Day 15, “How Do I Know Whether to Keep Asking or Let Go?” explores a question many people face after praying for the same thing for a long time: should I keep asking God, or is it time to stop? Using the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18 and Paul’s prayer in 2 Corinthians 12, the episode looks at the difference between persevering in prayer and recognizing when God may be leading us in a different direction. The encouragement in this episode is to keep asking unless you sense that God is clearly telling you to stop or surrender the request in a different way. Long waiting does not automatically mean God has said no. When discouragement makes you want to give up, the episode reminds listeners not to mistake silence or delay for rejection. Instead, keep bringing your needs to God, ask Him for perseverance and discernment, and trust Him to guide you if He wants you to pray differently. Music: "Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Hope in the Waiting - Day 15 - How Do I Know Whether to Keep Asking or Let Go?
Luke 18:1-8 “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. “He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
I love this parable because it reminds us to keep asking. Jesus is telling us that if we want something bad enough, all we have to do is keep asking for it, and it will be given to us. I wanted to address the question, “How do I know whether to keep asking or let it go?” Because I think it is something many people struggle with. I have been asked this question many times and usually people cite verse 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
People say that Paul asked three times and then God told him that His grace was sufficient for him, so Paul stopped asking. I understand why we might think that if we ask God a few times and we don’t get what we asked for, then maybe God wants us to just live with it. I understand that redemptive suffering is real and that others can be healed through our suffering. I do think God uses our suffering. However, I also believe that God wants to heal us. I believe He doesn’t like to see His children suffering. Besides the parable about the persistent widow, there is another parable about asking your neighbor for food. This parable is in Luke 11:5-13. In this parable, Jesus says, “I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.” The next paragraph says, “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for [a]bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
Jesus is telling us through these parables that we need to keep asking. We need to not grow weary of asking. That we will get what we want if we just keep asking. As to how we know whether to keep asking or to let it go, this I think is simple. Keep asking unless you get word from the Lord that you should stop. In 2 Corinthians, Paul heard the Lord say that His grace was sufficient for Him. If you hear this from the Lord, or if you feel like the Lord is telling you to stop asking, then listen to the Lord. However, anything short of the Lord telling you to stop, I say keep asking. It is not just in the parables that the Lord tells us to keep asking. He also tells us this in verses like Matthew 7:7-8, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
If you have been waiting for an answer for a long time, then it makes sense why you would feel as if it might be time to throw in the towel. It is easy to think that if God wanted to answer your prayer, or give you the healing, he would have done it by now. I get it. I have had to wait a really long time for the answers to some of my prayers. And for others, I am still waiting for the answers. However, those are just lies from the enemy. The enemy is whispering these lies. He is telling us that God would have healed us already if He wanted to. He tells us that God is tired of us asking for the same thing over and over again. He is telling us these lies because He knows we are tired of asking. He knows when we are tired, we are vulnerable to his lies. The devil is a liar!
God does not want you to stop asking. Think of the story of the hemorrhaging woman. She was bleeding for 12 years. She tried everything she could think of. She had probably prayed to the Lord a million times in those 1e years, and yet He did eventually heal her. She didn’t give up, and He rewarded her faith. He will do the same for you. He will answer your prayers. He will heal you or your loved one. He will give you the provisions you need, the new job you are looking for. Whatever it is that you are praying for, keep asking, keep being persistent, and the Lord will answer your prayers!
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode. I ask that you help us to never give up asking. I ask you to help give us the perseverance we need to keep asking even when we get tired. I ask that you give us the strength to keep coming to you even when it feels like you aren’t listening. I ask that you help us to keep hoping and believing that even though we have been asking for a long time, you want us to keep asking and that you will answer our prayers in your timing. Help us, Lord! Help us be like the persistent widow. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name. Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus! I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in February 2026 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “I saw angels surrounding me, and the Lord was saying, “They're all around you. You may not see them, but they are there.”