Shameless Persistence

If you’ve ever prayed hard and then wondered why nothing seems to move, you’re not alone and you’re not crazy. We open Luke 18 and Luke 11 to look at two unsettling stories Jesus tells about prayer: a widow who keeps demanding justice from an unjust judge, and a neighbor who keeps knocking at midnight until the door finally opens. On the surface, both stories feel almost uncomfortable. Underneath, they reveal something steady and hopeful about God’s character: the Father doesn’t merely tolerate persistence, He loves it.

We also dig into the words behind the ideas, including “importunity” and the NLT phrase “shameless persistence.” Why would Jesus tell us to ask again, seek again, knock again? Because the waiting isn’t wasted. Waiting has a way of dragging hidden beliefs into the light, like the whisper that says, “If God cared, He would’ve answered by now.” We talk honestly about how those thoughts challenge beloved identity, how persistence keeps us close, and how God uses proximity to heal what’s broken without requiring perfection first.

Along the way, we connect prayer to spiritual growth and Christian maturity. Some gifts are free, yet still priceless. Some answers come quickly, but other answers come with formation so we can actually carry what we’re asking for. If you want a clearer picture of persistent prayer, faith, and the practice of God’s presence in everyday life, press play and stay with us.

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Transcript

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Welcome And The Cost Of Value

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi everyone, I'm Ben. And I'm Logan, and we're the Robins. Welcome to the Resting Place podcast. Um Luke 18, and then possibly Luke 11 as well. Luke 18, 1 through 8, and possibly Luke 11, 5 through 10. Um, I want to frame this. Levi sent me something. Was it last night you sent it to me, Levi? I'm gonna read what you sent me. Um, and I think it's gonna help frame some of the thought process here today. Who wrote this, Levi? Do you remember? So a quote from Thomas Paine. Thomas Paine said this that which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly. That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly. My parents used to tell me when I was younger, and it may have been their way of saying, hey, we're not gonna buy you anything, but it yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you won't appreciate it unless you have to pay something for it. And that is actually kind of true. If there's a price to be paid for something, you appreciate that thing that you paid a price for significantly more. I remember buying my first basketball, and I loved that basketball, and I dribbled that thing until there was no grip left on it. It was completely smooth, and I kept trying to shoot with it even after it was completely smooth. And really, I'm a bit of I get attached to things, so I'm a bit of a I'll keep about everything. Logan knows that. Um and it's true, I loved that thing. I bought an Ohio University, I don't even like Ohio University, but I bought an Ohio University basketball jersey when I was younger. And I it was like 30 bucks, and I was like, this is a king's ransom. I'm gonna wear this thing. I wore that thing until I was way too big to keep wearing that thing. Cut out the bottoms of the sleeveless part of the shirt so I could fit in it a little longer. Um that which we obtained too easily, we esteem too lightly. It is dearness only which gives everything its value. It is dearness only which gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price on its goods. Heaven knows how to put a proper price on its goods.

