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.
All articles on this website are written by
Richard (Dick) Innes unless otherwise stated.