Please note: these are Pastor Peggy's preaching notes from Sunday, January 12, 2025
Scripture Reading: Luke 11:1-13
Scripture Reading: Luke 18:1-8
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God.
Prayer is much about changing us, our character, our will, and our values, even while we are seeking for God’s response to our prayers.
In the Gospel of John 11:41-42, Jesus’ prayer is that of thanks that the Father heard him and always does. This encourages us to know—as in our two parables today, that the Lord does hear us! He is not slow but we must understand, always on time.
As difficult as it may seem sometimes when we are praying and want an answer yesterday—Jesus teaches that persistence in prayer, along with a sense of urgency and boldness is acceptable in our walk with Him. Jesus does not suggest that we must overcome God’s reluctance to respond to our requests, but that we must be earnest and wholehearted in prayer.
One thing we need to grasp is that the persistence in prayer, the working to press through in prayer, if for our benefit and not for God’s.
Jesus encourages prayer by reminding us of the nature of the One to whom we are praying. If faulty human beings will meet the real needs of their children, instead of deceiving them with harmful gifts—how much more can we expect our Heavenly Father to bless us with the best gift of all—the Holy Spirit—as well as lesser gifts.
Our primary needs are spiritual, and Jesus is saying, in the teaching on prayer, that a proper relationship with the Lord through the Spirit of God is the ground of assurance that He will provide for both our spiritual and material needs.
When we show persistence and boldness in prayer it will help us better understand the heart and mind of God. We often hesitate to keep asking God for something we need or want. But as we come before the Lord again and again, our constant conversation with our loving Creator breaks down any barriers and assumptions that we may have in our hearts and minds.
We are talking about patient, persistent, persevering prayer. I think a part of the pressing through in prayer has very much to do with our patience in the asking. It is easy to get wrapped up in the culture of our day and want immediate results. But often, when it comes to the avenue of prayer, God works in us to get us to the place where we surrender to His will and not our own. That doesn’t mean that what we are praying is not a part of His plan for us, but we need to examine our own hearts and motives in prayer—and that is what happens in the waiting.
As we practice persistence in prayer, we have time to sort out what we really want versus what we really need, which often eliminates shortsighted requests. Jesus says to keep asking, to keep seeking, to keep knocking. In reality this will change the way you pray and communicate with Him.
Persistent, pressing through prayer, is the answer to many things in our lives. To persist in prayer and not give up does not mean to subject oneself to endless repetition or painfully long prayer sessions. Being constant in prayer means keeping your requests continually before the Lord as we live for Him day by day, believing that in His time the answer will come.
When we live by faith, we are not giving up. God may tell us to wait but His delays always have good reasons. We don’t know what is happening in the spiritual world as we ask the Lord for various needs or concerns. But one thing we can know and be assured of is that waiting creates character, and in that working in our character our faith and hope can increase.
Pressing through in prayer keeps us in communication with the Lord and helps us keep our requests in perspective. It makes us consider what we really want God to do, and helps us to recognize the answer when it comes. If we know God loves us, we can believe he will hear our cries for help.
Prior to Luke 18 Jesus is talking about the end times. He was concerned that his followers pray continually to accomplish God’s will in their lives during difficult times.
Luke 18:1 says, “Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not lose heart…” Paul in Romans 12:12 says, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in affliction, be persistent in prayer.”
This is a theme, not only in the teaching of Jesus but in the teaching of the other writers of Scripture under the direction of the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians 6:18 once again Paul writes, “Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saint.”
1 Thessalonians 5:17—Pray constantly.
We must persevere in prayer with regard to all matters in our lives until Jesus returns. We need to understand that we have an adversary, the devil, who would desire nothing less than discouraging you and stopping you from praying and believing God to work in your life and what you are bringing before Him. Remember in the Lord’s prayer Jesus teaches to ask for the Lord to protect you from the evil one. Prayer actually enhances our strength to stand in faith, believing that we are loved by God and He will answer. It is often a good thing to read what Paul writes in Ephesians 6 about putting on the whole armor of God and standing firm in your faith.
Romans 8:28 says that “we know all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.” This does not mean that everything is good in and of itself, but that God uses everything for our good. Jesus teaches us that God’s sovereign care for and guidance of creation comes even with the death of a sparrow and the hairs of your head being counted!
Dr. David Jeremiah writes this: “Prayer is a matter of faith—taking God at His word and trusting His promise to work on His people’s behalf—even when His work is invisible, when the answers are long coming, and when He seems to be withholding His blessings. The act of persistent prayer proclaims a believer’s commitment to Him.”
One writer said that the “spirit of successful prayer is the spirit of persevering prayer.”
Our Scripture reminds us that God is not asleep. He is a giving God and delights in meeting the needs of His children.
If urgent, continuous asking prevailed (such as with the unjust judge), how much more will prayer prevail with our God who cares for us with a Father’s love!
We don’t have to force God into giving. If it has the appearance that God is not answering, we need to be tireless in our approach to the God of all mercies. We need to be like Jacob who proclaimed in Genesis 32:26 “I will not let you go, except you bless me.”
Our verses today tell us there is a necessity of pressing through in prayer. Ask—seek—knock! Jesus is exhorting us to persevere, to be persistent in our prayers. We need to not grow weary in our prayers but to press forward in believing that the Lord not only hears us but will answer.
Not all answers are yes, some are no, and others may be wait a while. But the crucial aspect of pressing through in prayer is to understand that you are loved and that God cares about your life and those things that concern your heart. Our Heavenly Father knows what we have need of before we even ask Him—but we are to ask and then trust.
Pressing through is not always easy, but it will reap rewards in ways that we may not grasp or understand in the moments of waiting but God’s ultimate goal to is to make us like Jesus and to create in us a strong faith that despite the winds of discouragement and difficulty that can often come into our lives—we will stand firm in our faith and not grow weary.
Philippians 4:6-7 in the Message says, “Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.”
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