VI. PRAYER AND IMPORTUNITY - a

Importunity is an old-fashioned word meaning:
persistence in petition or request

"How glibly we talk of praying without ceasing! Yet we are quite apt to quit, if our prayer remained unanswered but one week or month!
We assume that by a stroke of His arm or an action of His will, God will give us what we ask.
It never seems to dawn on us, that He is the Master of nature, as of grace, and that, sometimes He chooses one way, and sometimes another in which to do His work.
It takes years, sometimes, to answer a prayer and when it is answered, and we look backward we can see that it did.
But God knows all the time, and it is His will that we pray, and pray, and still pray, and so come to know, indeed and of a truth, what it is to pray without ceasing."
- ANON.

OUR Lord Jesus declared that "men ought always to pray and not to faint," and the parable in which His words occur, was taught with the intention of saving men from faint-heartedness and weakness in prayer.
Our Lord was seeking to teach that laxity must be guarded against, and persistence fostered and encouraged. There can be no two opinions regarding the importance of the exercise of this indispensable quality in our praying.

Importunate prayer is a mighty movement of the soul toward God. It is a stirring of the deepest forces of the soul, toward the throne of heavenly grace.
It is the ability to hold on, press on, and wait. Restless desire, restful patience, and strength of grasp are all embraced in it.
It is not an incident, or a performance, but a passion of soul. It is not a want, half-needed, but a sheer necessity.

A new reading in this series is available every day! See you tomorrow, God willing, and be blessed in all you do today! Sol Wise.