Can a believer take advantage of God? Does God want us to know everything about Him? Contrary to common belief, God does not harbor any deep dark secrets about Himself. In fact, He constantly urges us, “Go ahead, find out about Me. Put Me on the spot!”
God can do whatever He wants. He does not have to make any commitment to anyone. If He had created man in His own image and placed him in the world without ever having made a promise to him, He certainly would have no obligation to him. Who would tell God, “You made us; now we hold You to do this and this.” No one could do that. However, the picture changes when God commits Himself by a Word. The minute He does that, He actually limits Himself.
To simplify this truth, imagine that you are very wealthy and that you have a lawyer draw up a contract stating that you will give one hundred dollars to anyone who asks for it. With the drawing up of that contract, you have opened a process of law whereby someone else can legally claim your money. You may still have millions of dollars, but your ownership rights are clouded. In some states, the law of joint tenancy automatically goes into effect when two people are married. Unless some stipulation is made before the wedding, the couple immediately become co-owners of one another’s possessions. From that moment on, anything they acquire automatically becomes community property—half belonging to the husband and half to the wife.
The entire universe is governed by law, because God Himself has an integrity to move according to certain truths and principles. One basic truth is the fact that the minute God makes a statement, He has committed Himself because it is impossible for God to lie (Numbers 23:19). One great difference between God and man is that man can lie; God cannot. Not only is He capable of performing anything that He speaks, but He also is bound by His integrity to perform it. When He promises to do something, that is all that is necessary to assure His people that He will fulfill His promise.
Have you ever used another person’s nature to your own advantage? God wants you to do that where He is concerned. That is why certain characteristics of His nature (especially His integrity) leave Him vulnerable to His people. Therefore, if you want to take advantage of Him, you must understand the purity of His own character.
The following parable, found in Luke 18:1–8, teaches us something about the nature of God and the effectiveness of our persistence. It illustrates the fact that persistence seems to outweigh any other virtue or activity of which a believer is capable. Now He (Jesus) was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God, and did not respect man. And there was widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ And for a while he was unwilling.”
This is a parable about prayer, but in it Jesus also shows us the attitude we should have toward the Father. As much as Jesus loved the Father, He portrayed Him by painting an image of a judge who was unwilling to grant any mercy or take any action for a widow. “But afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, lest by continually coming she wear me out.’ ” The Greek reads, “hit me under the eye,” which would normally result in a black eye; however, in Bible days, that phrase meant that she was going to harass him.
And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now shall not God bring about justice for His elect, who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them speedily. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith” (literally, “the faith”) “on the earth?”
Do you realize what God has done? He has injected the same quality of persistence that the widow possessed into everything He has created. For instance, study a little baby. Does anything seem more penetrating or more disturbing than the persistent cry of a baby? Some people believe that it is best just to let them cry it out, but it is almost impossible to do that. Although that baby is in a state of virtual helplessness, God has put within him the quality of persistence, and no one can disregard that persistent cry. Eventually, those who are responsible for him will come and take care of his needs.
A youngster is normally under the supervision of his father and mother. They continually tell him, “Now, you do this; now, you do that”; but when that little child wants something, he knows how to get it! He knows all the winsome ways to get whatever he wants. Perhaps the father is a very big man who says, “I am the head of my home! What I say goes!” But when his little girl or his little boy comes toddling toward him and hugs his knee, that child gets anything he wants.
In a sense, the situation is the same between God and His children. He says, “I have created you, and where you are concerned I am vulnerable. Your persistence is the one thing that can drive Me up the wall.” This one fact gives believers an amazing advantage, for in this way, those who are submissive—and persistent in their submissiveness—can get response from the authority that is over them.
