[This post was first written on December 28, 2013, but I think the subject matter can never be overused, so here it is again, as a reminder for us all, myself included.]
And he [Jesus] said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. (Luke 11:5-8)
And he [Jesus] said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. (Luke 11:5-8)
There is a word used in the scripture above (in the King James version) that I think is appropriate no matter what the version of scripture is; it's a word that gives great understanding to this scripture passage and to what it is Jesus would have us know about this particular passage.
The word is "importunity." Here is how its root word "importune" is defined:
Importune: to ask (someone) pressingly and persistently for or to do something; to beset with insistent or repeated requests; entreat pressingly; to make repeated forceful requests for something, usually in a way that is annoying; to push relentlessly towards one's purpose or course of action; being unshakeable from one's goal; shameless in the pursuit of what one seeks or desires to have.
Jesus spoke this parable immediately following His instructions on how to pray to the Father (aka The Lord's Prayer). It is clear that He was not finished instructing about prayer for this parable illustrates not the words with which we are to pray, but the attitude with which we are to pray.
If I pray with "importunity," then I will be persistent in requesting things of the Father. I will be dogged and clamorous and annoying and troublesome. I will hold tenaciously to my purpose. I will not lose sight of my purpose, no matter how long it takes to get it. I will not cease until I have what I have asked for, and the longer it takes to get it, the more irritatingly persistent I will be. I will not slack off; rather, I will become more diligent in my purpose, as was the neighbor who went knocking on his friend's door in the middle of the night, shameless in his persistence, with no intention of stopping until the neighbor finally answered with what I can only imagine was intense irritation. Still, the man got his three loaves of bread. And if I pray with such importunity, I also will get what I ask; assuming, of course, that I am not asking for anything that is contrary to the Word of God.
Sometimes, we don't get what we ask for because we give up so quickly; which tells us it was not all that important to us in the first place. What is important to us will carry us past political correctness to utter shamelessness because how we appear to others is of no significance compared to that which we seek.
I can't help but recall that scripture that says:
"And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." (Matthew 11:12)
These are Christians who take the kingdom of heaven by force; these are Christians who are violent. No, not violent in the sense that radical extremists are, but violent in our prayers that assault heaven unceasingly and with such great fervency that the heavens must shake from the onslaught. That's the kind of prayer attitude Jesus is trying to tell us we need to have.
What is the opposite of "importune"?
Perhaps some antonyms would be: nonchalant, quiet, weak, irresolute, slack, timid, unassertive, spineless.
Perhaps a good opposite for "importune" would be "tepid" or "lukewarm." Hmm...lukewarm...where have I heard that word used before?
"So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." (Rev. 3:16)
These were the words of Jesus spoken to the church at Laodicea; the church which many bible scholars compare to the current-day church (church meaning those who claim to follow Jesus Christ). Jesus alone would have every right to speak these words to any church who would not follow Him in passion and fervor and persistence; for Jesus was relentless in the pursuit of His course of action (the cross), unshakeable in His tenacity and determination, letting nothing prevent Him from reaching His goal, no matter how terrible for Himself. If we are indeed followers of Christ, we will be as determined and persistent and tenacious and relentless as He was, in all that we do, but most especially in prayer.
Immediately after the parable of the importunate neighbor, Jesus goes on to say this, which is still very much related to the subject of prayer:
And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. (Luke 11:9-10)
In the first parable we understand that the "importunity" was directly related to the man's knocking on his friend's door with such persistence that the annoyed neighbor, unable to sleep with the racket, got out of his comfortable bed and gave the man what he asked for. Here is further information I found about "knocking":
Jennifer LeClaire relates "seeking" to getting up and doing something. For example, if you are "asking" God for a job, you must also be "seeking" a job. To sit on your sofa watching television all day while "asking" is, as Jennifer states, "lazy." God will give the matter as much attention as you give the matter: none at all. In another example, if you are "asking" for reconciliation, you must be actively pursuing ("seeking") reconciliation. These are the works that prayers of "shameless faith" produce.
Then..."Once you see God's promise in clear view, knock and keep on knocking until the promised door is open...God opens doors that no one can shut (see Rev. 3:8), but often, you have to knock" (Jennifer LeClaire).
So, in order to pray prayers that are answered by God, we must pray for things that do not contradict His Word, and we must pray with an attitude that also does not contradict His Word; in other words, we must pray with importune (shameless, persistent, relentless) faith. Then, once we are praying according to His will for the things we desire and with the right attitude, we will receive from Him that which we have requested.
And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us: and if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him. (1 John 5:14-15)