The Persistent Widow And Delayed Justice

SPEAKER_00 2:23

And I want to talk just briefly from Luke eighteen, and we'll start there. Luke eighteen one says this one day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. To show that they should always pray and never give up. There was a judge in a certain city, he said, who neither feared God nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to him repeatedly saying, Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy. The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, I don't fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I'm going to see that she gets justice because she is wearing me out with her constant requests. Now I know Bruce would never say that about Mara that this woman is driving me crazy. And live, that's right, and live. He'd never say that about her and live. Oh, that's great. Oh, this woman is driving me. This woman is wearing me out with all of her requests. We are in the process of starting to build a house. So we picked the rainiest September in the history of Septembers to decide to build a house. So it's I'm gonna have to like, we're gonna have to exercise some authority at the end of this and get the rain to quit delaying the laying of our foundation. Um we've got an in-ground pool instead of a instead of a house, you know. It's beautiful. I love it a whole lot. No, it's just our foundation where they're digging the footers and stuff. They just built a pool instead of a house. Huh? It just keeps filling. It keeps filling back up. We're gonna have to get a pump down in there. Yeah, more like. Oh man. But this woman is driving me crazy. I'm going to see she gets justice because she is wearing me out with her constant requests. Then the Lord said, Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Interesting, learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don't you think now pay attention to how he's how he puts this juxtaposition against this unjust judge and our Father in heaven. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don't you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night. Will he keep putting them off? I tell you he will grant justice to them quickly. That's this interesting thing. Though he delays, he will not delay. He will not keep putting them off, he'll grant it quickly. It's this really interesting thing that the Lord does where though he delays, he will not delay, he'll grant justice to them quickly. I'd like to know what his definition of quickly is sometimes. Sometimes in the middle of praying, I'm just like, Lord, your definition of quickly and mine are very different. I've got I've got a list of things that I would like you to quickly solve for me, and none of it is happening quickly, so help me get on your timeline. Or better yet, you get on my timeline and make it make it better for me quickly. Yeah, that's right, soon. Exactly right, soon. Luke 18, 1 through 8. And I'm in right now. Um I'm in verse 8 right now. I tell you he will grant justice to them quickly. But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?

The Midnight Friend And Bold Knocking

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Let's go to Luke 11. We'll go ahead and read that, I think. And I just want to briefly touch on these things and we'll uh be done here. Luke eleven, five through ten says this. Then teaching them more about prayer, he used this story. Suppose you went to a friend's house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him a friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat. And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, don't bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are in bed. I can't help you. This seems reasonable. He's asleep and someone's asking to raid his pantry. This seems like a reasonable response. Go away. Come back tomorrow when I'm awake. But I tell you this, though he won't do it for friendship's sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence. Because of your shameless persistence, and so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you, for everyone who asks receives, and everyone who seeks finds, and to everyone who knocks the door will be opened. To everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

Importunity Defined And Why It Matters

SPEAKER_00 7:44

