Importunate prayer

I came across a powerful passage while reading a book on prayer by E.M. Bounds.

There was a word that I was unfamiliar with. Importunate. I had absolutely no clue as to the meaning. In fact, I had to look it up on google because I honestly had no idea what it meant.

Here is the definition: persistent, especially to the point of annoyance or intrusion, troublesome.

When put into the context of the passage by Bounds, this is eye-opening.

Importunate prayer is a mighty movement of the soul toward God. It is a stirring of the deepest forces of the soul, toward the throne of heavenly grace. It is the ability to hold on, press on, and wait. Restless desire, restful patience, and strength of grasp are all embraced in it. It is not an incident, or a performance, but a passion of the soul. It is not a want, half-needed, but a sheer necessity.

Wow.

I don't know about you, but that stirs me up. It opens my eyes to the kind of prayers that we need to be uttering to our God.

The wrestling quality of this kind of prayer is not fleshly at all, it is an energy aroused by the Holy Spirit.

Are our prayers filling this quality? Are we persistent to the point of annoyance in our pleadings to our LORD?

We, as Christians, must be cultivating effective, continual prayer in our lives. We must be urgent in our request. Pouring out to Him a 'poignant appeal of need and faith'.

Our hearts must be in our prayers.

"The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results." (James 5:16)

Amen

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