'Importunate praying is the earnest, inward movement of the heart toward God. It is the throwing of the entire force of the spiritual man into the exercise of prayer.'
'Importunate praying never faints nor grows weary; it is never discouraged; it never yields to cowardice, but is buoyed up and sustained by a hope that knows no despair, and a faith which will not let go. Importunate praying has patience to wait and strength to continue. It never prepares itself to quit praying, and declines to rise from its knees until an answer is received.'
'In the three words ask, seek, knock, in the order in which He places them, Jesus urges the necessity of importunity in prayer. Asking, seeking, knocking, are ascending rounds in the ladder of successful prayer. No principle is more definitely enforced by Christ than that prevailing prayer must have in it the quality which waits and perseveres, the courage that never surrenders, the patience which never grows tired, the resolution that never wavers.'
Quoted from- 'THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER By E.M. BOUNDS' (Excerpt 33)
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Mat 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you
We all too often read this verse in Matthew and choose to believe it is a recipe for instant answers. We imagine we ask and it is given instantly. We imagine seeking and finding instantly. We imagine knocking and the door opening right away without any delays at all whatsoever. To ever imagine that we might have to ask over and over and over and over again before it is given- upsets us. We asked now where is what we asked for? We asked, as if our asking produced everything necessary for us to receive. Think about it for a moment, how often in your life have you been asked for something only to have to wait sometimes many years before you are given what you asked for? How often have you been asked for something only to reply maybe, not giving anything immediately? As a parent a person can probably understand the example of a child asking for something and you telling them no, not now, not yet. You in your parental discretion have your reasons for that answer but more often than not a child won't understand the reason, not in their heart. They wouldn't have asked if they didn't think it were something possible, right? I'm not talking about the very young children who don't know better in their asking and want a spaceship for their birthday that could fly them to the moon. Instant gratification isn't something we can always give to anyone who asks anything of us.
Asking, seeking, finding.
Ask.
Seek- this denotes a process doesn't it? Seeking something can take time. Even when we search the internet for something we don't always come up with what we are looking for right away.
Knock- we want the person to be home, but even if they are, they don't necessary answer their door right away.
We do have to pray consistently, insistently, importunately, believing our prayers are being answered. Having faith that even when we don't realize instant results of our prayers that our prayers have been heard. Because we don't get memos from God telling us that we have to wait a while, we do become the nagging child because we repeat our petitions over and over. Our Savior told us that such bothersome behavior can result in an answer as well. Our heavenly Father does not possess anything but patience with us, and won't out of spite from our nagging turn down our prayer request. Our earnestness maybe even cause a favorable response.
We have to be willing to PRAY, truly PRAY sincerely, recognizing the incredible specialness of prayer!
By the GRACE of our LORD JESUS CHRIST! All in HIS LOVE!
'Importunate praying never faints nor grows weary; it is never discouraged; it never yields to cowardice, but is buoyed up and sustained by a hope that knows no despair, and a faith which will not let go. Importunate praying has patience to wait and strength to continue. It never prepares itself to quit praying, and declines to rise from its knees until an answer is received.'
'In the three words ask, seek, knock, in the order in which He places them, Jesus urges the necessity of importunity in prayer. Asking, seeking, knocking, are ascending rounds in the ladder of successful prayer. No principle is more definitely enforced by Christ than that prevailing prayer must have in it the quality which waits and perseveres, the courage that never surrenders, the patience which never grows tired, the resolution that never wavers.'
Quoted from- 'THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER By E.M. BOUNDS' (Excerpt 33)
*******
Mat 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you
We all too often read this verse in Matthew and choose to believe it is a recipe for instant answers. We imagine we ask and it is given instantly. We imagine seeking and finding instantly. We imagine knocking and the door opening right away without any delays at all whatsoever. To ever imagine that we might have to ask over and over and over and over again before it is given- upsets us. We asked now where is what we asked for? We asked, as if our asking produced everything necessary for us to receive. Think about it for a moment, how often in your life have you been asked for something only to have to wait sometimes many years before you are given what you asked for? How often have you been asked for something only to reply maybe, not giving anything immediately? As a parent a person can probably understand the example of a child asking for something and you telling them no, not now, not yet. You in your parental discretion have your reasons for that answer but more often than not a child won't understand the reason, not in their heart. They wouldn't have asked if they didn't think it were something possible, right? I'm not talking about the very young children who don't know better in their asking and want a spaceship for their birthday that could fly them to the moon. Instant gratification isn't something we can always give to anyone who asks anything of us.
Asking, seeking, finding.
Ask.
Seek- this denotes a process doesn't it? Seeking something can take time. Even when we search the internet for something we don't always come up with what we are looking for right away.
Knock- we want the person to be home, but even if they are, they don't necessary answer their door right away.
We do have to pray consistently, insistently, importunately, believing our prayers are being answered. Having faith that even when we don't realize instant results of our prayers that our prayers have been heard. Because we don't get memos from God telling us that we have to wait a while, we do become the nagging child because we repeat our petitions over and over. Our Savior told us that such bothersome behavior can result in an answer as well. Our heavenly Father does not possess anything but patience with us, and won't out of spite from our nagging turn down our prayer request. Our earnestness maybe even cause a favorable response.
We have to be willing to PRAY, truly PRAY sincerely, recognizing the incredible specialness of prayer!
By the GRACE of our LORD JESUS CHRIST! All in HIS LOVE!
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