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Daily Encounter: A Week-day Devotional by a staff of ACTS International. |
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Always Pray and Never Give Up
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 do not fear God or care about people, but this woman is
driving me crazy. I am going to see that she gets justice, because she is
wearing me out with her constant requests!” Then the Lord said, “Learn a
lesson from this 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 find
on the earth who have faith?”1 We like things to be uncomplicated:
follow a few steps and reach the desired result. However, prayer cannot be
reduced to a simple formula. Prayer is ongoing communication with the Heavenly
Father that involves listening, speaking, and acting on what we hear from Him. God has promised to answer our
prayers, but He often waits before answering. He does so for several reasons: Preparation. Sometimes God has to
prepare us for what He wants to give us. We may have attitudes or behaviors
that are not aligned with His will (James 4:3). Spiritual growth. The Lord can make us
wait to test our faith or deepen our relationship with Him. Time. God's calendar often does not match ours. He knows what He wants to accomplish in and through us. God includes delays as part of our
prayer life. In certain situations we, like the persevering widow in Luke 18,
have to persist before the Lord gives us His answer. Jesus tells us to "ask, seek, and
call", a way of life that demonstrates confidence in God’s promise to
respond to His children. Suggested Prayer: Heavenly Father,
what a privilege it is to know that I can ask you, seek you, and call you. I know
that you listen to me carefully and with unconditional love. Thank you that I
can approach the throne of grace with confidence to obtain mercy and find
grace. Thank You for Your faithfulness and because I can talk to You all day
long and You are always available. Thank you for so much love. In the name of Jesus I pray,
Amen. 1. Luke 18:1-8 (NLT). Today's Encounter
was written by: Rosina N. |
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