Christian Living

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Over the last couple of days I’ve been pretty sick and it’s been quite tough to give my dog the 24/7 attention she thinks she desperately needs. If there is one word to describe my sweet Abbey, it’s unrelenting. She has a bold personality and once she sets her mind on something, she can’t be stopped and she will unrelentingly beg, whine, and come up with clever ways to get it.

Last night, around 3am, she decided she wasn’t tired and wanted to play. Well, as you could expect, I wasn’t in the mood and refused to acknowledge her pleas. You’d think that after a good 30 minutes or so of being rejected, she’d get the hint and give up but that wasn’t the case. Instead, she amped up her strategy and pushed harder. For two hours, my dog and I were at a standoff and we both weren’t backing down; I refused to get up and play and she refused to be ok with it. Once she realized that cursing me in her doggy language was ineffective, she pulled from her arsenal the noisiest toy in the house, a squeaky ball. I know this was an intentional act of war because she only squeezed it when it looked like I was sleeping. If I moved or pretended to get up, she stopped and looked me straight in my eyes as if to say “come and get it”. It was at this point when I realized that she had won this battle. She understood my distaste for the ball, in fact, I loath the day my husband brought it home. My annoyance with this toy forced me to get up out of bed and fight it out of her mouth – thus playing her favorite game, tug of war. What a clever dog.

Today, after a few extra hours of sleep, I laughed and could appreciate Abbey’s tenacity and determination. It reminded me of the parable of persistent widow in Luke 18 and I realized there was a lot I could learn from my little dog.

In the parable, Jesus describes an unjustly wronged widow who tried to present her case before a wicked judge. The judge couldn’t have cared less about her plight and turned her away over and over, but each time she returned to him with the demand that he give her justice. It says the judge became so annoyed by her persistence that he gave her what she wanted just to get rid of her. It’s an odd parable but Jesus uses it to teach us about how we ought to pray – like the persistent widow (or in my case, the persistent dog).

“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 the earth?” – Luke 18:6-8

There are times when I feel like my prayers only go as high as the ceiling before falling flat on the ground. It even gets to the point sometimes when it seems like the more I pray for something, the worst the situation gets. It’s quite discouraging and I have to remind myself of the reality that God doesn’t always answer our prayers in the way or the timing we want or expect, but the truth is that he will answer and it’s always better for me. I say it to myself over and over until I believe it.

As Christians we are called to persistent prayer, a life spent in constant communication with God. However, unlike the wicked judge in Luke 18, God is just and loving and as we pray his heart, we can and should expect to see Him move in miraculous ways. We shouldn’t grow weary if God’s timing or response doesn’t meet our standards; but in times when our prayers feel as dense as lead, we ought to pray more fervently, search the Word for what it says about our requests, and declare it over them.

Jesus relates our prayer life to our faith (vs. 8). When we fully understand the authority and power of our prayers, only then will we live a life of prayer and witness God moving in greater capacity in our lives. It’s cyclical and it’s God’s way of relating to us and drawing us closer to Him. It’s only through prayer that some blessings and breakthroughs are released. Prayer is a necessity and a lifeline that we must never let go.

I like how Charles Spurgeon explains it: Sometimes when we do not receive comfort in our prayers, when we are broken and cast down, that is when we are really wrestling and prevailing in prayer.

Don’t give up…
…and thanks, Abbey.

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