Luke 18:1-8 Persevering in Prayer

Patton Shinall

The Meaning of the Parables • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

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Christians must persevere in faith through continual prayer.

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Does God actually answer our prayers? Or let me ask it another way. Is prayer an essential part of your Christian faith, or is it just something that we do when we don’t really know what else to do?

I mean, I know because we are Christians we are theologically required to say yes, of course God hears our prayers and answer us, but functionally, I fear that many Christians treat prayer no different than the World.

You see the world has no concept of God as Father. They don’t have a concept of a relationship with a God who loves them and cares for them. For them, prayer is little more than hopeful feelings. Just like the world, the way we pray says that we hope God hears us, but we don’t have any real expectation that he cares enough to do something about it.

And because of this, prayer becomes an afterthought of our faith and relegated to the sidelines of the Christian life.

Even a common cultural saying is “on a wish and a prayer” to describe things we hope will happen but we know are a long shot.

However, throughout Jesus’ ministry, he consistently showed us that prayer was essential for his life.

As we continue our series through the parables, Jesus tells a story in to show us just how prayer is not just a part of the Christian’s life, but is actually essential for our Christian life because it is through prayerful dependence on God that we will be able to endure in the faith until Christ returns.

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’ ” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? zWill he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’ ” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

The Coming Judgment

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

Why was Jesus concerned that his disciples would “lose heart?” To understand this we need to look immediately before our passage where Jesus was teaching his disciples about his coming kingdom.

Here is what you need to understand about Jesus. He is going to return one day to crush his enemies, redeem his people, and reign forever on the earth. We do not serve a God who is absent, far off, or unconcerned with the brokenness of our world.

Jesus died to free all of creation from the power of sin so that our world that is so broken with war, famine, sickness, and death could be redeemed, or made new. God is working to renew the heavens and the earth and one day when Jesus returns the Bible tells us that Jesus will make all things new ().

Now Christians look forward to Christ’s return with hopeful expectation. However, Jesus told us that for the world, those that are his enemies, his return will be a day of terrible judgement where every single person will have to give an account of their life to the One True God.

In 26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, 29 but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— 30 so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. 32 Remember Lot’s wife. 33 Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.

26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, 29 but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— 30 so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. 32 Remember Lot’s wife. 33 Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.

To teach his disciples about the severity of his sudden and unexpected judgement, Jesus reminds them of two clear events where God poured out his judgement on the earth as a picture of the final judgement that will come upon sinners when Christ returns.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

First he mentions Noah and the Flood. 26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

Tells us that God looked down from heaven and “saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Noah lived in a day where every person rejected God and his kingdom instead choosing their sin over worshiping him. But the Bible says that Noah was given grace. God saved Noah and comes to him and tells him to build a boat, load it up with animals, because he is going to destroy every sinner from the face of the earth.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

So Noah obeys God and builds a boat and all the while the people of the earth “were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage.” For the world, it was life as normal. they weren’t concerned about God or his coming judgement. They continued to live for themselves until Jesus says, “the flood came and destroyed them all.”

Then Jesus talks about Lot. 28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, 29 but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all—

Now Lot was Abraham’s nephew and lived in a city called Sodom. Sodom was a wicked city full of debauchery. God tells Abraham that he is going to destroy Sodom and Abraham makes a deal with God that if there were 10 righteous people God would not destroy the city.

So God sends two angels and they meet Lot, and he brings him back to his house where an event transpires that gives us a picture of how wicked this city truly was. The men of Sodom come to Lot’s house, surround it and demand that Lot throw the two angels out so that they could rape them.

If this story could get any more grotesque, this wasn’t a small segment of the population. The Bible tells us that it was every man in the city both young and old.

Because of their great wickedness God determined to destroy Sodom in judgment, and just like in the days of Noah, Jesus said that they “were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.” Again, it was life as normal with people living for themselves instead of worshiping God. And again, Jesus said that God rained down fire and sulfur from heaven and destroyed them all.

And Jesus says that just like in the days of Noah and Lot when God’s judgment came suddenly and severely on unrepentant sinners, 30 so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

When Jesus came to earth the first time it was to bring salvation through his sinless life, his death on a cross and his resurrection from the grave. When he returns it will be to execute judgment on all those that refuse to repent of their sin and idolatrous lives where they only live for themselves and put their faith in him.

