Jesus told his disciples a parable about the need to pray continually and never lose heart.
Prayer is a mystery.
Today we are being taught about the necessity of intercessory prayer and persevering in order not to lose heart- to pray every day. The examples of Moses with uplifted arms and the widow’s relentless pursuit of justice are the attitudes of hope and endurance that should characterise our prayer.
God knows what we want but perseverance helps to simplify, ‘edit’ as it were, and purify the expression of our need.
But prayer is so much more than petition.
Even though we are meant to keep asking God for ‘stuff,’ I think over time our image and understanding of God changes and becomes more perfect.
We go through four main stages in our concept of God.
The first may be childish (expecting, maybe even getting, instant answers).
The second is adolescent (rebellious, huffy, impatient).
The third is the adult (patient, accepting,) stage in our understanding.
The fourth stage that comes often much later – is the one that is childlike – surrendering, almost indifferent- to whatever God wants because we know He wants what is best for us. It’s then that our relationship with Him becomes the thing that matters most. We ask out of love for us and all His people.
Out of that understanding of His constant unchanging love for us we still ask – but hand over the results, without terms and conditions. We turn from focusing on the gifts we want, to the love of the Giver of those gifts.
We want to know Him – we want to understand that kind of love that gives so lavishly so that we hope to share in and to imitate that love ourselves.
To be the kind of giver and provider – even of forgiveness – that God is.
Our prayer becomes presence or quality time – of gratitude for what we have received from Him knowing that He somehow wants more from us in return. We come to want what He wants. We become the kind of people we were always meant to be.
