We finished the 28 days of prayer. Will you keep praying?

Jesus told an interesting parable in our Bible passage for today. A widow is seeking justice, but an unjust judge won’t give it. But she is persistent, constantly going to the judge over and over again until the judge finally relents.

This parable can be challenging for us, because Jesus seems to be putting God in the role of being an unjust judge. In a sense He is, but His point isn’t that God is unjust. Luke, or more precisely, the Luke inspired by the Holy Spirit, seems to understand that people will struggle with this, so he tells us Jesus’ point up front.

“And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.”

And, just in case we still aren’t sure, Jesus tells us plainly after the parable,

“And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily.”

No, God is not unjust.

Parables usually have one primary message. This one is that we should be persistent in our prayers and not lose hope.

Prayer is an incredible gift from God. He invites us sinful creatures to come before the throne of Holy, almighty Creator to talk with Him, praise Him, present our requests to Him. In addition, prayer changes our heart.

Persistent prayer changes us even more.

I was talking to a pastor a few weeks ago and he told a story of a time several years ago when, during their service, they had a time of prayer and sang the song, “Breathe”. In the song has a chorus that says repeatedly,

“I’m desperate for You.”

This pastor said he looked out as his congregation and they weren’t desperate! After the song, the service ended, and they all casually walked out talking and joking with each other. The song was just a song and the words, just words.

Persistent prayer is our response to being desperate for God. We need Him. There’s nothing we can do ourselves. Maybe it’s a sickness, maybe finances, maybe the salvation of a loved one, maybe our sin has put us in a seemingly hopeless situation…we know we can’t fix the problem. Only God can fix it.

So, we pray.

Like the widow in the parable, we bang on God’s door day after day, hour after hour, desperately begging for God to act.

However, there is a difference between God and the judge in the parable. God is just. Jesus’ explanation after the parable changes the attitude of our desperate and persistent prayers. We pray repeated, desperately, and boldly to God BECAUSE we know He is just.

That’s a big difference. We can persistently pray not only for whatever it is that we need, but in trust pray that God’s will would be done. Maybe the just and loving answer God will give is, “No”, and He will give us peace and understanding about His answer.

Whatever the prayer, whatever God’s answer, let’s keep praying. Let’s daily and hourly bring our praise and our petitions to God in faith, trusting that He is good and just and we are in good hands. Keep praying and don’t lose heart.

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father,

You give us the wonderful gift of prayer. Keep us steadfast in our prayer. Help us to always pray no matter the situation. As we have need, Lord, help us to pray persistently without losing hope, always knowing that You are good and just and will answer our prayers as our good Heavenly Father.

Amen

As part of your devotion time, I encourage you to also pray for at least some of the following:

• Your family
• Your local church
• Your pastor
• Some of your fellow church members
• The people on your B.L.E.S.S. list
• Your country and her leaders
• Your community

After praying for these people, you may want to finish your devotion time with the Lord’s Prayer…

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. They will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever and every. Amen.