And because of this coming judgment, Jesus warns his disciples by saying, 31 On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. 32 Remember Lot’s wife. 33 Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.

So what is Jesus trying to say here? He’s trying to urge his disciples to not live for themselves, but instead to live for Jesus’ Kingdom.

In other words, to live lives that are transformed by the gospel to no longer live for our sin or idolatry, in other words living for this world, but to live a life that glorifies God.

What Jesus is saying is, “Don’t be so attached to your life in this world that you miss out on your life in my kingdom. Don’t worry about all the goods you have in your house and don’t look back longingly on your former, sinful life, but remember Lot’s wife.

Now In Genesis as Lot and his family are fleeing the destruction of Sodom, and Lot’s wife, literally looks back to Sodom because she loved her life there among those wicked people. And when she turned back, she became a pillar of salt.

Instead, we must remember Jesus’ promise that 33 Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.

In other words, to follow Jesus is to die to ourselves and our will and our desires which are sinful. It is to acknowledge the fact God is king of our life and our whole life is to be given to him in worship.

We literally are called to lose our life, to stop living for ourselves and our sin, and instead live for God and his glory through faith in Christ and in so doing, we will escape the coming Judgment when Jesus brings his Kingdom to fulfillment.

And instead of entering into judgment all those that put their faith in Jesus will enter into eternal life.

And this is why Jesus goes to And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.

It is peculiar that Jesus talking about the return of his kingdom would potentially lead his own disciples to “lose heart.” Isn’t this our great hope as a people, that Jesus will come back for us?

But Jesus was telling his disciples that he would be delayed in his coming. They are going to have to persevere. To remain faithful to him until he returns.

Living in a fallen world is hard

Christians, by the regeneration of the Holy Spirit have had their eyes opened to the wickedness of sin. They no longer enjoy what the world revels in. In fact, because of God’s work in our hearts its quite the opposite. Living amongst sinful, fallen people can be very difficult because we know that God is coming to judge those very things.

Speaking about Lot, Peter said that he was greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard);

greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard);

On top of this he is telling them up front that unless they die to themselves and live for him, they will not enter his kingdom.

The church has been waiting for 2,000 years for Christ to return all in the hope that the sinfulness of this world would be removed so that we may live in eternal life in heaven.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

But, Jesus is delayed in his coming. Now Peter tells us that he is not slow in his coming but is rather patient so that more people might be saved, but the point is that as we live in this fallen world knowing that God’s kingdom is so much better, we can be tempted to lose heart just coast through life thinking “What’s the point? What’s the point of sharing the gospel or living faithfully to the Lord. It doesn’t seem to matter. All the evil and sin in the world doesn’t seem to make a difference. In fact, non Christians seem to be happier than I am, and now I’m more hated than ever before for simply saying I love Jesus. Maybe Jesus isn’t going to return. Maybe none of this really matters. Maybe I’ll just give up.”

Am I going to make it?

We can look at the coming judgment and understand just how severe and terrifying it is going to be and begin to doubt our own salvation. To doubt whether we are strong enough to endure to the end. We can begin to lose heart because we can become fearful thinking, “Am I actually saved?”

“I mean if Jesus himself said that whoever tries to save his life will lose it, am I really living for him and his kingdom or am I just living for myself with a little bit of Jesus on the side?

How will I endure until Jesus Returns? How will I remain faithful until he returns.

How

Every single one of us believes that we will follow Jesus no matter what, but if we were truly honest with ourselves, wouldn’t we have to admit that there are some things that make us pause and wonder, would I still follow Jesus if that were to happen?

Wife or child getting cancer and 2 months to live

Losing your job and being unable to find work and being evicted from your house

or becoming like Job and losing everything you hold dear in your life would God still be enough?

Wouldn’t any one of those examples make all of us at least wonder, “Would I really make it until Christ returns? Do I really have the faith to endure?”

How can I make sure I’m going to escape the judgment and live faithfully to Jesus until he returns?

And Jesus, in such loving and wise kindness tells his disciples a parable to encourage them though they may be faint of heart when faced with his coming kingdom. And he tells this parable to show us that the way we persevere in the faith until Christ returns is by continually praying in faith.

