never really thought about it much...
Until now...
I remember listening to a sermon not long ago...don't remember where it was...or who preached it...but it was on the parable from Luke 11:5-8...If you don't remember or haven't read it...I suggest you do before you read the rest of this post...you might also want to read verses 9-13 too...honestly, the whole chapter is amazing but I'm just gonna focus on 5-8 here...
As I was listening to the sermon...I enjoyed it...learned from it...but like many things it just wasn't entirely meaningful at that time...it didn't fully sink in and have an impact...
Until now...
This summer has been very difficult for me...very difficult...I don't know what an expansion would be on the word difficult but if you can think of any...this summer would be it.
Emotionally...Spiritually...just...everything seemed to hit me at once...
With most of my friends gone at Youth Rush or YD Camp I haven't had many shoulders to lean on outside of my parents...which has been good actually...I've drawn closer to them...and yeah remember when I said in my last post I wasn't completely sure why God had me stay home this summer...yeah well...I know why now!! lol I had a lot of things I needed to learn and work through...one of them being major dependence on Him....
Anyways back to the persistence bit...
Many of you know that we've been looking for a house in the country now for a very long time...and this summer we truly thought we were going to find one...we still might...Lord willing...but, yeah, well it hasn't happened yet...and for a good majority of this summer it was a heavy, depressing weight on my shoulders...Until we read in worship one night the parable of Luke 11:5-8 and that brought back the memory of the sermon so clearly it shocked me...definitely was a God thing...I then understood why I was so depressed...I had lost most of my faith if not all of it...and I was being very negative...I think my family could testify to that...
Now to translate this parable before I go any further...I believe the preacher who preached this sermon perceived the friend that came to the door and was being persistent as us...and the one that opened it Jesus...Which makes total sense if you think about it...if you don't understand yet just hang in there...
I think there are two kinds of persistent...
There is the controlling overwhelming almost annoying persistent....
And then there is the faith filled hopeful pleading persistent...and I believe this is the one that Jesus was talking about...
It dawned on me after I had thought all this over that...I was not being persistent enough...not NEAR enough...not even close...
I didn't have faith...I wasn't hopeful...and I wasn't pleading...see I got to praying for a house so much over the years that it just became routine it didn't really have a meaning anymore it was just an add on...it had become a formality...there was really no heart in it anymore...no pleading...no persistence...
In fact it wasn't even really a prayer...the prayer itself became a formality...something I knew I should do...but my heart wasn't in it anymore...I'd given up...lost faith...and hope...of finding a house anytime soon...
I was such a stark contrast to this friend in the parable that was being persistent...I mean honestly...he went to this guy at midnight...when everyone one was asleep...and asked him for bread for his guest...can you imagine a friend of yours coming to your door at midnight saying "Hey, yeah so Joe showed up at my door and I feel like I should feed him, so can you give me some bread?" You'd be like...Uhhhh...What?!...
Yet, because of his persistence...he rose and gave him as many as he needed...
Powerful right? This guy was so persistent...pleaded so hard...so earnestly with all his heart for just a few loaves of bread for his guest...at midnight no less...that his friend had to give him bread...He had to because of his persistence....
In the same way...if we plead to our Father...with all our heart's...in unconditional faith...with hope...undoubtedly...He will give us what we need...It might not come the first time we ask...or the second...or the third...but if we are persistent...and keep our faith...He will answer...Be persistent...don't give up...don't lose hope...have faith...
Keep asking...seeking....and knocking....and the door will be opened unto you...He promises...And our Father...doesn't break promises...
~For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.~
Luke 11:10
