God’s will is for us to pray to him continually and persistently. This message explores what it means to pray persistently to God and what happens when we do.
Introduction
Luke 18:1-8 is the text for today.
An elderly lady was once asked by a young man who had grown weary in the fight whether he ought to give up the struggle. “I am beaten every time,” he said dolefully. “I feel I must give up.” “Did you ever notice,” she replied, smiling into the troubled face before her, “that when the Lord told the discouraged fishermen to cast their nets again, it was right in the same old spot where they had been fishing all night and had caught nothing?”
This is exactly what this text is telling us. We are to be persistent in our prayers to God. We may want to give in and give up, but that is not what we should do. If we are to persevere and not lose heart or faith in life, we should always pray.
We should continue and be persistent. God is listening and He will hear and answer. Yet we must persist. We persist in prayer and do not lose heart in this because we know God is faithful to answer. That is what we are being taught in this parable.
Let us read what the text says.
In this text we see four points that point us to persistence, these are:
Always (v. 1)
Continual (v. 5)
Day and Night (v. 7)
Bears Long (v. 7)
This parable fits in with our series on Knowing God’s Will because when we continually pray and seek Him, we are not trying to do it alone by our strength or by the world’s ways. We are seeking Him continually and seeking His strength to carry us through. But that means that we must:
Boldly Go Before Him (1-3)
The widow is an important part of the parable. A widow in biblical times was one who was weak, poor, helpless, and alone. They seldom had the help necessary, especially in the times of Jesus.
The widow is us. We are weak, poor, helpless, and alone. We cannot do what needs to be done on our strength because we have none. The sooner you learn that the better off you will be.
We all have an adversary that wants to destroy us. He wants us to try and make it on our own. He wants us to think we are strong and bold. We are not.
Paul wrote about this in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
In our weakness we are strong because in that time we are leaning completely on the Lord. Satan wants us conceited and depending on our selves to make it through, not depending on the Lord.
This is what we see with the widow and the unjust judge. She took her complaint to him because she knew she could not achieve what was needed by her own strength.
The judge was uncaring about people or God. He was wicked and depraved. Yet, he was the judge and who would tend affairs of men. She went before him with no fear because she knew he was the one to make the rule.
We cannot compare the judge to God because that is not the point of this. God is holy and just, he is not wicked and vile like the judge. The point is that we are to be bold and go ever before Him with our needs, hurts, pains, losses, loves, joys, celebrations, praises, and everything else. Take everything boldly before the throne of grace Heb. 4:16 “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
This is what the widow did with an unjust uncaring man, how much more should we with an almighty and loving father God?
We should:
Be Before Him Always (4-5)
The widow was before the judge always, he did not want to answer but finally he relented. Why? Because she was persistent and wore him down. She beat him down with her continual coming before him.
This unjust judge could have just as easily disposed of her but she did not quit. She went before him regularly seeking the help she needed. She had boldness.
If an uncaring selfish judge will see that justice is done for an insignificant person in his dominion, how much more will an all-loving, all-caring, all-giving, God not do the same or so much more for us?
Since God is all these things, why do we not take everything before him in prayer. As the old hymn What A Friend We Have In Jesus says, “What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer! O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.”
How accurate this is. What grief and pain we bear because we are not bold enough to take it all before Him in prayer. We have nothing to fear like the widow had with the unjust judge. God loves those who are His children. He wants us to come before Him. God will do so much for us if we will just take it to him.
He will. He will do it without reserve or begrudging. When we are in distress and pain with anything this world will throw at us, should we not take it before God always? Shouldn’t we be like this man who was kayaking.
While kayaking in southern England off the Isle of Wight, Mark Ashton-Smith, a 33-year-old lecturer at Cambridge University, capsized in treacherous waters. Clinging to his craft and reaching for his cell phone, Ashton-Smith’s first inclination was to call his father. It didn’t matter to the desperate son that his dad, Alan Pimm-Smith, was at work training British troops in Dubai 3,500 miles away. Without delay, the father relayed his son’s mayday to the Coast Guard installation nearest to his son’s location. Ironically, it was less than a mile away. Within 12 minutes, a helicopter retrieved the grateful Ashton-Smith. Like this kayaker, when we are in peril, our first impulse should be to call our Father—the one we trust to help us.
Not only should our first impulse be to call our father, it should be our complete impulse. Go before Him always with your needs and desires. He does not have to be worn down or beat down like the unjust Judge. He hears and wants us before Him always.
But to do this we must:
Be Faithful and Know He Will Answer (6-8)
When we are ever before Him we will realize there is a peace from this. We have this peace because as Christ says, Luke 18:7 “And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?” This is peace. God will do what is holy and righteous. Verse 8 says He will do so speedily. What we must deal with is that our speedy and God’s are different. This is the jest of this parable too. The unjust Judge waited and waited hoping the woman would quit, she did not. He finally relented and answered her and avenged her.
We see here that we are to remain faithful and trust God. It is all in the right time. We must never give up praying.
We should always pray as George Muller did. He was a man given to prayer. His ministry in England was ran by prayer alone. He took in and cared for thousands of orphans and never asked for money from no one. He prayed for it and cared for the children. In his time he ran through several million dollars for the orphanage and every penny was unsolicited, he received this through prayer alone. That is powerful but even as powerful as that is let me share about his persistence in prayer.
He had five friends who were unbelievers. He committed to pray for them all. He prayed for them for fifty years and only quit because he had died. In that fifty years one man became a believer in five years, then two of them did after ten years, the next man did after twenty-five years, the last man was still an unbeliever when Muller died but within two years after his death that man came to faith. This is faithful and committed prayer that Muller knew God would answer.
Muller kept after it. He never quit praying for those men and because of his faithful prayers, those men believed and were saved.
How often do we start to pray for something and quit in a week?
Maybe you persevere for two weeks, maybe three, or maybe you are an ultimate prayer warrior and you pray for six months for something. Muller prayed for fifty-two years for these men and most of that time he saw no fruit in that prayer.
Most all of us give up rather quickly in our prayer lives. We want results quickly. We are much like this woman:
A woman lived in a small house built at the foot of a tall mountain. The mountain obstructed her view and made the inside of the house dark. She had read Jesus’ promise about faith moving mountains. Taking it literally, one night she prayed that the Lord would remove the mountain. The next morning the mountain was still there. “Humph!” she replied. “Just as I expected!”
I’m not saying that her prayer was correct but she did not see results the next morning and was mad and disgusted.
That is what this parable is telling us. Prayer is work it takes time. We should 1 Thess. 5:17 “pray without ceasing,”. there should not be a time we are not praying for change, strength, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
We should not stop praying for those in leadership. We should pray for our enemies and those who persecute us as Christ said in Matt. 5:44 “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,”
Prayer is extremely important. It is something that we should never quit doing. Persistence pays Off. It is good to always be in communication with the Lord. He will answer and avenge anything that needs avenged, but it will be when it is the right time. We may think we know the right time, but God does know it. We need to be in constant communication and never give up.
Conclusion
I want to conclude this message on persisting prayer with the lyrics of What a Friend We Have In Jesus.
What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer! O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer. Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care? Precious Savior, still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer. Do your friends despise, forsake you? Take it to the Lord in prayer! In His arms He’ll take and shield you; you will find a solace there. Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised Thou wilt all our burdens bear May we ever, Lord, be bringing all to Thee in earnest prayer. Soon in glory bright unclouded there will be no need for prayer Rapture, praise and endless worship will be our sweet portion there.
If you need prayer this morning please come up. If you have been struggling with prayer, please persist and take it to the Lord. He will answer and He will carry you through.
