Prayer and Faith

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

1 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?”

Luke 18:1-8 (ESV)

We are so often instructed to pray about something and not worry about it as good Christian believers. Here in Luke we see instruction from Jesus about persistence in pray if we truly desire to see prayer answered. I am like many of you it’s almost impossible to pray for something and not worry about the outcome. The question is what is your worry about? Is it that we are afraid God will not answer our prayer or is it we are afraid it won’t be soon enough? We have to learn to live more by faith that the God we serve loves us and has our best interest at heart. So when we pray to we must understand God’s timing is perfect and that he is omniscient (all knowing) He knows what the future holds and what effects answered prayers will have. God answers all prayers just sometimes the answer is no. It’s not that He does not love you but He desires what is best for us as we serve Him. The widow went before the judge until here pleas were answered. We have no idea what the problem was but here persistence caused the Judge to change his mind. This may be controversial but the Bible shows us in many places that the persistent prayers of the righteous individual changed the mind of God. Moses prayed and God did not destroy all of Israeli, King Hezekiah prayed and God granted him 15 more years of life. Persistence in our prayer lives is required it may not be worry free but worry only shows the heart of the one praying. Personally I desire people pray with worry for my needs it shows some investment in my life and that reflects the love they have for me and my needs. Today do you want to see a change in something you prayed for have your set it down and left it with God?  Maybe it’s time to live in faith and become persistent about your desire for an answer. Jesus instructed we be persistent in our prayer life so when he returned he would find faith abundant on earth. Have a Blessed day!

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

New King James Version (NKJV)

¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.