So I say to you, Ask and keep on asking and it shall be given you; seek and keep on seeking and you shall find; knock and keep on knocking and the door shall be opened to you. – Luke 11:9, Amplified Bible

Stephen King is one of the most successful novelists of the 20th and 21st centuries. According to Fast Company:

Stephen King’s dream of becoming a writer started as an adolescent, and by the time he was 14 he had received so many rejection letters from short-story publishers that the nail he used to hang them on the wall would no longer support their weight.

“I replaced the nail with a spike and kept on writing,” he said in his memoir On Writing.

King didn’t sell a short story until he turned 19; “The Glass Floor” earned him $35. And his best-selling book Carrie received 30 rejections before it sold to Doubleday Publishing for a $2,500 advance. Today, King’s books have sold more than 350 million copies, and it’s because he didn’t take rejection personally.

I have no idea what King’s attitude is towards the Christian faith or towards prayer. However, I find within his example a real life application of the principle we find in Luke 11:9.

The passage within which we find verse 9 is a passage dedicated to prayer. In verse 1, the disciples requested that Jesus teach them how to pray, and after modeling how to pray with what we call “The Lord’s Prayer,” Jesus told His disciples, “Keep on asking!” Don’t give up. Come back to God every day with your requests in hand. Why? God doesn’t want our prayer life to consist of “one-and-done” requests that treat Him like a Pez dispenser, doling out candy on demand. He wants us to develop a relationship with Him that includes constant fellowship, and part of the fellowship-building is frequent, persistent asking for the things we desire. Through our persistent asking we not only draw closer to God; we also develop the character traits of patience, endurance, and persistence. Developing such virtues while developing our relationship with God means that we grow spiritually in a number of ways, slowly but surely transforming into the very image of Christ, which is God’s ultimate goal for us all.

As Luke 11 goes on to explain, God stands ready to give good gifts to His children in response to our prayers.  Many times before He does so, however, He wants to see from us a patient, enduring, and persistent prayer life. So, if you are still waiting for an answer to prayer, don’t give up. Keep on asking. God has already prepared the best answer for your request, and He’ll give you the answer that you need (although maybe not the want that you want) in His perfect timing.