February 26, 2020
Dear Praying Friends,
Rachel and I really appreciate your partnership in prayer for the prodigals and for revival. Jesus said, “And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened” (Luke 11:9-10).
A little later in Luke 18:1-6, Jesus tells the story of the judge and the widow. The judge is not portrayed as a good man, but the woman comes to him for justice and continued to come, day after day. She doesn’t relent. She doesn’t stop. She doesn’t let up: not even a little. The judge, who is totally annoyed by her persistence, finally gives her what she wants.
The reason for the parable is not to exonerate the judge, who in most ways is nothing like God, but rather to extol the quality of persistence in the widow. Our Lord Jesus told the parable so that His followers would not lose heart and give up praying.
Merriam-Webster defines the word persist: “to be insistent in the repetition or pressing of an utterance.” The definition suggests an urgency, a request, and a continuation. God wants us to be like this in prayer.
Jesus closes the story with a question, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” This question makes the story relevant to us today and links our persistence in prayer with the great reality of faith. God has promised to answer our prayers and He has the power to do so, but He wants us to continue praying with faith. May we pray in faith for as long as it takes, and keep asking, seeking, and knocking.
Love in Christ,
Bryan and Rachel
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