The Power to PRAY (November 12, 2006) Luke 18:1-8
Luke 18:1-8 The Power to PRAY
Have you ever had a time when you really did not want to pray? Have you thought about praying and then said to yourself: "Why should I bother?"
Jesus answers your question. He says you ought to pray because you need to pray. Christians need to pray. Christians need to pray like humans need to breathe.
Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, (Luke 18:1 NKJV)
This expression does not mean that a man should be continually performing the act of prayer. It means that a man should constantly keep up the habit of prayer, and endeavour to be always in a prayerful frame of mind. The reason is obvious. Prayer moves the heart of God. As we will see, it has power.
The Prayer That Has Power
What is prayer? Has every prayer power with God? Let us endeavor to get some clear ideas on that point. Some people seem to regard prayer as the rehearsal of a set form of solemn words, learned largely from the Bible or a liturgy, and when uttered they are only from the throat outward. Genuine prayer is a believing soul’s direct conversation with God. Phillips Brooks has condensed it into four words—a “true wish sent God-ward.” By it adoration, thanksgiving, confession of sin, and petition for mercies and gifts ascend to the throne, and by means of it infinite blessings are brought down from heaven. The pull of our prayer may not move the everlasting throne, but—like the pull on a line from the bow of a boat—it may draw us into closer fellowship with God and fuller harmony with His wise and holy will.
—Cuyler
Let me share with you in these verses first the parts of consistent prayer, and then four ways to see your prayer life grow.
HOW TO PRAY AND GET AN ANSWER
Persistent
For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.'"
(Luke 18:4-5 ESV)
The Prayer Chain
In 1722 Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, troubled by the suffering of Christian exiles from Bohemia and Moravia, allowed them to establish a community on his estate in Germany. The center became known as Herrnhut, meaning “Under the Lord’s Watch.” It grew quickly, and so did its appreciation for the power of prayer.
On August 27, 1727 24 men and 24 women covenanted to spend an hour each day in scheduled prayer, praying in sequence around the clock. Soon others joined the prayer chain. Days passed, then months. Unceasing prayer rose to God 24 hours a day as someone—at least one—was engaged in intercessory prayer each hour of every day. The intercessors met weekly for encouragement and to read letters and messages from their brothers in different places. A decade passed, the prayer chain continuing nonstop. Then another decade. It was a prayer meeting that lasted over 100 years.
Undoubtedly this prayer chain helped birth Protestant missions. Zinzendorf, 27, suggested the possibility of attempting to reach others for Christ in the West Indies, Greenland, Turkey, and Lapland. Twenty-six Moravians stepped forward. The first missionaries, Leonard Dober and David Nitschmann, were commissioned during an unforgettable service on August 18, 1732, during which 100 hymns were sung. During the first two years, 22 missionaries perished and two more were imprisoned, but others took their places. In all 70 Moravian missionaries flowed from the 600 inhabitants of Herrnhut, a feat unparalleled in missionary history.
By the time William Carey became the “Father of Modern Missions” over 300 Moravian missionaries had already gone to the ends of the earth. And that’s not all. The Moravian fervor sparked the conversions of John and Charles Wesley and indirectly ignited the Great Awakening that swept through Europe and America.
The prayer meeting lasted 100 years. The results will last for eternity.
Morgan, Robert J., On This Day, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 2000, c1997.
Relational
Even he rendered a just decision in the end, so don't you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who plead with him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? (Luke 18:7 NLT)
God has given us the privelege of being His children. He has chosen us as His children. One of the priveleges of being a child is that you can come to your Father for help when you need it. The same is true with our Heavenly Father. God does not answer the needs of a Buddhist, a Muslim, or an Athiest. He answers the prayers and needs of His own children.
Think of it this way: Would a father continue to ignore the needs of his children when they come to him all the time needing something? Of course not. No father would ignore his own child. Good fathers listen and help their children. That is what fathers do. Prayer is not a set of words that we say to God just so that we have satisfied a certain religious ritual. God has designed us to be in relationship with Him. He wants us to come to us when we have a need.
