Persistence

Yesterday, while preaching on The Lord's Prayer in Luke 11:1-13, I got hung up on the word "impudence." "Impudence" means persistence. The message Jesus was preaching was one of persistence. I couldn't help but feel conviction about this. I'm a starter. I like to get things started. I'm a visionary. I'm a dreamer. I'm all over the place - all the time! I drop bombs and let other people clean up the mess and work it out. But persistence is about finishing. The life journal this morning was Hebrews 12-13 and Jude. In Hebrews, it says to "run with endurance the race that is set before us." I said something very similar to the quote on this poster yesterday, and it's a message for me just as much as anybody. It's not going to be one in particular dream or vision that's going to be what I'm after, it's going to be the finishing of a bunch of smaller dreams and visions that build into something more significant. For the past couple of weeks, everything I read seems to include words like constant, without ceasing, persistence, impudence, in all things. I feel like I'm growing in persistence as a discipline, and I'm hopeful that I will become more of a finisher in the process.

On a sort of related note, the most difficult area for me to stay persistent in is praying for Holly's eye. It's now been almost six months since Holly woke up with double vision. It's not as bad as it was back then, and it has days of being better and days of being worse. The worse however, is not as bad as it was. She's probably driven herself places close to 20 times in the 6 months. 90% of the time, we've felt like it's just not a safe option for our family. I've found myself the past few days realizing that I'm not praying with the same intensity or persistence that I was 6 months ago. Don't get me wrong. I've prayed ever day for her eye, but not with the same zeal. So, I'm reminded that it is those who keep asking, seeking, and knocking who get the door opened when the timing is right. I'm trusting that some revelation and complete healing come soon.

So, may I encourage us all to be persistent, even if it's in something small. Let's start somewhere. Let's finish something. Let's run the race marked out for us and trust that we're training for greater Kingdom things.