By David Heath
Pastor
Mayo Mountain Church
Luke 18:1-8
- One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.
- ” There was a judge in a certain city.” He said ,”Who neither feared God nor cared about people.
- A widow of that city came to him repeatedly saying “give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’
- The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself ,”I don’t fear God or care about people,
- But this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice because she is wearing me out with her constant request!”
- Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from the unjust judge.
- Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?
- I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly ! But when the Son of Man returns , how many will he will find on the earth who have faith ?” (NLT)
I want to draw your attention to the first verse. Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. This tells me that prayer is one of the most important things that a Christian can do.
When we pray in earnest and in faith, God answers those prayers,
And we are to pray often and never give up on our prayers.
I have seen instances where Christians have prayed for years before the prayer is answered.
Daniel was a man of prayer. He prayed three times a day, he prayed in his room, he prayed in the lions’ den, he prayed for wisdom, he prayed for guidance. Not only did he pray, but he expected God to hear those prayers and to answer his prayers.
I think sometimes we pray but don’t expect anything to happen. Sometimes we pray as a last resort. But we have to understand that every time we pray, we release God’s power into our lives.
You cannot pray and remain the same. we cannot pray about our homes and our lives and stay the same. Prayer moves us closer to God. It effects everything in our lives. Prayer with faith has great power in our lives. James 5:16.
I am reminded of a story that Paul Harvey told about a three-year-old little boy, who went to the grocery store with his mother. Before they enter the grocery store she said to him, “Now you’re not going to get any chocolate chip cookies, so don’t even ask!”
She put him in the cart and he sat in the little child’s seat while she wheeled down the aisles. He was doing fine until they came to the cookie section. He saw the chocolate chip cookies, he stood up in his seat and said, “Mom can I have some chocolate chip cookies?”
She said, “I told you not to even ask, you’re not going to get any at all,” so he sat back down.
They continued down the aisles, but in their search for certain items they ended up back at the cookie aisle. “Mom can I please have some chocolate chip cookies?” She said, “I told you that you cannot have any. Now sit down and be quiet.”
Finally, they were approaching the checkout lane. The little boy sensed that this may be the last chance. So just before they got into the line he stood up and shouted in his loudest voice, “In the name of Jesus may I have some chocolate chip cookies?”
And everybody round about just laughed, some even applauded. And due to the generosity of other shoppers, the little boy and his mother left with 23 boxes of chocolate chip cookies.
I know that made his mother happy!
Jesus is giving this parable to teach us to be persistent in our prayers, to have the faith that they will be answered. Paul tells us in Colossians 4:2: “Devote yourself to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.(NLT).”
We have to condition our lives to prayer, we cannot get distracted by anything that would hinder our prayer life, that is why He said ,”we have to have an alert mind,” Paul said in Philippians 4:6-7
Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything . Tell God what you need,
And thank Him for what He has done.
- Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Paul is telling us that when we pray we will experience God’s peace and understanding in our lives, it can’t get any better than that!
Amen.
