Those who knew John Hyde, a missionary to India in the early 1900s, tell stories of how the light in his room would come on at midnight, 2 a.m., 4 a.m., and then permanently for the day at 5 a.m. He punctuated his sleep with prayer, and those were his normal times of petitioning God on behalf of others.

We might wonder if that sort of inconvenience is really necessary when talking to a God who is available throughout the day, but God did extraordinary things through Hyde’s life in answer to those prayers. Clearly, something about his persistence was rewarded.

We see this same spirit, if not the same schedule, at times in biblical prayers. In a crisis, believers sometimes gathered all night to pray. Paul wrote of “contending” in prayer for the Colossians and Laodiceans (Colossians 2:1), and he commended Epaphras for “wrestling” in prayer for the church (Colossians 4:12). In both cases, he used the Greek word from which we get our word “agonize.” These prayers were not matter-of-fact requests. They were seasons of struggle. 

We need more of that, not from a spirit of fear and desperation but from a spirit of confidence in the pursuit of God’s purposes. Prayer is rarely like ordering something from the Internet with just a click; it’s more often a spiritual battle, with spoils going to the one who overcomes. Enter into it with that mindset—that you will press through to God, and he will overcome through your prayers of faith. Petition heaven with waves of faith and perseverance, and expect answers to come.