Keep Praying—Two2Grow, Friday, October 16
Keep Praying—Two2Grow, Friday, October 16
“Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” Luke 18:1 NIV
By Emelie Stenhammar, MD
The story Jesus told his disciples was about a widow who had been wronged by someone and who went to a judge to get justice. The judge was a meanie who didn’t care about people, or God, or doing what was right. Still, he eventually gave in and helped her because she kept on asking and begging (and that naturally annoyed him).
Does this parable encourage you to pray? It should! Because God is good, God is our Father, and God loves us. If this bad judge helped the woman because she kept on asking, then we can be totally convinced that our good heavenly Father will help us when we ask Him.
And by the way, asking repeatedly is not a lack of faith; rather, it is the contrary. Praying over and over again shows, like in the parable, that we know who has the power and ability to help us. We don’t turn to other authorities when the answer to our prayers lingers.
Unlike the widow we don’t have to convince a grumpy old bureaucrat. Instead, we approach God’s “throne of grace,” and there we will “receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need”, as Hebrews 4:16 says.
It might take a while, but God will help us. If the unrighteous judge did, how much more will our good Father!
Heavenly Father, I come to You again with the same problem as yesterday. I pray as I did then: Help me! I know You will, because You are good. Give me the grace to keep on praying until I see a miracle.
By Emelie Stenhammar, MD
The story Jesus told his disciples was about a widow who had been wronged by someone and who went to a judge to get justice. The judge was a meanie who didn’t care about people, or God, or doing what was right. Still, he eventually gave in and helped her because she kept on asking and begging (and that naturally annoyed him).
Does this parable encourage you to pray? It should! Because God is good, God is our Father, and God loves us. If this bad judge helped the woman because she kept on asking, then we can be totally convinced that our good heavenly Father will help us when we ask Him.
And by the way, asking repeatedly is not a lack of faith; rather, it is the contrary. Praying over and over again shows, like in the parable, that we know who has the power and ability to help us. We don’t turn to other authorities when the answer to our prayers lingers.
Unlike the widow we don’t have to convince a grumpy old bureaucrat. Instead, we approach God’s “throne of grace,” and there we will “receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need”, as Hebrews 4:16 says.
It might take a while, but God will help us. If the unrighteous judge did, how much more will our good Father!
Heavenly Father, I come to You again with the same problem as yesterday. I pray as I did then: Help me! I know You will, because You are good. Give me the grace to keep on praying until I see a miracle.