The Flavour of Persistency(REFLECTION/HOMILY FOR THURSDAY OF THE 27TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME 12TH OCTOBER 2023

REFLECTION/HOMILY FOR THURSDAY OF THE 27TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME 12TH OCTOBER 2023

Malachi 3:13-4:2a; Ps.1; Luke 11:5-13

The Flavour of Persistency!

Yesterday, Jesus taught the disciples how to pray. Today, he continues that lecture by teaching on the need to be persistent in prayer. Teaching about persistency in prayer shows that Jesus is very much aware that sometimes our prayer request will not be meant as and when we desire them. Jesus is invariably teaching us that delay will definitely be our experience in prayer. However, we are not to interpret this experience of delay as God’s unwillingness to grant our request. There is a flavour persistency adds to Christian prayer, without which, our prayer life may not be rich.

In the parable, Jesus talked about a friend who never wanted to help his stranded friend but later did due to persistency. We can misinterpret this parable to mean that persistency in prayer is powerful on the ground that it can change the mind of God. But that is not the point. God is too perfect to be changed by persistency. If persistency can change the mind of God, it would that God is not always definitive about what is best for us; that is, it is our persistency that aids God’s decision on our situations. This cannot the case with the God of the Christian faith.

In some examinations, you find the instruction: orderly presentation of points attracts more marks. What is means is that while answering the questions correctly will earn you marks, presently the answers orderly will earn you more marks than another who presently the same answers but without order. The role of “orderly presentation” in that examination, is the role of persistency in prayer. Ordinarily, when we pray, attract God’s attention; but when we pray persistency, we attract God’s attention the more.

Persistency is a sign of absolute faith. It shows that we have no other option but God alone. The one who prays persistently does not just ask from, but also expresses ardent faith in the one and only true God. Little wonder in the pages of the scriptures, we find that those who prayed persistently were not only granted their heart desires, but were also rewarded for their persistency.

Beloved, often time, it is our marking of time that makes us impatient with God. But know that the boundless God cannot be limited by time. In God, the past, present and future come together in a wonderful way. Be persistent in prayer, your God has the capacity to recover you in and out of time.