Bible Studies

---

The Gospels
Luke 18:1-8 - Prayer: Dogged Determination Delivers
Key Verses: (NCV)

• 1: "Then Jesus used this story to teach His followers that they should always pray and never lose hope." - Luke provides a preamble to this parable in order to set the topic firmly in our minds.
  
  
• 2: "In a certain town there was a judge who did not respect God or care about people." - Do not make the mistake that this judge, in some way, represents God in the story. He is actually the antithesis of God.
  
  
• 3: "In that same town there was a widow who kept coming to this judge, saying, 'Give me my rights against my enemy.'" - Once again Jesus tells a story that pits the lowest in society against the most powerful.
  
  
• 5: "I will see that she gets her rights. Otherwise she will continue to bother me until I am worn out." - Even though the widow lacked the wealth and power to gain the judge's attention in court she found that persistent pressure overwhelmed his resistance.
  
  
• 7: "God will always give what is right to His people who cry to Him night and day, and He will not be slow to answer them." - The process of persistent prayer and constantly bringing our troubles to God develops the faithfulness in our hearts that God requires.
  
  
• 8: "I tell you, God will help His people quickly. But when the Son of Man comes again, will He find those on earth who believe in Him?" - This is not a story about God's faithfulness. Instead, Jesus is teaching that our faith in God and in His ability to provide for our needs is what matters in the end.
  

Points to Contemplate:

• Do you always pray? Do you bring every issue you face in life to God in prayer? Do you do so repeatedly and persistently or do you tend to feel that mentioning them once is enough? Do you have an established "prayer time" set aside each day? Or do you pray on the run and in between the busy moments of your day? Have you tried using a prayer journal? Can you see the value in writing down your prayer concerns each day and then, as you close the journal, feeling God's assurance for handing your life over to His loving care?
  
  
• Why is persistence important? Is Jesus suggesting that, over time, we can convince God to change His mind and meet our needs? Is God so busy that He doesn't get around to answering our prayers until they've passed a certain threshold? Perhaps the prayer inbox finally gets full enough that God has to act in order to clear it out? Do you see that persistence in prayer has very little to do with God and mostly to do with you? When you have prayed repeatedly and persistently about a specific topic have you experienced growth, understanding, and peace? Regardless if you think your prayer has been answered, have you seen how your prayer life has helped to mold you into the disciple God is calling you to be?
  
  
• Will you be one of the faithful? Will the "Son of Man" find you upon His return? How will He recognize you? Will you be standing in the crowd holding up evidence of your good works for Him to see? Perhaps you will be in the long line of "good people" who have not done anything significantly bad? Or will He recognize you as the one who has always given your entire life over into His hands? Will you be one of the few who has fully trusted every aspect of your life into His loving care? Will you be the one recognized for your faith and trust in God?
  

Promises of the Gospel:

Jesus teaches us in this parable that prayer is not about providing God a long wish-list and hoping that He will deem us worthy to answer our requests. The prayer process does not, necessarily, have a direct cause-and-effect element to it. We are not to measure our worthiness by counting the number of answered prayers that we perceive. The value of a strong and persistent prayer life has more to do with the process then the results. When we are able to fully trust God with every aspect of our lives and have the faith that His Will will prevail then we are on the pathway towards true belief. Persistence in prayer brings us close to God so that He can mold us into His image. When this happens we will come to realize that "God will help His people quickly" in all things and that, when the Son of Man returns again, He will find the earth filled with those who believe.

FUMC Devotionals

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE