One Key to Having Hope is Being Faithful in Prayer
- Word Of Life
- 1 day ago
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One Key to Having Hope is Being Faithful in Prayer
The Parable of the Persistent Widow
-Luke 18
Don’t give up… Trust God
Question:
Which came first;
the hopeless situation,
or
the hopeless person?
Q: Have you ever given up on anything too soon?
Don’t ever give up on prayer.
The Parable of the Persistent Widow
“Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
[This is the point of the whole parable]
Don’t give up… Trust God
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!’” [“Strike under the eye”] [Greek = To beat me into submission like UFC fighter tapping out] 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 [Prayer] to him day and night? [Persistence] 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?”
[Believers that were persistent]
-Luke 18:1-8
Facts of the Parable
The judge is called UNJUST. (v.6)
Judges were supposed to:
*Recognize that they were accountable to God.
“Judge carefully, for with the LORD our God there is no injustice or partiality or bribery.”
- 2 Chronicles 19:6–7
[Deuteronomy 16:18–20 says to be fair and don’t take bribes.]
Judges are supposed to:
*Care about people.
2 “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought.
He was not moved by the woman’s vulnerable suffering.
Judges were not supposed to:
*Act out of self-interest.
“Because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!” [Greek = To beat me into submission like UFC fighter tapping out]
-Luke 18:5
(Right thing… Wrong reason)
Jesus makes His point “From the lesser to the greater”.
If even an unjust judge eventually responds to a helpless widow...
How much more will a loving and righteous God hear His children who cry out to Him day and night?
The woman had to overcome a judge who did not care, but we pray to a Father who already loves us and wants to bring help to us in His perfect timing.
This is why Jesus said “always pray and not give up”
(Luke 18:1)
Keep praying or start praying again for:
People who have been wronged
For people who are in pain (all different kinds of pain)
God never forgets you.
Do not wrongly interpret delay as abandonment.
God’s work often happens unseen.
Ie. Farmer plant seeds in the spring and see nothing for weeks, yet every morning walk the fields, check the ground, and continues caring for the crop because he trusts that what is happening beneath the surface will eventually appear.
Chip away at your problems through continual prayer.
Ie. Like digging tunnels through mountains one hammer-strike at a time.
“Pray without ceasing”
[At all times]
1 Thessalonians 5:17
Which came first;
the hopeless situation,
or
the hopeless person?
For me it is both
Fight hopelessness through prayer
“Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray
and not give up.”
Don’t give up… Trust God
He IS there… and he hears you.
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