“ ‘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 11:8]. When a disciple asks Jesus to teach his followers to pray, the Lord offers a two-part answer. He first provides us with a model prayer (Luke 11:2-4). Then He offers two instructive parables with comments (Luke 11: 5-13) urging us to persist in prayer.” (Dynamis 10/27/2020)
“Do not grieve if you do not at once receive from God that which you ask. He wishes to benefit you still more by making you persist longer in your patient prayer before Him. For what can be higher than to address ones converse to God and be in communion with Him?...Pray persistently about everything, and then you will never do anything without God’s help.” (St. Nilus of Sinai, St. Mark the Ascetic)
“Persistence is the refusal to take no for an answer. Why some prayers require persistence and some do not is often a mystery. What is not a mystery is that most prayers absolutely do not contain persistency. We pray for a thing and give up if the answer is delayed. It must not have been God’s will, we say. But in many cases, this is merely an excuse to give up because our prayers have no staying power.” (Eric M. Hill)
“Why did not the Almighty create the world at once, but in six days? In order to teach man, by deeds, to perform his work gradually, not hurriedly, but with consideration…By not having to wait, we gain time; but we lose the psychological and spiritual benefits of waiting: patience, the increase of desire and joy, and the feelings that come from delayed satisfaction. We feel more joy when we arrive at a mountain top on foot than when we are just left there by a helicopter.” (St. John of Kronstadt, Jean-Claude Larchet)
“To be obedient in all things to God requires the virtue of patience. Saint Paul lists this virtue as one of the “fruits of the Spirit” (Gal 5.22). Christ Himself in His humble obedience to God was exceedingly patient. To be patient literally means to suffer and endure. It means to wait on the Lord through all tribulations and trials with courage and hope. It means to put up with ones’ self and others, growing gradually in the grace of God through the daily effort to keep His commandments and to accomplish His will. Only those who are patient, according to Christ, bring forth fruit from the seeds of God’s Word that are sown in their hearts.” (Fr. Thomas Hopko)