Authentic
And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? (Luke 18:7 NIV)
The way in which the widow was making her pleas to the judge is the same way that we should make our pleas to God. It needs to be authentic. Authentic prayer means with emotion. Sometimes when we have a need, we have to do more than just say a few words. We feel like we need to cry out to God - even scream to Him. This reminds me of the Christians in the book of Revelation:
When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed. (Revelation 6:9-11 NKJV)
Yielding
I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8 NKJV)
Jesus gives this instruction because the Pharisees had asked Him
FOUR STEPS TO DEVELOP YOUR PRAYER LIFE
We can learn a lesson from the widow in this story. She gives us four steps to develop our prayer life:
1. Responsive
Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, "Get justice for me from my adversary.' (Luke 18:3 NKJV)
Widow saw a need and took the need to where she could get help. When you have a need, you should immediately go to God with that need. Don't try to go somewhere else for help. Go to God first.
2. Regular
Widows have to go somewhere to get justice. Widows need help on a regular basis. Widows by their very nature are unable to be independant. The same is true for Christians. We need help. We need to ask for help from God on a regular basis. There are going to be problems in our lives and we need to ask God to help us.
3. Repeated
yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me."' (Luke 18:5 NKJV)
She kept going to the judge until she got an answer. You and I need to keep going to God until we get an answer. Sometimes we ask and keeping asking, but we don't notice that God is working. So we quit asking. We quit going to God.
4. Rewarded
And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? (Luke 18:7 NKJV)
The widow got what she asked for. Christians will get answers their their needs. Persistent prayer gets results. When you keep praying, God answers.
Notice the difference between the judge and God:
JUDGE GOD
Unjust Just
Godless Godly
Cares about no one Cares about every one of His children
Puts the widow off Puts no one of His Children off. He answers quickly
Hates the people Loves the people
The widow could go to an unjust judge and by pestering Him to death, get answer. Jesus says that even if a widow could do that, you and I have a better chance of getting answer when we come to God.
Because there are fewer obstacles. Look at all the obstacles that the widow could have seen. Look at how the judge is. The widow could have said: He is unjust, he is godless, he doesn't care about me, and he is going to put me off. He hates me and so I shouldn't ask. Now look at God. There is no obstacle to come to God in prayer. God even wants us to come to Him. We have to come to Him in faith. The Bible teaches that when we come to Him in faith, He rewards us.
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6 NKJV)
Don't Give Up
The famous 19th century philanthropist and evangelist, George Müller, was a prayer warrior who began praying earnestly for a group of five personal friends who were antagonistic toward the gospel. After five years, one of the men came to Christ.
Muller continued praying for the other four, and in ten years, two more were saved. He prayed on for twenty-five years, and the fourth man was converted. For the rest of his life, Muller continued praying for the remaining man, but when he died in 1898, the man was still unsaved. He had prayed for him for fifty-two years.
A few months after Muller’s death, the fifth man also found Jesus Christ as his Savior.
D. L. Moody once wrote, Though we may not live to see the answer to our prayers, if we cry mightily to God, the answer will come.
Morgan, Robert J., Real Stories for the Soul, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers) c2000.
Jesus has told a parable of persistence, of a widow -- weak in the world's estimation -- who has won a victory because she didn't give up hope, she doesn't give up her plea, and finally wins the day. But what about you and me. We sometimes become so worn down and discouraged by our lives that we stop praying, stop hoping, stop expecting God to intervene. Will we be religious, church-going unbelievers who have given up expecting an answer, whose prayers are just going through the motions? Jesus wonders. "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" (18:8b)
My dear friend, Jesus told this story to us disciples so that we might be encouraged. None of you is weaker than the widow. None of you is facing longer odds than she. But because of her persistence and faith even the unjust judge gave her what was hers by right.
How much more you can expect God to intervene on your behalf! How much more will God bring justice to you, since you are his beloved, chosen child! Yes, we become discouraged. Paul did (2 Corinthians 1:8; 4:8-12). But we must not quit, not give up praying.
(Taken from http://www.jesuswalk.com/lessons/18_1-8.htm)
God is just and He answers the prayers of His people. When I continue to pray, I get results.
QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY AND DISCUSSION:
- Describe the judge in this parable. What do we know about his motivations? (18:2, 4-5)
- Describe the widow. What makes her tick? Why do you think she is so persistent? (18:3)
- What is the stated purpose why Jesus told this parable? (18:1)
- What kinds of things can happen that cause us to lose hope, and lose any heart to pray consistent and believing prayers? How can we get out of these "pits"?
- He can we believe in swift justice from God when he hasn't brought it yet?
- Do YOU think Jesus will find faith on the earth when he returns? Why or why not?
- What is this parable saying to you personally? What disciple-lesson are you taking away from this?
