“He told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.”
There are two things here that our Lord Jesus commends to us: (1) praying and (2) not losing heart. How’s that going for you?
Like many of God’s gifts, prayer is too often seen as our last option, and that’s a shame and a sign of our sinful nature. In prayer God has given us direct access to Himself. I have heard people say they don’t want to bother God with their problems. He’s got the whole world to take care of and He’s busy. “He doesn’t need to be bothered with my little problems.” Ever been there?
Pardon my bluntness, but that’s silly.
I get a lot of phone calls in an average day, so every now and again I will ask my secretary to hold my calls. I usually follow that request up with a couple exceptions: “Please hold my calls unless it’s my family, the president or the pope.” I don’t figure that the president or the pope will call, but I do want to make sure that my family, whom I love and cherish, has access to me.
Our Father in heaven loves and cherishes us, so He gives us full access to Himself. If your child needed you, would you want them to call? God, being perfect, and loving us more than we can even imagine, wants us to call out to Him. The parable of persistent widow displays that in reverse. She keeps coming and keeps coming to get justice, and the judge finally gives it even though he is not a good man. God is good, so we can be confident in calling out to him!
Do you believe that? Do you trust Him?
Or are you still playing the game like the Pharisee in the next parable Jesus tells? Do we compare ourselves to others and see ourselves as worthy of God’s attention because we’re better than they are?
When it comes to having access to God, He is not looking for what we have to offer Him. Infants can do nothing to benefit God. The can’t preach, can’t talk, . . . can they even pray? Yet Jesus gives them access to Himself saying that the kingdom of God belongs to them. A rich ruler, on the other hand, can offer influence, cash, authority and more! But Jesus makes it very difficult (in earthly terms) to come and follow him. What matters in accessing God is what Jesus did in Jerusalem to clear the way as he was delivered, mocked, spit upon, flogged and killed.
The truth is we are like the infants with nothing to offer. We’re like the blind man who must be taken by the hand and led to Jesus to make our request. And glory be to Jesus; He is the loving God who asks, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Not that he’ll always grant our requests. Too often he knows our needs better than we do!) But he wants to hear and answer our prayers out of his love and compassion.
So what do you thing we should do with this gift? How should we respond to such amazing love?
Lord Jesus, teach us to pray and to not lose heart. Give us your Holy Spirit to lead us by the hand so that we will lay our requests before our Father in Heaven. Amen.
There are two things here that our Lord Jesus commends to us: (1) praying and (2) not losing heart. How’s that going for you?
Like many of God’s gifts, prayer is too often seen as our last option, and that’s a shame and a sign of our sinful nature. In prayer God has given us direct access to Himself. I have heard people say they don’t want to bother God with their problems. He’s got the whole world to take care of and He’s busy. “He doesn’t need to be bothered with my little problems.” Ever been there?
Pardon my bluntness, but that’s silly.
I get a lot of phone calls in an average day, so every now and again I will ask my secretary to hold my calls. I usually follow that request up with a couple exceptions: “Please hold my calls unless it’s my family, the president or the pope.” I don’t figure that the president or the pope will call, but I do want to make sure that my family, whom I love and cherish, has access to me.
Our Father in heaven loves and cherishes us, so He gives us full access to Himself. If your child needed you, would you want them to call? God, being perfect, and loving us more than we can even imagine, wants us to call out to Him. The parable of persistent widow displays that in reverse. She keeps coming and keeps coming to get justice, and the judge finally gives it even though he is not a good man. God is good, so we can be confident in calling out to him!
Do you believe that? Do you trust Him?
Or are you still playing the game like the Pharisee in the next parable Jesus tells? Do we compare ourselves to others and see ourselves as worthy of God’s attention because we’re better than they are?
When it comes to having access to God, He is not looking for what we have to offer Him. Infants can do nothing to benefit God. The can’t preach, can’t talk, . . . can they even pray? Yet Jesus gives them access to Himself saying that the kingdom of God belongs to them. A rich ruler, on the other hand, can offer influence, cash, authority and more! But Jesus makes it very difficult (in earthly terms) to come and follow him. What matters in accessing God is what Jesus did in Jerusalem to clear the way as he was delivered, mocked, spit upon, flogged and killed.
The truth is we are like the infants with nothing to offer. We’re like the blind man who must be taken by the hand and led to Jesus to make our request. And glory be to Jesus; He is the loving God who asks, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Not that he’ll always grant our requests. Too often he knows our needs better than we do!) But he wants to hear and answer our prayers out of his love and compassion.
So what do you thing we should do with this gift? How should we respond to such amazing love?
Lord Jesus, teach us to pray and to not lose heart. Give us your Holy Spirit to lead us by the hand so that we will lay our requests before our Father in Heaven. Amen.
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