The Essentials of a Victorious Importunate Prayer Life (6)
You cannot pray now and again and expect to get results
"Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; and he will answer from within and say, 'Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you'? I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. (Luke 11:5-8, NKJV)
"There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, 'Get justice for me from my adversary.' And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, 'Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.' " (Luke 18:2-5, NKJV)
From the parables Jesus told (reproduced above), we see that the man who went to his friend continued to knock until his friend came to open the door! Also, the widow continued to go to the unjust judge until she got justice! We can see their consistency in doing what was required to get the desired response.
What is consistency in prayer?
One way of understanding consistency in prayer is to consider rainfall patterns. A constant pouring of rain, no matter how slight, would drench everything ultimately, whereas intermittent rainfall, even though heavy, would not be as impactful as a constant pouring of rain. Consistency can also be described by the continual dripping of an improperly shut faucet—before you know it, the sink, if plugged, will be filled. So, consistency in prayer is praying on a matter constantly until we get the expected result. And this is how we become victorious in prayer.
What some do, is pray intermittently—they pray on a matter for a while, forget about it, until they hear a chastening message, and then they pick up from where they stopped and resume praying. This kind of praying is not consistent and does not achieve results. The Lord Jesus said,
And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? (Luke 18:7, NKJV)
The Lord thus assures that God will answer the prayers of those who are consistent—praying day and night! If you are constant in your prayer, rest assured that God will answer, but if your prayer is intermittent or irregular, you may be praying and not get an answer!
Importunity is a combination of persistence and consistency
If we are going to be effective in importunate praying, we also must be consistent in our prayer. You cannot truly be importunate in prayer unless you are consistent in your ASKing. Being persistent for a week in prayer but then leaving it off for another week before picking it up again will not achieve much. Hence, anyone who will persist in prayer and get results must also be consistent.
For instance, after God had promised Elijah that He would send down rain, Elijah did not pray four times on Mount Carmel, return home and do nothing for a week, and then return to pray another three times after seeing that nothing had happened! The Bible tells us that he put his head between his knees and told his servant to check whether there was a cloud. Elijah prayed seven times consistently in this uncomfortable position until the servant returned to tell him that a small cloud was on the horizon. Consistency is not about the number of times a person prays; it is praying continuously until the result manifests. Thus, the Bible implies that Elijah prayed continually until he got the result.
Scriptural examples of consistency
When Gideon's army was in pursuit of the enemy, the Bible tells us that though they were tired and hungry yet, they remained in pursuit (Judges 8:4). They did not take a break but continued in pursuit of the enemy. Even when their fellow countrymen refused to give them victuals, they were not discouraged but pursued the enemy. And this demonstration of resilience by Gideon's army is an example of consistency in prayer.
Consistency in prayer is continuing in prayer despite the negativity around. Thus, if you were praying in a group and others have left off, it is consistent when you continue to pray! The Bible gives the account of two of David's mighty men, which aptly demonstrates consistency when all have deserted you:
The second of the famous three was Eleazar son of Dodo, of the clan of Ahoh. One day he and David challenged the Philistines who had gathered for battle. The Israelites fell back, but he stood his ground and fought the Philistines until his hand was so cramped that he could not let go of his sword. The LORD won a great victory that day. After it was over, the Israelites returned to where Eleazar was and stripped the armor from the dead. The third of the famous three was Shammah son of Agee from Harar. The Philistines had gathered at Lehi, where there was a field of peas. The Israelites fled from the Philistines, but Shammah stood his ground in the field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. The LORD won a great victory that day. (2 Samuel 23:9-12, GNB)
We see that Eleazer attacked the Philistine, standing his ground. Though everyone had deserted him and he was weary (NKJV), he continued to fight until his hands could not be unwrapped from the sword. He had taken the position of:
If I perish, I perish! (Esther 4:16, NKJV)
He was going to die fighting! Then the Bible tells of Shammah, who defended a field of lintels (NKJV), standing his ground, until he defeated the Philistines, though everyone had fled!
