One thing I loved in P. T. Forsythe's book, The Soul of Prayer, was his insistence that importunate prayer is vitally important. What does the word "importunate" mean? It means "persistent to the point of annoyance or intrusion." The Bible urges us to petition persistently. God encourages and honors importunate prayers. Of course, our persistence relies upon His will and our acceptance that His will occurs in His perfect timing. But, God begs us to lay those precise and persistent prayers at His feet.
I came across an author/pastor named Scott LaPierre. After subscribing to his newsletter, I also happened upon a video of a sermon on importunate prayer that he preached a year ago. If you don't have time to listen, I'll summarize some points I gleaned. LaPierre emphasized we must be persistent and not give up. We must cry out to God day and night, recognizing that we are helpless to remedy our situation and are at the mercy of God's ruling. He cited Romans 12:12 (be constant in prayer), Ephesians 6:18 (pray at all times), and 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (pray without ceasing). Importunate prayer requires a receptive disposition toward God. We may be tempted to lose heart because it is hard work (a spiritual battle), but what a privilege to labor (Romans 15:30 - strive together, enter the fight in prayer to God on my behalf).
I will admit, my husband and I have not always prayed together. When we encountered our prodigal son's path and then entered the pandemic period, it propelled us to concerted prayer together. We don't pray together every day, but when we do, many of our prayers have been importunate prayers. Those we pray on behalf of our sons are perhaps the most importunate prayers of all. We do, indeed, pray for them day and night. We are, indeed, aware we are helpless to remedy the issues that sometimes plague our children. Thus, we surrender to God's timing and ruling in their lives, while begging for His mercy and His grace.
We can grow discouraged. Many things have not changed that desperately need changing. Yet we experienced recent confirmation of the validity of strenuously importunate prayer. We received an answer that blew us away. Despite full belief in God's ability to do the impossible, when it occurs, we cannot help but marvel and praise Him over and over again. Especially so, because so many elements of the answer lined up with the exact precision of our prayers.
Our oldest son is approaching marriage. He and his fiancée have a September wedding planned. Having grown up in the church, my heart ached for them to be married in Christ and to have a minister officiate the wedding. We earnestly prayed that a coworker would invite them to church, that they would go, and they might enjoy attending. We prayed this church would preach solid Biblical encouragement and guidance. We prayed that they might seek righteousness.
A few weeks ago, our son called and outlined some changes occurring in their lives. He said a coworker invited them to church and they've been going for two months. They took the membership class and even asked a pastor to officiate their wedding. That pastor required pre-marital counseling. In the counseling, the pastor confronted their cohabitation, and they agreed to make changes. Our son is splitting his time between two co-workers' homes until after the wedding.
John and I flew to Dallas this past weekend for a brief visit. The highlight of our time was our attendance with them at Eastside Community Church on Mother's Day morning. As we drove in the parking lot, attendants directed traffic. I'll admit, I was concerned it might be a mega-church where they water down God's Word to appeal to "what itching ears want to hear." (2 Timothy 4:3) Instead, we praised God for a powerful sermon with theological depth and a call to action to combat sin in our lives.
The pastor addressed two weighty concepts: justification and sanctification. He likened it to the house-flipping shows, explaining that when you accept Christ's act on your behalf cancelling your debt of sin, it is justification and is equivalent to God taking ownership of the house (your heart). You now belong to Him. Yet, there is still much work to be done and often we balk at allowing God into the closets of our lives, where we desire to hold on to sin. Sanctification is like the renovation process. God moves in and cleans things out and beautifies them. He talked about how your inclinations and desires change, following Christ's example. He wants us to be holy, as He is holy, but that requires giving up sin that infests our lives.
I loved, too, that he preached from a passage about Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus dynamically altered his life after exposure to Christ. Greed gave way to giving. The pastor emphasized we are called to follow hard after Jesus, not after the crowd. This world encourages you to follow the crowd and its opinions. If you focus on Jesus and His commands, the crowd may call you "judgmental" or "unloving." It is always best to follow Jesus rather than the crowd.
The final blessing was when they passed around communion. After the pastor emphasized that those who have been justified are welcome to take part in communion, my son and his fiancée joined my husband and me in taking communion. God knows their hearts. May they continue to be drawn into deeper relationship with God. May they hunger and thirst for righteousness. May God continue to renovate and sanctify.
Oh, how I needed that affirmation of His ability to answer our laser-specific prayers! We continue to struggle with our prodigal. We plead for wisdom on how to address issues we cannot ignore. The other day I was reading in the Old Testament, the passage about Saul. In 1 Samuel 10:6 it says, "And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou... shalt be turned into another man." (KJV or in NIV it says "you will be changed into a different person.") Verse 9 says, "And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart." That is my prayer for my son. I pray fervently that God might send the Spirit of the Lord to fall upon him and change him into a different person!! We offer audacious prayers, begging God to make him a soul-winner and a minister for the Kingdom. Do it again, God! "Is any thing too hard for the Lord?" (Genesis 18:14) "With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible." (Mark 10:27)
Other prayer needs also persist. My mom entered the hospital with internal bleeding they could not address. They reduced it and sent her home, but told my dad to consider contacting hospice. She has grown difficult (at one point, refused to budge and sat down on the ground - because of my dad's heart surgery recovery, he had to call nurses to assist him in getting her up and into bed). For now, hospice comes in once a week to assess her, but at some point, my dad may need to place her in a facility where she can receive round-the-clock care.
My dad was rushed to the hospital earlier this week because of pressure in his heart that made him feel as if it were about to explode. Fearing clots, they placed him on blood thinners. They ended up doing emergency catheterization and placed two stents. In doing this, the doctor determined that all four bypasses have failed. During this time, my mother was in the apartment alone, with nurses checking on her occasionally. Before my sister could arrange to go down, he returned home from the hospital, but we are still awaiting an update on what further steps will be required down the road. It is so hard to be too far away to get there quickly or assist more fully.
Sean also had an episode of heart racing one night (keeping him awake until 2 a.m.). The doctor ran an EKG, but found nothing. However, blood tests said his kidneys were not functioning well. He stopped the NSAID and all supplements and it was back to functioning normally within two weeks. He is in physical therapy for the knee injury.
John has an upcoming follow-up appointment regarding his persistent bulge. I pray we will finally get some answers to this perplexing problem.
I'll end this encouragement to importunate prayer with two things. First, I encourage you to invite someone to church. You never know. You might help answer someone's importunate prayer. Second, on a lighter note, I'll leave you with a photo of my youngest and his date for prom (another answer to prayer):
