Learn to Pray Persistently (2)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Bible Verses~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Luke 11:8 I say to you, Even though he will not rise up and
give him anything because he is his friend, surely because of
his shameless persistence he will rise and give him what he
needs. (9) And I say to you, Ask and it shall be given to you;
seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Words of Ministry~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[Part 2 of 2]
In Luke 18:1-8 we see the prayer from the visible realm. This
kind of prayer is related to our enjoyment of the jubilee.
Often the children of those who are faithful followers of the
Lord ask their parents why they are suffering persecution. They
may ask, "Since we love the Lord Jesus so much, why must we
suffer?" Usually the parents do not know how to answer. It
seems to the children that the Lord whom their parents follow
is not righteous. We also may wonder why we suffer, since we
love the Lord and follow Him. The parable in 18:1-8 answers our
question.
When our Husband is apparently absent and we are left on earth
as a widow, temporarily our God seems to be an unrighteous
judge. Although He appears to be unrighteous, we still must
appeal to Him, pray persistently, and bother Him again and
again. We need to be careful in understanding a parable such as
the one recorded in 18:1-8. We should not try to understand it
in a natural way. On the one hand, this parable indicates that
the Judge is sovereign. This means that whether or not He
judges is up to Him. Seemingly without reason, He may either
listen to the widow or not listen to her. This parable reveals
that He is the sovereign Lord and that He judges whenever He
chooses. On the other hand, this parable indicates that we need
to bother the Lord by praying persistently. We need to say to
Him, "Lord, praying is up to me, not up to You. You never told
me that I should not pray. On the contrary, You charged me to
pray. Therefore, Lord, I am praying now for Your vindication."
The significance of this parable is profound, and we all need
to know God as He is revealed here. We also need to see that
the kind of prayer described here helps us to enjoy the
jubilee.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(c) 2007 Living Stream Ministry. Bible verses are taken from
the Recovery Version of the Bible (RcV) and Words of Ministry,
from Witness Lee, Life-study of Luke, pp. 351-352. Both are
published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. (Repeat
3/5/02)
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