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Persistent Prayer Luke 18:1-8 (The Message)

Prayer is without doubt a great mystery at times.

Some of us have experienced the ups and downs of prayer.
Prayer is not easy. Prayer is hard work. Prayer takes time. Prayer takes effort.

Sometimes the easiest thing for us to do is to stop praying or loose heart.

Sometimes we pray for something and it doesn’t seem as though God is listening.
If He is listening it seems as though He is unwilling to move on our behalf.

This message is not about your success or failure as a person who is trying to pray.
This message is not about making you feel bad or guilty because maybe you have lost your intensity over praying for something.

This message is about persistence. It is about never giving up on prayer.
It is about holding on when life looks impossible.
It is about keeping the faith.

Some of you have seen the sketch that has made the rounds for years in offices across America. The sketch is of the frog who is about to be devoured by a big bird. Of course as you can see the frog has wrapped its hands around the neck of the bird and is holding on for dear life. This artistic masterpiece has been titled, Never Give Up.

Jesus had something to say about that and we find it in Luke 18:1-8. You can follow along on the screen.

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.' "For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' "And the Lord said, "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?"

1. State your case. Tell God very plainly what your need is. Do it on purpose.

One of the most easily understood parts of this story is the fact that the woman was very plain spoken and stated her case before the judge. She didn’t waste words or even his time. She just stated her need. “Grant me justice against my adversary.”

In the time when Jesus told this story, widows were definitely treated as outcasts. They had very little justice or leverage to get help in any area of their lives. Jesus always knew how to put together His illustrations. There was always more to them then meets our eyes some 2000 years later.

When dealing with a need in our lives we must follow the example of this woman and talk to God in a very plain manner.

We don’t have to use a lot of words. We don’t have to know how to pray with the words Thee, Thou and Thine.

We don’t have to impress God with our ability to pray in some eloquent language or phrasing that would just make us sound weird if we talked with anyone else like we sometimes think we have to talk with God.

Wesley Duewel in his book, Mighty Prevailing Prayer (pg.64), states that there are eight all-important dynamics of prevailing or persistent prayer:

        1. Desire
        2. Fervency
        3. Importunity
        4. Faith
        5. The Holy Spirit
        6. Uniting in prayer
        7. Perseverance
        8. Praise

I want to focus on one of those words.

Importunity What does it mean? How does it apply to us?

The Greek word used in Luke 11:8 is amaideia. It means utter shamelessness. It includes the concept of great boldness, of urgency, of pressing your request, claim or persist in that urgent boldness until it receives the answer.

Andrew Murray describes importunity and its growth with these words, “it grows to the determination to persevere, to spare no time or trouble, till an answer comes. It rises to the intensity in which the whole being is given to God in supplication, and the boldness comes to lay hold of God’s strength.”

Importune praying will not yield to discouragement, weariness, fear or impatience. It is in dead earnest. It does not trifle with God in passive indifference to whether the prayer is answered or not. Richard Sibbes wrote, “It is atheism to pray and not to wait in hope.”

Paul writing to the church at Ephesus writes, “. . .in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.” (Eph. 3:11-12)

You and I are to state our case before God.