And Jesus, in such loving and wise kindness tells his disciples a parable to encourage them though they may be faint of heart when faced with his coming kingdom and faced with the thought of enduring faithfully until the end. And he tells this parable to show us that the way we persevere in the faith until Christ returns is by continually praying in faith. 15

A Story About Persistence

2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’ ”

The Judge

Jesus starts by describing a Judge who neither feared God nor respected man.

This was a man who was completely godless in every sense of the word. He had completely rejected the Great Commandment to love God with all his heart, mind, soul and strength and to love his neighbor as himself.

Because he didn’t care about God or other people, how much do you think he cared about justice? So what Jesus is describing here is a judge who has no concept of justice whatsoever.

The Widow

Then Jesus describes a widow who kept coming to this unjust judge asking for justice. Day after day she would come to this judge saying, “Give me justice against my adversary.”

Now to understand what Jesus is trying to say, you need to understand the plight widows faced in his culture.

Widows were some of the most vulnerable people in the world. Everything in culture was dominated by men so if a woman’s husband died there wasn’t some kind of ancient Israel life insurance policy that kicked in. She would become dependent on others around her. Hopefully she would have a son or a son-in-law that could take her in and provide for her, but if she had neither of these, she would be dependent upon extended family to care for her.

Otherwise she would end up homeless and destitute.

And Jesus’ story shows us that our widow is in a particularly vulnerable state because she herself is the one coming to the judge.

In that day, just like every other aspect of society, the courts were dominated by men. The testimonies of women weren’t even accepted in the court of law.

The fact that the widow herself is the one continually coming to the judge shows us that she literally has no one else to represent her or to fight for her vindication against her adversary.

Her only hope is this judge who we have seen cares nothing for actual justice.

Justice Withheld, Justice Given

4 For a while he refused,

And this fact is confirmed because Jesus says, “For a while he refused.”

Now if there was ever any doubt that this judge cared nothing for justice, his refusal to help this widow proves it.

says 22 You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. 23 If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, 24 and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.

This was written in the Law of God. Being a judge, this man should have known what the law said and done something for this widow simply out of mercy for her.

22 You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. 23 If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, 24 and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

However, it is not his concern for mercy or justice that finally leads him to act, but rather his own self interest.

but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’ ”

In the Greek, the Judge is basically saying to himself, “If I don’t do something for this women, she will keep coming to me forever. I’ll never have peace again. I will give her justice because otherwise she is going to beat me down.

Now when he said beat me down, this is s boxing term to describe a full blow right to the face. So what the Judge is basically saying is that this widow was daily knocking this judge out by her persistence.

It didn’t matter how many times this judge said no, this widow was going to get her justice and even this seemingly impervious and uncaring judge was not able to withstand her persistence.

Jesus uses this simple story to tell us why we should pray in faith and not lose heart.

When We Pray In Faith God Hears Us

6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily.

6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? zWill he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily.

So after telling this story of this cruel Judge finally giving in because of the widow’s persistence, Jesus tells us the point

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Jesus uses this wicked and evil Judge to describe a very important aspect of God’s character. He basically says that if this evil Judge eventually hears and helps the widow, how much more will God hear and help his elect?

Jesus even takes it a step further by asking, “Will he delay long over them?” And he answers by saying that God will not delay in helping his elect, but give them justice speedily.

Now what does Jesus mean by saying that God will give justice to his elect speedily?

Remember that the Widow in Jesus’ parable represents God’s people or Christians. She was asking the Judge who represents God, justice against her adversary. And the context of this parable is in the middle of Jesus teaching on his second coming where he encourages his disciples to not live for themselves but to live for his Kingdom.

What the widow was asking for in begging for justice was rescue from her adversary. to ultimately save her.

In the same way, Jesus is instructing his followers to continually pray for rescue until Jesus returns.

For rescue against persecution

For rescue against sin and temptation

Given the context of Christ’s coming judgement, I think the two adversaries Jesus has in mind comes in the way of the two temptations Christians

For rescue against weak and faithless hearts

I believe given the context of Christ’s coming judgment, the adversary Jesus has in mind is the temptation for you and I to seek to preserve our own life by living for ourselves rather than God’s kingdom.

Ultimately A rescue from failing to enter the Kingdom of God by being ensnared by the cares of our lives instead of living for the glory of Christ.

