Daily Devotions
Luke
Luke 18:1-14 "ANOTHER WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAY"
Day 218 – Luke 18
Text: Luke 18:1-14
ANOTHER WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAY
Surely one of the most important spiritual disciplines to cultivate must be “prayer”. It is considered a “spiritual discipline” for a number of reasons.
1. Though prayer should be as natural as breathing, the fact is that many have trouble maintaining a significant prayer-life.
2. Prayer is a vital relationship with God that must be sustained, yet few know how to do this successfully.
3. In order to make prayer a very real and integral part of our life, we must thus carefully set aside time to do “spiritual exercises”.
4. The setting aside of time for the purpose of prayer may be called a “spiritual discipline”.
Jesus encouraged His Disciples to learn how to pray. He taught them how to pray (Luke 11:1-4). He certainly set a tremendous example for them through His own personal prayer life (Luke 4:1-12; 5:16 etc). Once again, we read of another exhortation from Jesus to His Disciples to cultivate their prayer life).
THE PROBLEM OF DISCOURAGEMENT
Perhaps men do desire to pray. However, many lose heart after a while. Few know how to sustain prayer efforts. Jesus zeroed in on a problem that must have plagued many people, then and now. Many do not know how to overcome the problem of being “disheartened”.
What are some of the problems why people are disheartened so easily? Could some of the problems be these?
1. When prayers are not answered quickly enough.
2. When the problems of life are not easily resolved even when prayer has been offered.
3. When life’s difficulties seem so overwhelming, and the Presence of God is eclipsed.
4. When feelings of grief overcome all other faculties in a person.
5. Living in a secular world, where people do not turn to prayer much makes praying to God diligently a challenging feat to undertake.
We could come up with a very long list of problems why people feel discouraged and disheartened! This list is certainly not an exhaustive one. Are you struggling with discouragement in your prayer life? Take time to consider what Jesus taught His Disciples.
“MEN ALWAYS OUGHT TO PRAY AND NOT LOSE HEART…” Luke 18:1
It is difficult to pray! Jesus never told His Disciples that praying was an easy discipline to master. He could give His Disciples a Model Prayer to study and to use as a guide for the development of their prayer life, but the mastery of prayer would not come immediately or easily!
Let us consider what Jesus taught His Disciples, in yet another discourse on the subject of prayer.
1. Prayer is a moral responsibility
Jesus taught His Disciples that they must determine within their hearts that they “ought to pray”. The word “ought” conveys a number of important nuances:-
a) There is a moral “oughtness”. Prayer is not to be seen as a mere option. Men OUGHT to pray, no matter how he feels.
b) Men must recognize prayer is not just a privilege, it is also a responsibility. God gave men the privilege of entering into His Presence so that they could pray to Him. Having done that, men must recognize that with privilege also comes responsibility.
2. Discouragement can be overcome!
Jesus also taught His Disciples that they must not allow themselves to lose heart easily.
a) The matter of losing heart is something that we can do something about. Whether or not a person loses heart depends on the individual himself. Jesus taught His Disciples that they could train themselves not to lose heart. If they did lose heart and ceased praying, they would have no one to blame but themselves.
b) One can build fortitude of soul, so that nothing would prevent us from persevering and prevailing in prayer!
3. We can learn how to pray without ceasing!
It is possible to pray without ceasing. Jesus of course wasn’t talking about praying non-stop, for a full twenty-four hours. He was teaching His Disciples that it is possible to remember to pray meaningfully every day of our life!
THE POWERFUL USE OF A PARABLE
Once again, Jesus developed a parable to teach an important truth. Sometimes, a parable well told makes an even more tremendous impact on an audience. In this parable there was “a twist in the tale”. Jesus was going to make use of “CONTRAST” to help Him teach His Disciples how to pray with a great sense of perseverance.
Jesus spoke of an unjust judge. That was in itself an intriguing beginning! He was of course not condoning a person with this kind of behavioural problem. However, it suited His purpose to tell a story of how an unjust judge finally dispensed justice to an importunate widow who would have wearied the Unjust Judge by sheer pressure! She would come to the courthouse incessantly until she received the attention she felt she deserved!
What was the point of this parable? How do we read and apply the character of the Unjust Judge into the subject of prayer itself? For that matter, how do we read the symbol of the importunate widow?
Once again, we see the Master-Teacher at work. This parable must have caused many to sit up and listen. What an unusual story to tell! How does one relate such a parable to life?
If the people began to think and ask questions, then this parable would not have been told in vain. Jesus wanted His hearers to think through what He said to them. Hearing without introspection never results in anything significant!