***I originally posted this about a year ago, but I so constantly have been thinking about prayer, that I wanted to remind myself and you, dear reader, to not lose heart in your prayers. ***
I Thessalonians 4:16-1816 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Yesterday, my pastor gave a wonderful message about noting losing heart in prayer, and I wanted to encourage you by sharing some of his points. The passage that we read was Luke 18, which is the Parable of the Persistent Widow. Let’s take a look at that passage together.
Luke 18:1-7 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Jesus tells this parable, an earthly story with a heavenly meaning, to help us understand the importance of not giving up in prayer. We live in a world where evil, brokenness, and sadness abound, and prayer is the one thing that lifts us out of our troubled surroundings and into the presence of God.
In this story, Jesus tells about a widow, who in the Jewish culture two-thousand years ago, would have had three strikes against her. 1) She was a woman. 2) She was a widow with no husband to represent her. 3) She was poor with no money with which to bribe a Roman judge, which was a common practice at this time in history. So taking a grievance into a court setting to obtain help was very much an uphill battle for this woman. This woman would not have been welcomed before a judge, and she would be seen as a bothersome stranger to him.
But unlike the widow, we are gladly welcomed into God’s presence as precious children.
Romans 8:15-17 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.a] And by him we cry, “Abba,b] Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
And unlike the widow, we have an advocate, the Holy Spirit.
Romans 8:26 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
And unlike the judge in the parable, God wants to help us.
Psalm 34: 15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.
Friend, if you are a believer in Christ, today as his son or daughter, go boldly to him in prayer. He cares for you and wants to help. Let’s be like the this widow; let’s not grow weary or faint but keep casting our cares on a heavenly father who cares so much for us. Let’s be persistent and not give us, expecting God to hear and answer us!
What hard thing are you facing today? An illness? A financial trouble? A broken relationship? A tough decision. Set aside time today to tenaciously take all of these things to the Lord who cares.
P.S. Something that has really helped me in my prayer life is keeping a prayer notebook. You can read about that here.
Other posts to encourage you in prayer:
Praying Without Ceasing Around the House by Annie
Also, do you use a Scripture writing plan? You can find all of them here.
Beautiful devotion, Annie. Thank you!