In all, we see that when these men stood their ground and fought, God gave them the victory. Importunate praying is spiritual warfare. It requires standing one's ground despite weariness and abandonment by others and seeming setbacks and discouragement. When we are thus consistent in prayer, God gives us the victory, which is the beauty of constant praying—God always rewards consistency!
Causes of inconsistency in prayer
1. Double-mindedness: when we are not sure of what we are requesting from God, we become inconsistent in prayer. A double-minded person prays about a matter one way today and then prays about it another way the next time. And the third day, they pray in another way completely different from the first two days. Such a praying pattern shows that the person praying does not know what they want. For example, if you want healing, then focus on praying for healing. Do not leave off praying for healing, and move on to praying for money when you have not yet heard from God on the matter of healing. But if your praying for money is consistent with praying for healing—perhaps you are going for surgery and require the funds for that—then your prayer is consistent with the earlier one. However, it would be inconsistent if God had not given you the go-ahead for surgery.
When people are inconsistent in praying, they are all over the map with multiple prayer requests. Does that mean you cannot pray for more than one thing at a time? No. We are saying that you must be focused on your prayer until you get an answer from God! It is like conversing with someone who speaks on different subjects without concluding on anyone subject or muddling everything. You, the listener, would be confused and exhausted at the end of such a conversation. Therefore, when we pray and want to be victorious, we must be focused on our requests until we obtain an answer from God!
2. Busyness: when we begin to pray on a matter, the schedule of our day can interfere, and before we know it, we are lost in the day's activity and have forgotten about our prayer request. This situation usually arises when the matter being prayed about is not crucial to the person praying. It could also occur when people pray casually—without fervency—this usually happens when people are just trying to fulfil a prayer quota.
If you are to deal with busyness and not let it interfere with your praying, what you are ASKing must be crucial to you, and you must set a regular praying time. Also, you should get into praying without ceasing—where you pray throughout the day—whenever there is an opportunity or when there is no one about to distract you. Praying without ceasing also includes praying under your breath (inaudibly) and praying within your heart.
3. Discouragement: sometimes, when we pray without observing any noticeable change or movement vis-à -vis our prayer request, discouragement sets in, and we tend to give up. But we must remember that the Bible prefaced the Lord's parable in Luke 18:2-6, with
men always ought to pray and not lose heart (Luke 18:1, NKJV)
Also, at the end of this parable, Jesus remarked,
when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8, NKJV)
Dealing with discouragement is a matter of faith—resolute faith! The Bible says,
 If you faint in the day of adversity, Your strength is small. (Proverbs 24:10, NKJV)
When discouragement seeks to gain a foothold in our lives, our unwavering faith must come to the fore regarding our praying. The way to deal with it, is to follow Abraham's example, who
believed and hoped, even when there was no reason for hoping (Romans 4:18, GNB)
As Abraham believed God even when everything seemed hopeless, so must we believe God when it seems impossible for anything to happen. Remember that Elijah continued to pray until his servant brought words of encouragement that a cloud was beginning to gather. Every time the servant came to tell him that nothing had changed, Elijah intensified his praying until the expected answer came.
Let us, therefore, find the fervour to press on when we see or hear that nothing has happened in connection to what we are praying until we see the result we are expecting. Do not give up nor be discouraged; rather, continue to PUSH!
Conclusion
For us to pray consistently, all other essentials must come together. You could not pray consistently unless a matter were crucial to you personally. Also, you cannot be consistent if you are impatient and unwilling to endure and overcome obstacles in life. Again, you would easily give up without resolute or unwavering faith in God when things are not going as you expect.
Praying until something happens necessarily requires consistency—constancy, not intermittence. If there is something that you are trusting God for, then pray about it until you get an answer! Sometimes, the answer may not be what suits our fleshly desire—the most important thing is that God will answer us. So, continue to pray on that matter that seems to defy a solution, and before you know it, God will speak on the issue.
Shalom!