When you open your heart to God, you become His child, His spiritual creation; and the minute you declare yourself to be His possession, He is responsible for you. He is responsible for whatever He creates. Likewise, a person is responsible for his actions. Although man proceeds to do everything he can to adulterate or to tear it down, that law remains as one of the basic civil laws of our society. Lawyers earn tremendous fees for discovering ways either to enforce or to legally evade the principle of a man’s responsibility for his actions. A driver may try to evade his responsibility if he runs into someone’s parked car and wrecks it. But if it is his privilege to drive, then it is also his privilege to pay for the damages he causes. A person is responsible for his actions.
That principle was always true of Old Testament law. If a man’s ox wandered away from home and ate someone else’s grain or injured someone, according to the law of Moses the owner of the ox had to pay for any damage (Exodus 22:5). A man was held responsible for his actions, and he was held responsible for the actions of his children and his animals. A carry-over of that Old Testament law exists in today’s modern cities. You are responsible for what you do and what you own. Juveniles are not held responsible for their actions; however, because someone must be responsible for their deeds, man reverts to the old law which makes the parent responsible. If a minor hits someone while driving a car, the insurance company may pay the damages, but the liability rests upon the parent.
God is vulnerable, and although He does not answer prayer for you just because He is your Heavenly Father, or just because you think it is the right thing for Him to do, yet if you are persistent about your cause, He will honor you. Hebrews 4:15 tells us that the Lord is touched by the feeling of our infirmity. The Lord Jesus Christ, by virtue of what He has done for us and by virtue of the relationship He has created between us, the Heavenly Father, and Himself, has put Himself in a position where He is continually open to His people—to be touched, to be annoyed, to be disturbed, and to react to them.
Walking with God is not a one-sided relationship. In other words, God did not make His people so that they would respond to what He feels and what He thinks, without His being concerned about what they feel and what they think. He is touched by the feeling of our infirmities. In all points Christ was tempted as we are, yet without sin. He is able to rescue those who are tempted (Hebrews 4:15). The minute you surrender to God and then persistently demand an answer of Him, you have put yourself in a position where you will get an answer.
Do not fight God. Do not be rebellious. If you want to get some action, surrender to Him and then put Him on the spot. Then if the devil comes against you like a roaring lion, you have an advantage because you can say, “God, You have to look after me; I am entitled to it.”
You must persistently believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6b. That is the basis of faith. The casual Christian believes with a lukewarm acceptance of the truth of God’s existence. You have to believe that in some way your persistence and your diligence will cause Him to respond. Perhaps God will hear you because your cause is just; but He will hear you more readily if your cause is persistently presented to Him.
Believers who need spiritual help often say, “I’m just going to sit here in the congregation and wait until my pastor discerns my need.” They may wait for several years while others aggressively ask for help and receive it. The problems of those who ask for help are perhaps no more urgent than the problems of those who do not ask; but help is ministered to those who persistently say, “You have to hear me. You have to hear me now!” A person’s persistence gets attention even when his cause does not.
Do you feel that the Lord will do something for you when you become worthy? Do not think that way. No one is ever worthy. The unjust judge did not fear God or man, and he did not say, “Well here is this poor widow; she is more deserving than the others, so I will take her cause first.” Rather, he said, “That woman is constantly coming to me, and she is wearing me out. I will get rid of her by giving her what she asks.”
Go after God! Prayers are being answered, miracles are happening, and God’s will is coming to pass in the earth because persistent believers are praying both day and night. New releases are coming to the Body of Christ, both spiritually and physically; the first fruits of victory are apparent. Move into it! Be alert to the miracle deliverances that are taking place in the Body of Christ.
Do not say, “Well, I am going through great persecutions and I am being harassed, but I am praying that the Lord will make me long-suffering.” You can overdo that too. It is probably true that the mills of God grind slowly, and that eventually those who are evil will get what is coming to them, but it is also true that we can speed up those mills and make them move faster. Proverbs 28:1 says that the wicked flee when no man pursues, and that is true; but they run faster when they know someone is chasing them! In other words, persistence interferes with the pace of heaven’s progress. In fact, it interferes with all of God’s creation, and it shifts the passive believer from one notch above dead stop to full steam ahead in his walk with God.
