importunity

Importunate … this word has caught my attention.

Dictionary.com defines importunate:
1. urgent or persistent in solicitation, sometimes annoyingly so.
2. pertinacious, as solicitations or demands.
3. troublesome; annoying: importunate demands from the children for attention.

I’ve been asking God for something specific … in my mind’s eye I see myself knocking daily on his open door … please, please respond to my prayer. As I have been persistently praying I began to question my faith. I wondered if my asking over and over was a symptom of lack of faith.

I wish I had recorded the day, time, stream of thought that led me to Luke 18, and the parable of the importunate widow. Clearly the lesson Jesus is teaching is that we should ask and not grow weary. The scripture says to pray and never quit.

Matthew Henry, Bible scholar, says, “Pray; pray often; make a business of prayer, and be serious and earnest in it.”

One preacher writes on his blog:

We pray to remind ourselves that we need God and to acknowledge that dependence before Him.
We pray to adjust our hearts to God’s heart and kingdom purposes.
We keep on asking to provide a means for Him to give, and not force on us, what we need and desire.

I will keep asking God for this one particular thing. I want what God wants for me. If what I am asking is not good for me, he will redirect my heart to pray otherwise.

Dear God, please, you know my heart. You know my request. Please grant my request. Thank you!