I wrote a little bit today, so I'm going to read a little bit. Referring to Luke eighteen here, in reading both Adam and Matt Adam Clark and Matthew Henry's commentaries on this parable from Luke eighteen, they both use the same word describing the widow's pursuit of justice. Importunity. Luke 11 uses a very similar description, but in the NLT it's described shameless persistence in receiving the thing that we're asking for. Shameless persistence and importunity are kind of like hand in hand. They go kind of like that. It's like peanut butter and jelly. Um, Adam Clark and Matthew Henry both use the word importunity, and one definition I found for this word, this word importunity, it's this. The act of asking for something over and over again in a way that is forceful and annoying. A way that is forceful, forceful and annoying. And that's from the Cambridge that's from the Cambridge Dictionary, is where that is from. The word forceful and annoying, that's from the Cambridge Dictionary. The parable of the persistent neighbor in the NLT uh translates the same persistence as shameless persistence. And in both of these parables, Yeshua is revealing to us through mystery the heart of the Father. So often when we speak about parables, what we start, what we begin to talk about is the kingdom of God, and Jesus revealing the kingdom of God through parables. I agree with that assessment that this is about the kingdom of God because Jesus himself says this is the way that the kingdom is laid out. Jesus himself uses the phrase kingdom of God quite a bit in his teachings. I would say this Yeshua is the greatest prophet who ever lived, but he did very little personal prophecy. The thing that we most attribute prophecy to, he did very little of. He did very little of predicting the future, which we have perverted the prophetic into. And we perverted the prophetic into that because it makes money. That's why we perverted the prophetic into it. So that part right there is free for you. Just remember that little bit of wisdom. Next time you get on, next time you turn on social media and some quote unquote prophet is predicting the next election. Just remember they're taking your money. That's why they're that's why they're predicting the next election, because that attracts eyes, and those eyes attract invitations to conferences and et cetera, et cetera. It kind of just goes on down the line. Yeshua did something far different with the prophetic than we have done in our time. Yeshua revealed the mystery of the heart of the Father. And in saying this is the kingdom of God, I would also say that Yeshua was revealing the mystery of the heart of the Father. When he began to reveal parables, he's teaching us the nature of his father. He's teaching us the way of the kingdom, yes, but he's also teaching us the nature and ways of his father. And in teaching about prayer, he reveals something very important to us. He reveals that the Father loves shameless persistence. He doesn't like it, he loves it. To the point that he requires his mature sons and daughters to use this when they pray. This flies in the face of the way that I would think about in my give in in and of myself, this flies in the face of the way that I would think about prayer. And we'll get into that. So, in both of these parables, Yeshua is revealing to us the mis through mystery, the heart of the Father. Our Father loves when his sons and daughters refuse to stop coming to him in faith. He loves it. If you seek, you'll find. If you knock, it will be opened. If you ask, it will be given. It's like he's saying this don't stop. Don't stop asking. Don't stop knocking. Don't stop seeking. Don't stop in your request to the Lord, because he loves when you continue to ask for justice to be done on your behalf. In reading Matthew Henry's commentary about this parable in Luke 18, he begins to expound upon seeking spiritual graces and not stopping in our pursuit of spiritual graces. And this folds beautifully into the uh Thomas Paine quote that I quoted or that I read earlier that Levi sent me that heaven knows how to put a proper price on its goods. And it's not always that we receive the grace we're asking for when we first ask for that grace. But if we'll continue to seek, if we'll continue to knock, if we'll continue to ask, he'll be good and he'll be kind and he will hear us and he will answer our prayers.