Are you tired of things progressing too slowly? Would you like to see God do a quick work in your life? Be determined to break through. Make persistence a way of life! God’s people will break through if they shove, if they persist.
Are you resigned to an unanswered promise of God? to an unanswered prayer? Do you limp along saying, “I will still worship God even though it appears that He does not keep His word”? The teaching that says we must be resigned is not of God! Be committed to the will of God. Be prepared to rejoice in every persecution, but do not be resigned to accept failure or Satan’s triumph.
God has a way of drawing out the quality within His people that He honors. The Syrophoenician woman who had the devil-possessed daughter used the principle of persistence. She kept coming to Jesus for help. The disciples wanted to send her away because she was annoying them; but Jesus called her and asked, “What do you want?”
“I want You to heal my daughter.”
“It is not good to take the children’s bread and give it to dogs.”
That should have discouraged her, but it did not. She had one simple response: “The dogs get the crumbs.” She was persistent. She would not go away. Above everything else, she showed a faith that God honored.
All the promises for Israel began when Jacob persistently said, “I will not let You go until You bless me.”
What if the angel of the Lord had replied, “Let things work themselves out; maybe you will be more worthy of blessing next year.” Jacob would not accept compromise when he wrestled with the angel of the Lord. After the struggle, he limped away with his hip out of joint—but he limped away a prince of God, with the promise that God said he was to have (Genesis 32:24–31).
God will honor you for the same determination. He wants His people to demand that He be God. He wants them to remind Him that He has given promises and prophecies and words. Remind Him! Insist that He fulfill every word. If that is irreverence, then Jacob was irreverent; and so was Moses. Exodus 32:12, 32 tells us that Moses told God, “If You do not want to do what You started to do with these people, then blot my name out of the Book too. Do you want a reputation before all nations that You have brought these people out of Egypt and now it looks as if You can’t finish the job? Are You that kind of a God?”
When Moses finished talking, he had God’s attention—and God answered his prayer. Persistence! Forget the decorum and the dignity which are entirely hostile and foreign to the violence of spirit that is natural to a child of God. Approach the devil as a defeated foe, saying, “Why aren’t you lying down so that I can stomp on you?” Put God on the spot, saying, “This is Your show; it is Your Kingdom. You have given the promises. You are the One who wrote the Book—are You going to live up to it?” When insistence comes and persistence prevails you will be effective.
Persistence can interfere with the normal progressive rate of development for the whole universe. It can step it up, and it will bring forth the time prophesied in Isaiah 66:8, when suddenly a nation is born in a day. But Babylon comes down in one hour (Revelation 18:10). It does not have to take centuries or millenniums for Babylon to disintegrate. It will come down as soon as someone stands firm and says, “Come down—now!”
Now you know how to take advantage of the Lord. Persistence gives you an advantage. If you want to be God’s servant, insist on His Lordship. So much is achieved at your initiative. God does not say, “I will put the pressure on you until you become submissive; then I will be the Lord over you.” He gives you the Word, shows you what His will is, and then waits to hear you say, “Lord, I insist on being submissive to You. I insist on being Your servant. I insist on You being the Lord! I insist on You telling me what to do. I insist with persistence! I refuse to run my own life. You lead me! I am Your person!”
Be aggressive in your demands. Demand to know the will of God. Demand to be submissive to the Lord. Nothing will happen as long as you come before God with irreverence in your heart and weakly say, “Why aren’t You Lord over me?” He will take over when you insist that He take over.
Men in the Word became servants of the Most High God because they battled persistently to become that. Even with all of the apparent predestination in Jacob’s life, in his mind he focused on only one thing: “God has given me a word, and He and I are going to have a time until it is fulfilled. I will neither rest nor be discouraged until everything that He has promised me has been fulfilled.” That type of persistence changes everything.
Have you had a word from God? Do not sin against Him by saying, “God, did You say it? Do You mean it? Can You perform it?” Do not question Him. He said it! He meant it! And He is going to do it!