Emphasis Preaching Journal

"Importunity." It is a strange word to me. I seldom encounter it outside the Gospels. And each time I do read it in the Gospel, I have to remind myself of its meaning. Webster tells me it means "annoying, troublesome, impertinent."

Can Jesus mean we are to be that way about our prayers? Are we to bother God until he gives in? Then he would not seem to be anything like a sovereign God. Nor does it seem to commend that kind of action to us. Rather I believe Jesus is talking about intensity of our goal, a single-minded persistency toward something right for ourselves or others.