Maturity Before Answers Carry Weight

SPEAKER_00 12:55

But there are some things that there's just so valuable that he's going to require us not out of spite, not out of, not out of um withholding, but some things are so valuable and so weighty that he requires a certain level of maturity in his sons and daughters for them to be able to receive it. There's a certain level of maturation that must take place in the hearts of sons and daughters before they're able to drive a car. There's a certain level. There's a certain level of maturation that has to take place before you're gonna trust. Before I'll trust Samuel with a 12 gauge, I'm gonna have to first trust him with his Red Rider BB gun. And before I'll trust Samuel with a with a 6'5 Creedmore to go to the range and shoot with me or shooting, Lance is rolling his eyes. That's the rifle that I have, Lance. I don't want to hear it. Um I send him memes constantly about guns. That's why he rolled his eyes at me. Uh before I'll trust him in a hunting scenario, I have to first trust that he'll do the right thing before we'll get there, right? You can apply the same thing sometimes to the spiritual life. To the spiritual life, there must be a certain level of maturation before the Lord will allow us to receive some of the things that we're asking for. Because in immaturity, if we're not careful, what will happen is we'll be puffed up in pride. That's just what happens. So I did not mean to get into that, but that's that's where we are. So um, why does he require us or encourage us to constantly ask, to constantly knock, to constantly seek. Why? Because there will be times in the middle of asking, knocking, seeking, trying to find, that it's going to feel like we're talking to the ceiling and no one's listening. The old saints used to say it this way. They used to say that the heavens have turned to brass. They that's that's how and y'all know it. Mara knew it over there. She was quoting me before I even finished. Not that Mara's old, Mara's young. She's younger than me. No, the heavens have I don't know how many times I heard that growing up. It feels like the heavens have turned to brass around you. You just grab onto the horns of the altar and refuse to let go until you receive your answer from heaven. What will happen is this. In the middle of knocking, in the middle of seeking, in the middle of going to the Father and demanding justice in the in the parable here, she she went to the unjust judge and said, Grant me justice against my enemies. And in Jesus saying, Hey guys, be like that. What's going to happen is this will happen, and the Father is committed to our development. That's one of the reasons that he requires us to ask, knock, seek before we find at times. It's because he's committed to our development and he's committed to seeing us transfigured into the image of Christ. And what will happen in the middle of these times when we're asking, knocking, seeking, what will happen is this our broken spaces of thinking or our delusion will start to whisper to us in the middle of waiting to receive our answer. And as those things surface, the Lord and His kindness begins to deal with those things while we're asking, knocking, seeking. What's like this? It'll start to whisper to us our insecurity or our insecurities will start to whisper to us, he certainly heard you the first time, why are you still knocking? Why are you still asking? Why are you still seeking? He heard you the first time. Or this is probably more likely, if he cared, if he cared at all about what you're going through, he would have already answered you. He doesn't care. I don't know how many times that lie has been whispered in my ears as I have been seeking the Lord. I can remember distinctly in times of real desperation, and while we lived in South Carolina, like asking the Lord, Lord, what is going on? I don't understand at all what's happening here. Or even when we first moved to Iowa, deep challenge. Our first year here is the most challenging year of our lives. And I sat there like, Lord, I don't get it. You told us to move here, and then everything fell apart and all hell broke loose, and I don't know what's going on. I'm what's happening. And the the lie begins to whisper to you, if he cared, if he cared, he would have already done something about this. If he wanted to, he could. If he was good, why is he letting you go through this? If he's kind, if he's if he's kind, why is he doing this? And if he's love, why then is he allowing this to happen? And I'm finding, as I continue to, as I continue to um mature in my walk with the Lord, I'm finding something to be true. The questions always come against one of two things. It's either who the Father has revealed himself to be, or who he has revealed us to be to him. These are the things that get questioned, and these are the places the Lord has predesigned to heal in our hearts. So there's a space in the waiting that the Lord has designed for our hearts to receive healing. I hope I'm I hope I'm framing that correctly. There's a space in seeking Him, and there's a space in knocking at the door, asking Him to asking for something, bringing our request boldly before the throne of grace, coming in faith before Him, and having to persistently do that, that insecurities and broken spaces get revealed to us and before heaven. And it's at that moment that we're required, as our broken spaces are being revealed, it's at that moment we're required. Bring yourself again. And if we're not careful, what'll happen if we remain too delusional in our thinking? What will happen is we'll disqualify ourselves from continuing to ask, continuing to seek, and continuing to knock because of the revelation of those broken spaces. And it's those, it's that knocking, asking, seeking that the Lord has designed to heal that in our hearts. I'll explain it. Our Father is committed to forming us into the image of Christ. And the way he does this is by bringing us into close proximity with himself. So, what better place than an asking, knocking, and seeking to reveal broken spaces in our hearts. So it's like this Lord, you see this. You can you can you can fill in the blanks, you can you can insert just about any scenario into asking, knocking, seeking. Or you can you can insert any um you can insert the seeking for any spiritual gift or any spiritual grace, another way to say that would be an any spiritual grace into asking, knocking, and seeking. And the Lord will just in his kindness not withhold from us, but bring us into a space where things start to bubble up out of us that we didn't even realize were there at times. So pick on myself. Why don't I just pick on myself a little bit? So he'll allow me, he'll allow me to have a root of rejection bubble up on the inside of me and point it out to me and say, son, what about that root of rejection? What are we gonna do with that? Why don't you allow me to heal that in you? And in healing that in me, he's transfig he's killing two birds with one stone and he's perfect at it. He's transfiguring me into the image of Christ all while answering my prayer at the same time. And he's really good at doing more than one thing at one time. He can do it all all at once, and it's a beautiful thing to behold.

