Persisting in Prayer

Lynn Blair reads passage: Luke 11:5-13 & Luke 18:1-8

2 most important facts about prayer: It’s good for you & You should it it.

Why don’t we have a persistent prayer life?

The Bible addresses the question and the solution.

Why we don’t persist in prayer

Symptom & root cause.

The symptom: discouragement.

Luke 18:1 ESV

1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.

To loose heart: to lose one’s motivation to accomplish some valid goal—‘to become discouraged, to give up.’ (Louw-Nida)

It describes someone who is tired and weary: “What’s the point of praying?”

We grow tired and weary of praying because we go through seasons where we ask without receiving an answer

We grow tired and weary of praying because we go through seasons of seeking without finding

We grow tired and weary of praying because we go through seasons of knocking but the door won’t open.

Jesus knows we are prone to lose heart - thus the parables regarding the need to persist in prayer.

What area in your life do you have a sense of weariness and discouragement? (work, health issues, relationships, finances, parenting, sinful habit(s)

The root cause: Walking by sight and not by faith

Notice the question Jesus asks at the end of v.8

When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

The parable of the persistent widow is given in the context of the end times | The return of Christ.

Things are going to get worse before they get better.

Matthew 24:10–13 ESV

10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Will Jesus find us persisting in prayer or will he find that we have lost heart?

I want to show something I learned: Correlation between prayer and faith: Prayer is the language of faith.

The solution to prayerlessness is not “try harder.”

Preparing for a marathon: running daily but not able to keep up with training training plan on a 1k calorie diet. We have found the problem! He doesn’t need to “try harder” or “just do it.” HE NEEDS FUEL!

We approach a persistent prayer life in the same way: “try harder” when in reality we need fuel to get us going in our prayer life.

An analogy: Imagine our prayer life represented by a train. Faith is the engine. God’s promises is the fuel that powers the engine.

God is looking for people who draw near to God in prayer believing that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him (Heb. 11:6).

God wants to use our prayers as a means to partner with him in the work that he is doing:

John M. Frame, “God ordains prayer as a means to change history. There are things that happen because of prayer and things that do not happen because of no prayer.”

So, if the symptom of prayerlessness is discouragement and the root cause is walking by sight and not by faith. How do we get back into a persistent prayer life?

The key to persistent prayer: Helplessness

(Spanish: Incapacidad | debilidad)

The widow in v.3 is helpless and powerless in light of her need.

That’s why she kept coming to the judge with her request.

Norwegian Pastor Ole Hallesby, Prayer (1931)

“My friend, your helplessness is the very essence of prayer.”

“Helplessness is the real secret and the impelling power of prayer.”

“I never grow weary of emphasizing our helplessness, for it is the decisive factor not only in our prayer life, but in our whole relationship to God. As long as we are conscious of our helplessness we will not be overtaken by any difficulty, disturbed by any distress or frightened by any hindrance. We will expect nothing of ourselves and therefore bring all our difficulties and hindrances to God in prayer. And this means to open the door unto Him and to give God the opportunity to help us in our helplessness by means of the miraculous powers which are at His disposal.”

In Colossians 2:6 the Apostle Paul makes the following statement, Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.

How did you receive Christ? Did you have your life together?

According to Romans 5:6, Christ came to rescue us while were weak (ESV), utterly helpless (NLT).

Somehow, we have a tendency to forget that we were in a helpless state when we received Christ and that helplessness is the path to walk with the Father and the key to persistent prayer

John 5:19 ESV

19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.

Confession: I’m allergic to helplessness. My actions declare, “I can handle today without prayer God.”

Paul Miller, A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracted World

“The gospel, God’s free gift of grace in Jesus, only works when we realize we don’t have it all together. The same is true for prayer. The very thing we are allergic to - our helplessness - is what makes prayer work. It works because we are helpless.

Illustration: Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector

Read Luke 18:9-14

You can stop pretending you have it all together and come humbly everyday before God in prayer and cry out, “I need you, oh I need you. Every hour I need you.”

Doesn’t God get tired of needy people?

Our need will never outdo the mercy of God. Our God is rich in mercy! (Eph 2:4)

His mercies never come to an end they are new every morning! (Lamentations 3:22)

Come with boldness

The point of the parable of the persistent friend and the persistent child and the persistent widow is to reveal the hart of the Father so that we ought always to pray and loose heart.

In all of the three stories Jesus uses a lesser-to-greater argument: Jesus uses the “How much more...” rhetoric

Luke 11:13: If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Luke 18:7: If a judge who neither fears God nor respects people responds to repeated pleas from someone he doesn’t care about. How much more will God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?

Why is God delaying in answering some of our prayers?

I don’t know. What I do know is this: Our Father is loving and caring.

Luke 11:11–12 ESV

11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?

Our Father is loving and caring! We must come to him like children.

Come with boldness!

Illustration: My 2-year old came to my bedroom at 2:00 a.m.

Remember the question I asked earlier?

What area in your life do you have a sense of weariness and discouragement? (work, health issues, relationships, finances, parenting, sinful habit(s)

You can come with boldness!

Father, I come before you weary and burdened by _______ Fear | Anxiety| Depression | Shame | Empty | Lonely |Disappointed | Anger | Bitterness | Sadness | Betrayal| Sickness| My nation | My sin | Major decision |

We are going to take some time to pray for each other.