Day 6: How can I be persistent in prayer?
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!
And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:1-8
In this parable, Jesus was concerned that his followers pray continually in order to accomplish God’s will for their own lives. He was concerned that they might be praying in a way for God to give them only what was asked for rather than them being concerned about what God was asking of them.
So he offered a parable about this widow who was persistent in prayer. From it, we learn that we need to persist in prayer in all matters-that in this life we will have adversaries and only prayer can help us overcome them. In our prayer, we can overcome sin and injustice. Through persistent prayer, we can see healing and blessing in unexpected ways.
Questions to ponder:
- What have you been praying about for a long time? Is it for a child? For emotional healing? For God’s will in your life?
- How have you seen God answer your prayer?
Pray:
If you’d like to pray with persistence, ask God to give you the fervor to connect with him each day and then meet with him consistently.
