the rain was not just a five-minute prayer. He prayed and prayed again before the rain fell. When a man of God prays for a few minutes in the public and miracles begin to happen, one should not be deceived that it is the few minutes of prayer that instigated the miracles. The fact is that, the man of God had prayed long hours in private before the public show of God's miraculous deeds. God, in His Word, commands us to "Pray without ceasing." The One who commands us to pray, definitely will answer our prayers, if only we will obey command. God is interested in listening to our petitions and responding accordingly. Our Lord Jesus Christ in John 16:24 says,
"Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full."

In other words, we must not stop asking if we have not received an answer to the petitions that we put before God. At times, answers to our prayers are double-crossed by the agents of darkness like in the case of Daniel. The following importune prayer of Daniel eventually saved the day:
"Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thin heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia." Daniel 10:12-13

Hannah prayed until something happened in her life and so did Jabez. We must begin to pray until the attention of God is drawn to our petition. The Psalmist said in Psalms 30:2 that when he cried to the Lord, the Lord healed him. This is another testimony of someone who believed in the God that answers prayers. My prayer for someone reading this devotional is that as you cry unto God today, He will answer you as He answered Hannah, Jabez and Elijah in Jesus' name. Written by Pastor E.A Adeboye.

It is good to pray and put total trust on God for everything, it is also important to know that not all our prayers God will answer and the simple reason is that his ways are not ours and his thought are not ours..