How to pray?

Luke 18:5-8: “Yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. 6 Then the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge said. 7 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?"

Jesus wanting to teach His disciples how to pray tells His disciples a parable, a story that emphasizes the need for fervent and persistent prayer. Jesus tells a story of widow who was in desperate need of justice from an enemy of hers. She went before a judge, an unjust judge that did not really care about the widow’s troubles even though there was no one to speak for this vulnerable woman. Jesus said the judge would not give this widow any help, however as time went on the widow kept asking and kept asking the judge. After a while, the judge said to himself, “I cannot take this widow, she keeps bugging me and bugging me, I have had it”, so he agrees with the woman’s request and gives her what she had requested to get her off his back.

Jesus went on to tell His disciples that if after many requests this unjust judge would give what this widow wanted, how much more would God, who loves those who are His, answer His children. Jesus told His disciples to ask in prayer and by faith their requests, like this widow had done. By seeking God and crying out to Him in a fervent and passionate manner, God will answer.

The principle of prayer that Jesus was teaching His disciples was that of persistence in one’s prayer life. Just lifting up prayer when we are in trouble is not a prayer life for a Christ follower. Persistent and passionate prayer is what God is looking for from those who call themselves His. Anything of lasting value takes hard work and discipline; it is the same with our prayer life.

Tomorrows Readings:
Old Testament: 11 Sam 4-6 New Testament Luke 18:18-43