Author: Retired Pastor Steve Hetzel
Reading- Luke 11:5-8
And so he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, “Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.” And he answers from within, “Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are in bed with me; I can not get up and give you anything.” I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.”
I’ve been asked today to consider being persistent in prayer. As I thought about it, I’m not certain we are persistent in anything. We want a hamburger, a quick 2 minutes in the drive thru at Burger King and ta-da a burger, fries and a drink.
We notice we need something for the home or closet and a quick search of Amazon. Two days later a package is on our porch.
We live in an instant society. We seldom have to wait for anything. We seldom have to ask twice.
So how about our prayer life? We say we pray for peace. On Sunday morning a quick 3-line petition and “Lord in your mercy. Hear our prayer.” Does that sound like persistence? We want to pray for sick friends and those in crisis. Again Sunday morning a 3-line prayer and “Lord in your mercy. Hear our prayer.” Does that sound like persistence?
I am not at all being critical. We can not do everything during worship and we do share Word and Sacrament but also remember we end with “Go in peace. Serve the Lord”.
So where do we go with all of this? How do we be more persistent in prayer? We don’t have to stand in the backyard and wail and scream. We don’t have to rip our clothes as in Biblical times.
How can we be more persistent? During worship we pray for our nation and world leaders, for our church and the church-at-large, for those facing struggles. During the week remember those petitions...make notes on your bulletin if you wish.
Then during the week find those 30 second quiet times and go into prayer. Standing at the mirror shaving or doing hair & make-up, you can quietly ask God to remember those that we lifted up on Sunday. You don’t have to remember the names because God knows.
As you stand at the stove, stirring the spaghetti sauce, mentally & silently visit with God for the peace of our nation and world.
On the way to and from work, stopped at the red light; take time to speak to God. It doesn’t have to be long, complicated phrases, simple whispers will work. God hears.
A few months ago I got irritated with commercials on TV...I timed and it was like 4 or 5 minutes of commercials...do I really need new deodorant or shampoo or new tires or whatever? There’s a nice time to quietly close your eyes and offer to God your thoughts of rejoicing, thanks, requests, commit to him those we love.
Seems we have forgotten how to be persistent in our time with God. Our prayers don’t have to be perfect, our prayers don’t have to be long & complicated. Simple thoughts, simple sighs, simple mental images work just fine. God knows when we connect with Him. (P.S. Think of Tevye in Fiddler On The Roof and his prayers as he walked along with his cow---I love those simple, sincere prayers.)
Prayer
Eternal God, listen to our thoughts, listen to our silence, listen to our hearts when we open to you. You are great, we know you hear and we trust your wisdom. AMEN