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Jesus' Simple Lesson on Prayer

Jesus' Simple Lesson on Prayer

By Matt Dressler
 
July 2008
 
In a parable that pits a widow against a judge (Luke 18:1-8), Jesus sets up the audience with a premise that will evoke strong sentiment in compassionate listeners. This widow has a dispute with someone so she brings it to a judge.

The judge lives up to his bad reputation and refuses to help the widow. He’s not interested. Her plight is of no concern to him and he just doesn’t care. But in due course he relents, not because like the Grinch he becomes a reformed character and miraculously has his heart grow. No, far from it. This judge gives in because, “the widow is a bother,” to him and, “so that she does not keep on coming to the judge forever and wear him out.” The judge’s motivation for giving the widow what she wants is that her dogged determination might ruin his image and disturb his routine. She is an inconvenience; a mosquito buzzing around his head while he’s trying to sleep. So, he makes a right decision but for all the wrong reasons. The judge, for all his corrupt laziness, is forced to act because he is annoyed by her.

Now we need to be careful because the conclusion is not co-relational. God is nothing like the judge. Jesus says that if the widow can gain the attention of a corrupt, lazy, uncaring guy like that judge, imagine how different it is with the Judge of the universe. Our God is righteous and listens to His chosen children, wanting to vindicate them. He is the exact opposite of the unjust judge in the parable. As a result, we can see that this passage gives us some interesting pointers on prayer because Jesus states that the purpose of the parable is to show the disciples that they should, “always pray and never give up.” There are four prayer pointers we can glean from this parable:

Pray more often

No one gets to the end of their life and says, “I should have made more money! I should have spent more time watching TV. I should have spent more time in the office.” But, we might just wonder if we prayed enough.

Pray patiently

The encouragement to persevere in prayer implies we won’t get all our prayers answered quickly. The concept of God’s patience is introduced in verses seven and eight to remind us that God answers in His good time, not ours. His timing is perfect.

Pray for the Lord’s return

It is a guaranteed answered prayer! So why not pray it often? The warning of whether or not Jesus finds, “faith on the earth,” (v.8) is directly related to those who faithfully pray that Jesus will return.

Pray for anything near and dear to God’s heart

If you can see from God’s Word that He wants what you want then don’t stop — keep praying! I’m not saying that you can’t pray about things you are unsure of, or pray for things you desire, but don’t quit praying for things you know God wants and desires.
With this last point in mind, think of those prayer requests where you are sure that God agrees with you. List them, and pray for them with new enthusiasm and fervour. Prayer is Kingdom work. Just do it.




About the author:  Matt Dressler
 
Matt Dressler