Face To Face Prayer Without Shame

SPEAKER_00 21:30

But he's so relational that he's committed to making me into the image of Jesus. So the word pray in Luke 18 1 is the Greek word, and I'm gonna I'm gonna uh butcher this because I'm a redneck. But the Greek word pray in Luke 18 1 is proshukumai, or something similar to that. It's quite probably not uh the prorre pronunciation, but it's something similar to that, proshukamai. This comes from The root word pros and the uh the root word ukomai. Pros is a really interesting word. It's the same word that John 1 1 uses when it says the word was with God and the word was God. Now the word with there is a poor translation because it just notes he's there with him. No. The ancient writers would use this in context. This means literally in in this this word literally means in close communion with someone or turning towards someone would be a good working definition. To be closely in communion with someone or turned towards someone, and the ancient writers would often use this in context as being in a face-to-face relationship with someone is how they would use this in context. So in context, John 1 1 could read the word was face to face with God, and the word was God. And this is the same root word that proshukamai is from. So what Jesus is saying, and the word youcumai literally just means to pray. It just literally means pray. So what Jesus is saying when he says pray and keep on praying, ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, what he's saying is bring yourself face to face with the Father and do not stop. Bring yourself face to face with Yahweh and do not stop bringing yourself face to face with Yahweh. And when the spotlight of heaven gets really hot on unhealed parts of your heart, don't shrink back. That word shameless persistence that the NLT uses is very important. What can happen is you can become ashamed of being persistent. You can become ashamed of being persistent. If he cared, he'd have done it by now. If he really loved you, he would have already taken care of this for you. If he was good, he would have already done this for you. And if he was, if he was kind like he says he was, or if you're so loved by him, we're learning what beloved identity looks like, we're learning what the definition of beloved identity is, we're walking it out to the best of our ability. And if you really are his beloved, why is he delaying his answer this long? And in those spaces, in being face to face with him, our broken pieces start to bubble up and our delusion starts to show itself in places that I often don't even I'm fairly uh emotionally unintelligent. So my my broken spaces start to show up, and I'm just like, holy crap, I didn't realize that was there. That's not good. I need to remove myself, and common knowledge or common teaching would say we need to remove ourselves then from his presence, get ourselves right, and bring ourselves back to him after we can put our best foot forward. I was talking with Samuel about this earlier today. Samuel asked me a question, and I was teaching him something, at least I hope I was, or maybe he was teaching me something. I'm not quite sure how that was working. And I said to him, son, here's something you need to remember. He's eight years old. He he's watching his tablet right now, paying no attention to me. I got to teach this spring at a conference with William Hen. It was a it was a cool deal. William is a very um he's a very polished speaker. He's Benny's nephew. He's been around big ministry his whole his whole life. And uh Samuel said to me, Dad, that guy you spoke with this spring is a lot better than you. He said. He said he's like a big, he's like a big cuddly bear when he speaks, and you get this crazy face when you speak, and it's a lot different, Dad. And I was like, Well, that's I find no fault in your answer there, son. I find no fault in what you're saying. Oh, but I was talking to him and he's like, Dad, what are you talking about? I began to tell him what pros meant and what proshukumai meant. He's like, Prashukumai, huh? And I was like, Yeah, that's what that's what the word, the Greek word is. And he's like, Well, what's that mean? And I began to tell him what the Greek definitions of proshukumai were. And then I began to tell him what pros meant. And I was like, buddy, here's the thing that you need to remember for the rest of your life. The Lord has to meet us at our lowest place for our relationship with him to be real. If we don't allow him to come into those low spaces and we keep him walled off from the places that need healing, what will happen is our relationship with him will become powerless. And he'll have no superficial is the word. Our and our walk with him will be completely without power. It's this incredible thing. He uses broken people to do incredible things, but what he requires out of those broken people is they let his hand into their brokenness. He does not require perfection, he just requires that we allow his hand to come to the places that we're broken. And if we'll allow his hand to come to the places that we're broken, he can take broken things and do great things with those broken people. It's the most unreal thing in all the world. And I've just I was having a conversation with my friend Luke Fulcher. Um, we've had Luke come several times and um we missed him this summer, but hopefully when he's he teaches at uh the school down there in Mobile where Pop is at, he teaches down there and then has uh teaches Bible to the whole assembly there as well. So and he does some stuff in Union University as well. Luke's a little bit of a and he's got a book finished that I keep waiting for him. Luke, if you ever hear this, finish your dang book. Get it published, please. He's got a he's got a uh an incredible book written that I wish he would just go ahead and publish. Um, but I was talking with Luke, and I began to like, we we're just going back and forth, and he and I hadn't talked, so we talked for about I went to my nephew's football game on Friday night and we talked about the whole way home. And it he plays for Mason City Newman, so it's all the way up in Mason City. So I was I had quite the drive home. And um I just began to talk to Luke and just tell him, man, I don't the longer I serve the Lord, and I've not served the Lord very long in comparison with many people. I've you know known the Lord a relatively short amount of time compared to compared to many. And the longer I serve him, though, and the more the more I know him, I just really want to be transfigured into the image of Christ. I just really want to look like Jesus. And I don't want to miss the transfiguration process in any way. Um and what Yeshua's communicating here in these parables about prayer, I believe is something like Bring your broken pieces and your delusion and your fears and your insecurities and ask. And when I highlight your insecurity, your fear, your root of rejection, your sin, your areas of missing the mark, don't hide from me. Continue to remain in that place, face to face with my father, and my father will do the work of transfiguring you into my image. And in transfiguring you into my image, he'll answer the cry of your heart. I want to be really clear, he doesn't use the father. I I love the way Bill Johnson just so casually says the most profound things. It's the most casual thing in all the world to him, and I'm just like, good Lord. He yeah, yeah, it does. And he he he said, you know, the Lord doesn't give anything he doesn't have to give. He can't give anything he doesn't have. So he doesn't use sickness to tea to transfigure us into the image of Christ. He doesn't use poverty to transfigure us into the image of Christ. Those things don't come from him because he doesn't have any of that to give. He doesn't use tragedy, he that's not he doesn't send tragedy, he doesn't send sickness, he doesn't send, that's a better way to say it. He doesn't send poverty. But the things that come our way in life, he has a way of using those to transfigure us into the image of Christ and bring us into a deeper knowledge of who he is and a deeper understanding of his character and of his nature. And there's this interesting thing.