Jesus says we are rescued and persevere until he returns through continual, dependent prayer

Later in Luke, Jesus instructs his disciples 34 “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. 35 For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Given the context of the parable, it is clear that the prayer Jesus is wanting his disciples to continually pray is “Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

To pray to God and say we want your will for our lives. To live for you and not for ourselves. To be praying for the purposes of God’s kingdom, to live for God’s kingdom

As the disciples wait on the Lord to return, he wants them to remember his coming kingdom and not lose heart and give up too soon. Keep enduring in faith.

This is why Jesus closes this teaching saying

Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

What Jesus is asking is that when he returns, will he find a people that are faithful to him and his kingdom or will everyone as in the days of Noah and the city of Sodom be living only for their own little kingdoms rather than God’s.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

To answer Jesus’ question should lead us all to self reflection. Do we daily, continually pray to God depending on him to empower us to live a life that glorifies him until he returns? Or are we too busy being enthralled with our own life that we relegate him to the fringes of our lives?

Ultimately, if Jesus were to return today, would he find us faithful, depending upon him in faith or would we be caught by surprise just like those who have not repented and are ill-prepared for the Final Judgment.

Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

And those that are saved can pray and not lose heart with great hope because Jesus promises to find faith when he returns. We will be able to persevere by his grace until the end because Jesus said...

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

Ultimately Jesus will find faith on the earth when he returns because he is faithful to his people. When his people pray to him and depend upon him to live a life of faith, he is faithful to answer them.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

So the big idea of this parable that Jesus wants us to see is that no matter how you are tempted to lose heart, how you are tempted to give up following him or tempted to live for yourself instead of his kingdom with your whole life, the answer is to continually pray, depending on the Lord in faith for your salvation.

however you are tempted to lose heart, the answer is to pray.

Application

So if that is Jesus’ main point, how can you and I live this out? How can you and I persevere in prayer because we, just like his disciples, are living in this broken world as we patiently wait for Christ’s return

In other words, how do we pray so that we persevere in faith and not lose heart?

I think there are three principles of prayer that can help you see how pray is absolutely essential for you Christian walk and faith

1. Pray Biblically

4 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

One of the reasons people often struggle to feel as if God actually hears their prayers is because many of their prayers go unanswered because they are not praying for the purposes of God and his kingdom.

James tells us that the reason we ask and do not receive is because we are asking God to give us our idols. We don’t really pray asking God to work his kingdom and his gospel into every area of our life. We pray asking God to make us happy when we should be praying for God to make us holy.

If you ever look at the prayers of the Bible you will see that they are God-centered, not self-centered.

They are full of praise and thanks to God and asking him to fulfill his plans to save the world.

Does this mean we shouldn’t ever pray to God about our circumstances or the things that trouble us in our life? Of course we can pray for those things. After all, Peter said 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

What I’m simply trying to say is that if our prayers are more concerned with our purposes for our lives instead of God’s who is it we are actually living for?

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Consider the Lord’s Prayer:

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

10 Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

This whole prayer is filled with God’s purposes for us. God be worshiped. God let your will be done. God let your kingdom come to earth. God forgive us and help us to forgive others and keep us from sin so that we can glorify you.

11 Give us this day our daily bread,

12 and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation,

5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

but deliver us from evil.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

James tells us that God yearns jealously for our whole hearted worship of him and that if we submit ourselves to him he promises to give grace, draw near to us, and accomplish his purposes of salvation in our lives.

An Examples

9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;

I will read this passage and pray, “God, will you fill be with the knowledge of your will in spiritual wisdom and understanding?” In other words to help me not only know what his will is for my life but how to go about living in it.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

“Will you help me live a life that glorifies you and bears fruit and will you help me do all that you have asked me to in your power.”

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

I’ll come to a passage like this and pray, “Will you strengthen me to understand just how much you love us? God I want to be filled with the fullness of God like your Word says. I want my whole life to be lived for the glory of Christ and the only way that can happen is if I am given the grace to comprehend just how much you loved me in the gospel.

Give me the faith that you are able to do far more abundantly than what I ask or even think. God let me whole life be for your glory.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

When you start praying prayers like that, God will answer because he gave them to us in the first place. Praying like this creates a heart that longs for God’s purposes more than our own.

2. Pray Continually

pray without ceasing,

Even in our parable Jesus said that we ought to “always pray.”

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing,

So what does pray without ceasing actually mean. Is Paul trying to tell us that once we become a Christian we can only ever pray or else we are just a sell out? What about when we sleep or go to work? How do we pray without ceasing?