When Gilbert was eight years old he joined the Cub Scouts. He had only been a member a short time and during one of his first meetings he was handed a sheet of paper, a block of wood and four little tires and told to return home and give it all to dad.That was not an easy task for Gilbert to do. There was no dad for Gilbert at home. So the block of wood remained untouched for weeks. Finally, mom stepped in to help figure it all out. The project began. Having no carpentry skills, she simply read the directions and let Gilbert do the work. And he did. They read the measurements-the rules of what could and could not be done. Within days his block of wood turned into a "pinewood derby car." A little lopsided, but it looked good (to mom, at least). Gilbert hadn't seen anyone else's car, so he was feeling pretty proud of 'Blue Lightning.'Finally, it was the big night. With 'Blue Lightning' in his hand and pride in his heart he and his mom headed to the race. Once there, it was obvious that Gilbert's car was the only one made entirely on his own. All the other cars were father-son partnerships, with cool paint jobs and sleek body styles designed for speed. A few of the kids laughed when they saw his crude vehicle. Gilbert was the only boy there without a man at his side.The race was a process of elimination. You kept racing as long as you were a winner. In the final run it was 'Blue Lightning' and the sleekest, fastest looking car. As the final race was about to begin, it was interrupted. Gilbert asked if he could pray. The race stopped. With wrinkled brow, clutching his derby car, Gilbert was on his knees praying to his Father in heaven for a very long minute and a half. Then he stood up, smiled and announced, "Okay, I'm ready."The crowd cheered. The other boy stood with his father while Gilbert stood with his Heavenly Father in his heart. Gilbert watched his block of wood swoosh down the ramp with surprising speed to cross the finish line a fraction of a second before the other car.Gilbert leaped into the air with a loud "Thank You" and the crowd roared in approval. The Scout Master, with microphone in hand, asked Gilbert, "So, you prayed to win, huh, Gilbert?" To which he answered, "No, sir. That wouldn't be fair. I just asked God to make it so I don't cry when I lose."

2. Don’t give up. Tell Him over and over for as long as it takes. Stay in God’s presence.

The words that I want us to remember from this message are: Never Give Up.

I wish that there was a way that I could write them on the pages of our hearts.

When life happens and all the stuff that it brings us, never give up!
When nothing changes, don’t give up!
When everything changes and you feel lost and alone, don’t give up!
When you feel that you are at the end of your “rope” don’t give up!

"For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' "And the Lord said, "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?

It was Jesus who told the story in Luke 11. Right after teaching his disciples how to pray He told them about a similar story to the one we read today. A man needed bread to feed some late night visitors and so he asked his neighbor. The neighbor did not want to get out of bed but because he kept knocking he finally gave him bread. Jesus said, “Ask and you’ll get; Seek and you will find; Knock and the door will open. Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This is not a cat and mouse, hide and seek game we’re in.”

Never give up.

Daniel stilled prayed after he was in the lion’s den.The three Hebrew children were still praying after being thrown into the fiery furnace. Jonah stilled prayed after he was in the belly of the great fish. Joseph never gave up, even though his life took some unbelievable twists and turns. The Psalms are full of David’s prayers when life seemed impossible.

Never Give up!

During the Second World War, Winston Churchill spoke to the student body the school he had attended as a boy. In this period when fear was at an all time high, bombs were dropping, evil leaders were threatening, he gave what is now considered to be a classic speech. In the time since he last spoken to boys at this school the rest of the world at joined with Britain to defeat Hitler and the German aggression. I want you to hear his words of admonition to these young boys in this school during this time of crisis.

“The ten months that have passed have seen very terrible catastrophic events in the world--ups and downs, misfortunes-- but can anyone sitting here this afternoon, this October afternoon, not feel deeply thankful for what has happened in the time that has passed and for the very great improvement in the position of our country and of our home?Why, when I was here last time we were quite alone, desperately alone, and we had been so for five or six months. We were poorly armed. We are not so poorly armed today; but then we were very poorly armed. We had the unmeasured menace of the enemy and their air attack still beating upon us, and you yourselves had had experience of this attack; and I expect you are beginning to feel impatient that there has been this long lull with nothing particular turning up!But for everyone, surely, what we have gone through in this period--I am addressing myself to the School--surely from this period of ten months, this is the lesson:Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never--in nothing, great or small, large or petty--never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

3. Understand that God will step in. God will stick up for you. Persistence pays off.

I’ve got to be honest with you. I struggle to know how to handle this part of the sermon.

What I realize and know is that there are people in this room who have prayed faithfully for a long time about one thing or another and it seems as though you are no closer to the answer than you were when you started.