Misreading God Makes Us Hide

SPEAKER_00 31:30

Most of the time we fail in the area of prayer. It's because we misunderstand his nature. We misunderstand his character. And it's important that we take him at his word. When I come, will I find faith on the earth? Will there be anyone that took me at my word? Will there be anyone that took me at my word and was firmly persuaded? The Vine's Expository Dictionary, the definition of faith is a firm persuasion. Isn't there anyone who will allow themselves to be firmly persuaded by my word and continue to ask, knock, seek, and in the asking, knocking, and seeking will they find? We have his word that we will. In the parable of the talents, there's one servant that gets called wicked. You know what that servant says to his master? I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and you're hard to please. You didn't hear the first two say that. The two men that doubled what the Lord gave them, the man that came with two and ended up with four, and the man that had five and ended up with ten. No, the the Lord. They did not come to the Lord and say, Hey, you're a hard man to please. Here's your here's your investment that you gave me. The one who hid said, You're hard to please. The one who would not, man, that's that's profound right there. The one who hid believed he was hard to please. And I find that true in myself. When I begin to believe that the Lord is hard to please, I begin to hide from him. And Yeshua is communicating the heart of the Father. He's really easy to please. And if we'll if we'll get the revelation that it is not difficult to please his heart, all we have to do is come. It's the most challenging and it's the most challenging and easiest command of all. Come. Bill again, one time, I'll quote Bill twice so the meeting is legal. Um Jesus does this thing where he says, Come to me. But he has a sword between himself and us, and he just says, just come to me. And that sword is aimed at the things that keep us from him. We take this, we take these things and we confuse it, and we say, Well, he's aiming it at me and he's punishing me. No, no, no. No, no. He's just taking he's just removing from you the things that keep you from him. The way that Pop says it is all of his judgments are that are aimed at the things that hinder beloved identity in our life. The way Mike Bickle used to say it, all of God's judgments are aimed at the things that hinder love. It's not aimed at me, it's aimed at the things that I believe about myself that are hindering his work in my life. And it's this asking, knocking, and seeking that I find that often will cause these things to bubble up, cause these patterns to show up in my life, cause these belief systems to pop back up. I thought I dealt with that. Apparently I didn't because I've been asking for you know six months for this to happen, and all of a sudden this thing comes back up, and the Lord is patient. He's patient. And he's good, and he's committed to seeing us be transfigured into the image of Christ. And one of the ways that he does that is through asking, seeking, and knocking. And he'll bring us into his presence face to face with him and say, now stay here while I highlight the things that are hindering my work in your life. And let me deal with those while you're asking me to do this in your life. Because if you'll let me deal with those, what you're asking for becomes easy. What you're asking for becomes like breathing to you if you'll allow me to deal with that thought pattern, if you'll allow me to deal with that behavior pattern, if you'll allow me to deal with this, to deal with this delusion that you've been under, if you'll allow me to wash you with the water of the word, if you'll allow me to do that to renew your mind, if you'll allow me to do those things, what happens is what you're asking for becomes like second nature to you. But let me do that. Because in doing that, you become like my son. Let me do that. And I I sort of kept it short so I didn't lie all that much. Lucy. Lucy. Lucy, you should have got on when we started. You can go back and watch, Lucy. I love you. I love you. Come back. If those people in Alabama don't like you, I like you. You can move back to Iowa. I'm gonna start asking, I'm gonna start asking, seeking, and knocking for a plague of locusts to hit them so that they move back. That's not good. Oh man. Go ahead. Yes. Yes. Do you know what I mean? Because I'm sure it's a big hear it. Like back to when I was a child. That's it. It flies in the face a little bit to what we're taught. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. If you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, yeah.

