Persistence In Prayer and Our Personal Spiritual Growth and Development
© Lee Wise All rights reserved
We entertain thoughts like these on a regular basis:
“I wonder what he’s getting at?”
“If she is going where I think she’s going, I…”
“So what’s the point of all this?”
“I wonder if they even know what they’re saying!”
When it comes to the art of communication, understanding
becomes crucial: especially when the stakes are high.
During high stake times “mind games” become irritating
instead of enjoyable, and we aren’t interested in visiting
our psychology 101 notes in order to discover what is
“really” being said.
We just want “to know.”
That’s why I often appreciate a down to earth, straight
forward comment of this nature:
“Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they
should always pray and not give up.” (Luke 18:1)**
The statement is, in one sense, refreshing.
Years of study don’t need to be spent discerning the correct
meaning and biblical application of those eighteen words!
Clear? Yes.
Simple? No doubt.
But easy to apply?
Hardly.
LET’S TALK ABOUT THE PARABLE
The parable goes something like this…
A judge who doesn’t give a rip about God or anyone else
hears — on a *very* regular basis — the cry of a widow who
pleads for a just ruling in her favor.
Time and again she approaches the bench.
Time after time she asks for mercy.
Can’t you hear him?
“I tell ya, this gal is driving me nuts. Doesn’t she ever
give up?
You think she’d get the picture: I don’t care!”
However, the man finally crumbles beneath the weight of her
constant appeals: “I will see that she gets justice, so that
she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming.”
(Luke 18:5)
Then Jesus delivers the PostScript. He says:
“Listen to what the unjust judge says. 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?
I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.
However, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on
earth?” (Luke18:6-9)
CLEAR AND SIMPLE, BUT PERSONALLY CONVICTING
As I mulled over the purpose of the parable, I recorded a
few summary concepts which I now hand off to you for your
reflection.
Answering the question, “How does this look in my world?”, I
wrote down:
1. I pray
2. I pray as a discipline
3. I don’t give up (even when others get up and go)
A few related QUESTIONS then found their way into my notes.
1. “What do I care enough about to be *persistent” in prayer
for?”
2. “Am I developing a lifestyle that is moving away from –
or nearer to — this goal (i.e. that of praying, praying as
a discipline, and not giving up).
3. “What would it take for me to be able to say:
I’m one of those.
I’m one of those people who pray and don’t give up?”
4. “If the Lord were to come at the end of the next 30 days,
would he find this kind of ‘pray and not give up faith’ in
the sector of earth I inhabit each day?”
AND NOW…
I am continuing to work through *before the Lord* my
responses to the questions I created.
The same exercise may prove valuable to you as well.
I would encourage you to read the parable, make notes,
design your own questions, and interact with the One whose
desire for us is to “always pray and not give up.”
Enjoy your time of learning from Jesus,
Lee
**All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are
taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSIONÆ. NIVÆ.
Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.
Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
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© Lee Wise All rights reserved. You may freely distribute
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