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Perseverance In The Life Of Prayer

Perseverance in the life of prayer. This is essential for the life of the Christian. Yet it is perhaps one of the hardest things to achieve. It is hard to remain persistent in prayer: to pray when it feels like the Lord is not responding, when it feels like he is not there. Yet our Gospel passage tells us that is exactly what we must do. We must continue to ask: ask with the certainty of knowing that God does answer all of our prayers. As we read today’s Gospel let’s ask ourselves how well we have persevered in the life of prayer.

Perseverance in Prayer

And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Luke 11 : 5-13

Scriptural Analysis

Chapter eleven of Luke’s Gospel opens with the disciples asking Jesus to teach them how to pray. Jesus responds to their request by providing them with the Lord’s Prayer. However, he doesn’t stop there. In this Gospel passage we see Jesus continuing that instruction.

Jesus opens with a parables about a gentleman who goes to his friend at midnight in search of some bread. In the Hellenistic world there was the notion that friends held all things in common so this imagery really would have resonated. Note also the item being requested is bread tying this back in with the Lord’s prayer. The friend’s response, “do not bother me,” is a command to prohibit an ongoing action. In other words, the gentleman is being persistent in asking his friend for bread. Jesus explains that if the friend is not motivated by friendship to answer the request he will motivated on the account of persistence. In Greek the word is anaideia which is closer to shamelessness. The gentleman in shamelessly, repeatedly asking his friend. Jesus is teaching his disciples the value of persistence in prayer. One can keep bothering God confident that God will respond.

Jesus then utters the phrase, “I tell you.” A more literal translation would render this “and I say.” This phrase is often used by Luke to signify that Jesus is going to explain a parable. There is the beautiful progression of active petitions laid out next: ask, seek, and knock. This is showing that prayer is active. You actually need to ask God for what it is you want, seek him out, knock on his door. Yes, God already knows what you are going to ask him but he will never impose his assistance upon us: we must ask him. To these three petitions are the responses of receive, find, and the door opening. This gives the disciples the confidence to pray to God: to bring forth all of their needs.

Of course, this kind of relentless prayer is only possible with filial trust in the Father. Jesus illustrates this with the story of a son who is in need of food. He asks for a fish and an egg and Jesus remind us that a loving father would not give him something harmful instead. Jesus then uses what is referred to in Greek rhetoric as an argument from the lesser to the greater. If earthly parents who are flawed know how to give their children good gifts, how much more will the Heavenly Father who is perfect give his children. This includes the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The Venerable Bede summarizes this passage the best:

He bears witness that the kingdom of heaven is not given to, found by and opened to those who are idle and unoccupied but to those who ask for it, seek after it, and knock at its gates. The gate of the kingdom must be asked for by praying. It must be sough after by living properly. It must be knocked at by persevering. Homilies On The Gospels

Daily Application

Perseverance. The dictionary defines perseverance as, “persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.” Perseverance in the life of prayer is essential, critical even if we want to grow deeper in our relationship with the Lord. Yes, there are two aspects of perseverance that make painting that perseverance in the spiritual life extremely hard: difficulty and delay. Let’s start with difficulty.

It is difficult to be consistent in prayer: especially when you are starting out or really trying to improve your spiritual life. There are a couple of reasons for that. First, make no mistake, the devil does not want you to pray so he is going to tempt you with any number of distractions. Second, we live in a world that likes tangible results, accomplishments, items checked off of a list. Many of these items have deadlines or a perceived level of urgency. When faced with the choice of doing this tangible task or praying, it becomes really easy to delay prayer: to say I will get to that later. The problem is, we never get to the later. Something else always seems more important.

Second, there is an old adage about prayer, “Prayer is something we do in our time, the answers come in God’s time.” When we pray for something, the only certainty we have is that God will answer that prayer. However, we have no idea how he will answer that prayer or when he will answer it. This can create this sense of futility in prayer: I keep asking for X but God never answers my prayer. If we allow it, this can become frustrating, leaving us feeling defeated as if prayer is pointless. We need to recall Jesus’s message from the Gospel passage, “Every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” Jesus tells us that our prayers will be answered: persevere and continue to ask.

There is perhaps no greater example of persisting in prayer than Saint Monica. She prayed for the conversion of her son, Saint Augustine, for seventeen years before finally seeing him baptized. She prayed the same petition for seventeen years without every giving up or losing hope that the Lord would work in her son’s life, without ever thinking that her prayer would go unanswered.

In our prayer life there are two concrete steps we can take if we are to persevere: to be like Saint Monica. First, make time to pray. Schedule it and guard that scheduled time like your life depends on it (because your spiritual life does). You have to make prayer a priority or any number of things will compete for that time and often those other things will win. Second, be persistent in your asking but then remember that prayer is suppose to be a conversation. You must allow the Lord the space he needs to talk back: to reveal to you how he is working. If you do not do this then it most certainly will feel like your prayers go unheard.

“And I tell you, Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Let these words really sink in: sink into your heart. Commit the time needed to go before your Heavenly Father in prayer with the things on your heart: with the things you need. Ask him, ask him again and again without fear and without shame. Most importantly ask him for the strength and the grace needed for perseverance: perseverance in the life of prayer.

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