18 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” – LUKE 18
Today is May 1st. One more month to go! Maybe more, we do not know. But as Jesus said today, never give up.
There was a certain widow in a town who seemed to have some type of enemy. The judge of course didn’t care about a widow, but as her persistence grew, his resistance diminished. Notice in verse 6 that God is not being compared to an unjust judge. The moral of the story is that persistence no matter how evil one person is can lead to good things. Now imagine what more our persistence in praying to a God that cares about us can bring.
Unlike the unjust judge, God loves us. We are his children. For those that have children, isn’t it incredible how easily we give in to their persistence. No offense Mom, but I knew at a young age that if i just annoyed you (she reads these) I would eventually get what I want. I think every kid TO SOME EXTENT knows this. So why is it so hard to be persistent in prayer?
Jesus hits the nail on the head when he says, “but will he find faith on earth?” It is our lack of faith that equals a lack of prayer. Do you really believe that God is for you? Do you believe that every blessing comes from Him or do you believe you can work hard enough to receive what you want. Hard work isn’t wrong or bad. God encourages us multiple times in scripture to work hard. But when our hard work takes the place of prayer to God our faith suffers. So instead of taking your prayers to God for what you want. Begin by committing to pray once a week for what you do have. For once you believe that all your blessings come from God so then your prayer life will grow.
Pastor Mat