The idea here is continual prayer, not continuous prayer. What I mean is that we should be continually praying to the Lord at all times. That we pray to him at every opportunity given to us.

“The righteous shall live by faith.”

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

I think when most people think about the statement, “The righteous shall live by faith” they assume it means that those that are saved are saved through faith in the gospel which is 100% true, but I think it falls short of explaining exactly what Paul is saying.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

What exactly does it mean that the righteous shall live by faith?

Faith itself is a living out what you believe. It is a complete, wholistic dependance on God to live a life that glorifies him.

When Paul says that the righteous shall live by faith he is saying that the Christian will look to God in every area of their life and say “God I need you!”

Prayer then, is an expression of this faith. It is the tangible, practical way we express our faith saying, “God, I can’t do this on my own. I need you to help me fight this sin or fulfill this calling. Will you please help me.”

Saying the righteous shall live by faith means that those that are saved will live in a continual dependence upon God.

So to pray unceasingly is to pray to God whenever and wherever we need it. Its praying to him anytime temptation hits us. Anytime we are losing patience with our spouse or children. Anytime we feel anger or bitterness welling up inside our heart.

Prayer does not require that we sit and read the Bible for 15 minutes right before or go so long without sinning or devoting a minimum of 30 minutes for God to hear us. We should simply pray to God whenever and wherever we need to. Any time we feel like the circumstances of life are too big for us to handle.

It is depending on God in faith to empower us by the Spirit to live a life that is radically and totally changed by the gospel. the righteous shall live by faith.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

3. Pray Hopefully

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer.

One of the greatest struggles for every Christian is to feel as if our prayers never reach any higher than the ceiling. That God is indifferent or uncaring to the things in life that trouble our hearts.

12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

How many of us do not persist in prayer like the widow in Jesus’ parable because at the end of the day we don’t feel like our prayers actually make any difference?

But what the Bible tells us in this verse is that God is attentive to to righteous. That he hears our prayer.

Now don’t miss this. The reason you are righteous is not because of what you have done but because of what Christ did for you in the gospel.

When Jesus lived the sinless life you could not live, died the death you deserved to die under God’s wrath and rose again from death to give you new birth through faith, God declared you to be righteous.

The reason God hears your prayers is because of Christ. This is where our confidence comes from.

So even our prayers are gospel centered because the gospel is the very foundation for why God hears our prayers at all!

I think we fall into two temptations when it comes to how we think about prayer and its role in our life.

God Only Hears Me If I Am Good Enough

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Listen, Jesus knows your weakness. He knows you can never be good enough because if you could be good enough for God to hear you and love you, he wouldn’t have had to come and die.

But Jesus did come and he lived a sinless life for us. When God looks at you in Christ he sees your life as his perfect sinless life. There is no condemnation for you.

Because of that fact, we are able to approach God’s throne with confidence in our prayers and we can be assure that God will hear us and give grace to us when we need it.

Practically what this means is that you don’t have to clean yourself up before you come to him in repentance. You don’t have to be stronger than that temptation in your own power. God knows your weakness, come to him for help. Rely on him in prayer.

God Is A Code We Have to Crack

“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Our temptation can be to treat God as an enigma or use prayer like witchcraft where we have to say just the right words just the right way or God won’t hear us.

Hear what Jesus said. God knows what you need. You don’t have to trick God to hear and answer your prayers. God does not hear you for your many words. He hears you because through Christ He his your father who loves you. Pray to him.

God does not listen to your prayers on the basis of how well you pray but God listens to your prayers on the basis of Jesus Christ.

Both of these views of prayer completely reject the truth of the gospel that we are accepted by God because of what Christ did for us, not what we do for God. We can pray in the hope of the gospel.

And even if we don’t know what to pray,

Even if we don’t know what to pray

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Conclusion

The main point of Jesus’ parable is that if we are going to make it, if we are going to endure faithfully until he returns we must be like the persistent widow, constantly relying on God’s grace to help us live for him and his kingdom.

And unlike the widow in Jesus’ story, we do not pray to a Judge who takes not interest in us, but we pray to our Father who loves us in Christ.

Therefore, if we are going to pray and not lose heart but remain faithful to Jesus we must:

Pray Biblically

Pray Continually

and Pray Hopefully in the gospel.

Let’s pray

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