29 Bible Verses about Prayer, Persistence In

When I was waiting quietly for the Lord, his heart was turned to me, and he gave ear to my cry.

O Lord, God of my salvation, I have been crying to you for help by day and by night:

Let your search be for the Lord and for his strength; let your hearts ever be turned to him.

He has let my request come before him, and I will make my prayer to him all my days.

And he made a story for them, the point of which was that men were to go on making prayer and not get tired; Saying, There was a judge in a certain town, who had no fear of God or respect for man: And there was a widow in that town, and she kept on coming to him and saying, Give me my right against the man who has done me wrong.read more.
And for a time he would not: but later, he said to himself, Though I have no fear of God or respect for man, Because this widow is a trouble to me, I will give her her right; for if not, I will be completely tired out by her frequent coming. And the Lord said, Give ear to the words of the evil judge. And will not God do right in the cause of his saints, whose cries come day and night to his ears, though he is long in doing it? I say to you that he will quickly do right in their cause. But when the Son of man comes, will there be any faith on earth?

And he said to them, Which of you, having a friend, would go to him in the middle of the night and say to him, Friend, let me have three cakes of bread; Because a friend of mine has come to me on a journey, and I have nothing to put before him; And he, from inside the house, would say in answer, Do not be a trouble to me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; it is not possible for me to get up and give to you?read more.
I say to you, Though he will not get up and give to him, because he is his friend, still, if he keeps on making his request, he will get up and give him as much as he has need of. And I say to you, Make requests, and they will be answered; what you are searching for, you will get; when you give the sign, the door will be open to you. For to everyone who makes a request, it will be given; and he who is searching will get his desire; and to him who gives the sign, the door will be open.

And they all with one mind gave themselves up to prayer, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

And they kept their attention fixed on the Apostles' teaching and were united together in the taking of broken bread and in prayer.

With prayers and deep desires, making requests at all times in the Spirit, and keeping watch, with strong purpose, in prayer for all the saints,

Being glad in hope, quiet in trouble, at all times given to prayer,

Keep on with your prayers.

And Abraham came near, and said, Will you let destruction come on the upright with the sinners? If by chance there are fifty upright men in the town, will you give the place to destruction and not have mercy on it because of the fifty upright men? Let such a thing be far from you, to put the upright to death with the sinner: will not the judge of all the earth do right?read more.
And the Lord said, If there are fifty upright men in the town, I will have mercy on it because of them. And Abraham answering said, Truly, I who am only dust, have undertaken to put my thoughts before the Lord: If by chance there are five less than fifty upright men, will you give up all the town to destruction because of these five? And he said, I will not give it to destruction if there are forty-five. And again he said to him, By chance there may be forty there. And he said, I will not do it if there are forty. And he said, Let not the Lord be angry with me if I say, What if there are thirty there? And he said, I will not do it if there are thirty. And he said, See now, I have undertaken to put my thoughts before the Lord: what if there are twenty there? And he said, I will have mercy because of the twenty. And he said, O let not the Lord be angry and I will say only one word more: by chance there may be ten there. And he said, I will have mercy because of the ten. And the Lord went on his way when his talk with Abraham was ended, and Abraham went back to his place.

Then Jacob was by himself; and a man was fighting with him till dawn. But when the man saw that he was not able to overcome Jacob, he gave him a blow in the hollow part of his leg, so that his leg was damaged. And he said to him, Let me go now, for the dawn is near. But Jacob said, I will not let you go till you have given me your blessing.read more.
Then he said, What is your name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel: for in your fight with God and with men you have overcome. Then Jacob said, What is your name? And he said, What is my name to you? Then he gave him a blessing. And Jacob gave that place the name of Peniel, saying, I have seen God face to face, and still I am living. And while he was going past Peniel, the sun came up. And he went with unequal steps because of his damaged leg. For this reason the children of Israel, even today, never take that muscle in the hollow of the leg as food, because the hollow of Jacob's leg was touched.

So I went down on my face in prayer before the Lord for forty days and forty nights as I did at first; because the Lord had said that he would put an end to you. And I made prayer to the Lord and said, O Lord God, do not send destruction on your people and your heritage, to whom, by your great power, you have given salvation, whom you have taken out of Egypt by the strength of your hand. Keep in mind your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not looking at the hard heart of this people, or their evil-doing and their sin:read more.
Or it may be said in the land from which you have taken them, Because the Lord was not able to take them into the land which he said he would give them, and because of his hate for them, he has taken them out to put them to death in the waste land. But still they are your people and your heritage, whom you took out by your great power and by your stretched-out arm.

Then Moses went back to the Lord and said, This people has done a great sin, making themselves a god of gold; But now, if you will give them forgiveness--but if not, let my name be taken out of your book.

And with grief in her soul, weeping bitterly, she made her prayer to the Lord. And she made an oath, and said, O Lord of armies, if you will truly take note of the sorrow of your servant, not turning away from me but keeping me in mind, and will give me a man-child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and his hair will never be cut.