For some of you it has been a recent time of prayer where you poured out your heart to God and begged, pleaded and probably promised Him all kind of things if He would just hear and answer your prayer the way you wanted things to work out.

God does answer every prayer. Sometimes it is a yes and sometimes it is a no and sometimes it is a very long time of perseverance.

The last part of the verses I read to you state . . .

"And the Lord said, "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?"

For some of us we will quickly focus on the statements and words that describe God’s actions.

“ Will He keep putting them off?”
“ He will see that they get justice.”
“ and quickly.”

We do not understand God’s framework of time.
We do not know much about God and time except that a thousand years is like one day to God, according to the Bible.
We do know that we are encouraged and instructed all throughout the Bible to keep praying.

Keep believing. Have faith.

It doesn’t even have to be big faith because the Bible says it can be the size of a grain of mustard seed. That is about the size of a head of a pin.

What I find most fascinating about our scripture lesson today is that Jesus does not focus on the time necessarily but He focuses on the question, “when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith (like this) on the earth?”

What that tells me is this. We are going to face difficulties in praying. We will have time when we feel as though there is no point in going on.

Brennan Manning in his book, Abba’a Child, told the following story. I would assume it too be somewhat allegorical.

“A man in Australia decided that life was too hard for him to bear. However, he ruled out suicide. Instead, he bought a large corrugated iron tank and furnished it simply with the necessities of life. He hung a crucifix on the wall to remind him of the Rabbi and to help him pray. There he lived a blameless, solitary life, but with one great hardship.

Every morning and evening volleys of bullets would rip through the walls of his tank. He learned to lie on the floor to avoid being shot. Still the bullets ricocheted off the corrugated iron and the man sustained several wounds. The walls were pierced with many holes, he cursed the unknown marksman. When he appealed to the police, they were not helpful, and there little he could do on his own about the situation.

Slowly he began to use the bullet holes for positive purposes. He would gaze out through one hole or another and watch the people passing by, the children flying kites, lovers walking hand in hand, the clouds in the sky, the flight of birds, flowers in bloom, the rising of the moon. In observing these things he would forget himself.

The day came when the tank rusted and finally fell to pieces. He walked out of it with little regret. There was a man with a rifle standing outside. “I suppose you will kill me now,” said the man who had come out of the tank. “But before you do, I would like to know one thing. Why have you been persecuting me? Why are you my enemy, when I have never done you any harm?”

The other man laid the rifle down and smiled at him. “I am not your enemy,” he said. And the man who had come out of the tank saw that there were scars on the other man’s hands and feet, and the scars were shining like the sun.”

Manning continues,

“The lives of those fully engaged in the human struggle will be riddled with bullet holes. Whatever happened in the life of Jesus is in some way going to happen to us. Wounds are necessary. The soul has to be wounded as well as the body. To think that the natural and proper state is to be without wounds is an illusion. Those who wear bulletproof vests protecting themselves from failure, shipwreck, and heartbreak will never know what love is. The unwounded life bears no resemblance to the Rabbi.” (Jesus)

The goal of our lives is not to have every prayer answered the way we want them to be answered. The goal of our lives has to be to live like Jesus. To follow His example.

Can you hear Him praying? “Let this cup pass from me.” He prayed. He was persistent. He prayed so hard in the garden that He was sweating blood. What we must remember is that Jesus is our example and what happened in His life is that He never quit praying. The nature of His prayers changed but He never quit praying. Right to the end even while hanging on the cross He was praying. Praying for others but also asking an interesting question. “My God, My God why have you forsaken Me?”

To everything in our lives there is a reason and God knows that reason. We don’t understand it. We resent it sometimes. Sometimes we hate it. Sometimes we go from praying nicely to asking God the hard questions. The point is never quit.

Don’t give up.
Don’t quit being persistent in your prayers.

“Jesus told them a story showing that it was necessary for them to pray consistently and never quit.”

2003/03/02