unknown 36:54

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 36:54

So that's like a request. George Mueller, George Mueller is a hero of mine. I I read his book. I love, I love that man. But he, like that Lord, bringing the same thing to the Lord. Yes. The same thing. The same thing. Bring it over and over. Wouldn't some time be better spend on like other things that the Lord aren't holding that one? Yeah.

unknown 37:18

I know you're holding that one. It's in your hands.

SPEAKER_00 37:20

I'm trying to talk about it.

When Prayer Turns Into Praise

SPEAKER_00 37:22

One of the things Matthew Henry said in his commentary, and I find this to be true. One of the things Matthew Henry said in his commentary concerning um Luke 18 was that it is the duty of the believer to pray until we're caught up in rapturous praise. So our prayer becomes less about begging and more about we get it gets almost it gets almost it's almost like the line gets blurred between prayer and praise. And we we can and there's this interesting thing where we all live pretty busy lives, right? And I don't have six hours in my day unless I wake up at 2 a.m. to I don't have I don't have six hours to spend laying on my face. So it becomes you get you get to the place where you remain in union with him even while you're working. It's the practice of the presence of God that's so valuable. And one of the things I would say to that is yes, we are to bring our requests to him, but it almost becomes thanking him for it being done before it's done. And that is one of the ways that we're able to remain in that place of persistence without growing weary. Um so thank you, Matthew Henry, for that insight. But I also I find that to be true that when I get when I get caught in the place of asking, seeking, knocking, and that asking, seeking, knocking becomes your good and your love endures forever. Thank you. It becomes less work and it becomes more enjoyment. Like you said, you become you begin to enjoy the Lord in a way that you hadn't before. And it's this Yeah, it's this interesting thing where like we wouldn't think, well, it's this interesting thing where you wouldn't think that that's something he loves, but it's something he loves. He loves when we're persistent and bring the same things before him. So it's kind of what I got. Talking about talking about that grace that cost heaven everything, cost us nothing. It's this interesting tension of it's a free gift, but it's also the dearest thing in all the world to my heart, although it's free. So you receive it's the work of it's the work of the Spirit that causes us to receive the revelation of what that grace cost, that we would be able to put an appropriate value on the grace that He's given us so that we don't do what the Paul, what what the Apostle Paul said and take his grace cheaply. We don't we don't take it cheaply and don't continue to sin lest grace should abound more. God forbid.