Elijah was a man of flesh and blood as we are, and he made a strong prayer that there might be no rain; and there was no rain on the earth for three years and six months. And he made another prayer, and the heaven sent down rain and the earth gave her fruit.

Then at the time of the offering, Elijah the prophet came near and said, O Lord, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it be seen this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things by your order. Give me an answer, O Lord, give me an answer, so that this people may see that you are God, and that you have made their hearts come back again. Then the fire of the Lord came down, burning up the offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and drinking up the water in the drain.read more.
And when the people saw it, they all went down on their faces, and said, The Lord, he is God, the Lord, he is God. And Elijah said to them, Take the prophets of Baal, let not one of them get away. So they took them, and Elijah made them go down to the stream Kishon, and put them to death there. Then Elijah said to Ahab, Up! take food and drink, for there is a sound of much rain. So Ahab went up to have food and drink, while Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he went down on the earth, putting his face between his knees. And he said to his servant, Go now, and take a look in the direction of the sea. And he went up, and after looking said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times; and he went seven times. And the seventh time he said, I see a cloud coming up out of the sea, as small as a man's hand. Then he said, Go up and say to Ahab, Get your carriage ready and go down or the rain will keep you back.

O Lord, God of my salvation, I have been crying to you for help by day and by night: Let my prayer come before you; give ear to my cry: For my soul is full of evils, and my life has come near to the underworld. read more.
I am numbered among those who go down into the earth; I have become like a man for whom there is no help: My soul is among the dead, like those in the underworld, to whom you give no more thought; for they are cut off from your care. You have put me in the lowest deep, even in dark places. The weight of your wrath is crushing me, all your waves have overcome me. (Selah.) You have sent my friends far away from me; you have made me a disgusting thing in their eyes: I am shut up, and not able to come out. My eyes are wasting away because of my trouble: Lord, my cry has gone up to you every day, my hands are stretched out to you. Will you do works of wonder for the dead? will the shades come back to give you praise? (Selah.) Will the story of your mercy be given in the house of the dead? will news of your faith come to the place of destruction? May there be knowledge of your wonders in the dark? or of your righteousness where memory is dead? But to you did I send up my cry, O Lord; in the morning my prayer came before you. Lord, why have you sent away my soul? why is your face covered from me? I have been troubled and in fear of death from the time when I was young; your wrath is hard on me, and I have no strength. The heat of your wrath has gone over me; I am broken by your cruel punishments. They are round me all the day like water; they have made a circle about me. You have sent my friends and lovers far from me; I am gone from the memory of those who are dear to me.

Before the sun is up, my cry for help comes to your ear; my hope is in your words. In the night watches I am awake, so that I may give thought to your saying. Let my voice come to you, in your mercy; O Lord, by your decisions give me life.

Out of the deep have I sent up my cry to you, O Lord.

Father, if it is your pleasure, take this cup from me: but still, let your pleasure, not mine, be done. And an angel from heaven came to him, to give him strength. And being in great trouble of soul, the force of his prayer became stronger, and great drops, like blood, came from him, falling to the earth.

Then comes Jesus with them to a place named Gethsemane, and says to his disciples, Be seated here, while I go over there for prayer. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and became sad and very troubled. Then says he to them, My soul is very sad, even to death: keep watch with me here.read more.
And he went forward a little, and falling down on his face in prayer, he said, O my Father, if it is possible, let this cup go from me; but let not my pleasure, but yours be done. And he comes to the disciples, and sees that they are sleeping, and says to Peter, What, were you not able to keep watch with me one hour? Keep watch with prayer, so that you may not be put to the test: the spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is feeble. Again, a second time he went away, and said in prayer, O my Father, if this may not go from me without my taking it, let your pleasure be done. And he came again and saw them sleeping, for their eyes were tired.

And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he said to his disciples, Be seated here while I say a prayer. And he took with him Peter and James and John, and grief and great trouble came on him. And he said to them, My soul is very sad, even to death: be here a little time, and keep watch.read more.
And he went forward a little, and falling down on the earth, made request that, if possible, the hour might go from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible to you; take away this cup from me: but even so let not my pleasure, but yours be done. And he came, and saw them sleeping, and said to Peter, Simon, are you sleeping? were you not able to keep watch one hour? Keep watch with prayer, so that you may not be put to the test; the spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is feeble. And again he went away, and said a prayer, using the same words. And again he came and saw them sleeping, because their eyes were very tired; and they had nothing to say in answer.

But as for me, I am looking to the Lord; I am waiting for the God of my salvation: the ears of my God will be open to me.

Let your hope be in the Lord: take heart and be strong; yes, let your hope be in the Lord.

Our souls are waiting for the Lord; he is our help and our salvation.

Take your rest in the Lord, waiting quietly for him; do not be angry because of the man who does well in his evil ways, and gives effect to his bad designs.

We have been waiting for you, O Lord; the desire of our soul is for the memory of your name.