Prayer review, Part 12: introduction; John 15:16.

Title: Prayer review, Part 12: introduction; John 15:16.

 

Opening prayer:

 

 

 

 

k. Should I be asking God for the same thing more than once?

 

The answer is yes.

 

Parable of the widow - continuous supplication [self].

Parable of the friend - continuous intercession [others].

Parable of the father - faithful to grant all proper requests.

 

Let’s complete the parable of the judge and widow before we move to other indications of continuous prayer.

 

1. Praying contrasted with fainting or losing heart.

 

Luke 18:1 Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart,

 

 “lose heart” - evgkake,w[egkakeo] = to be weary, to lose courage, to faint.

 

If we don't pray, we set ourselves up for weakness, fainting under pressure, and discouragement.

 

2. The widow contrasted with God's elect (vv. 2-5).

 

Selfish judge             Heavenly Father

Stranger                     Children of God

No access                  Open access

No husband               Advocate

No promises              Hundreds of promises

No lawyer                  God the HS

Law court                  Throne of God

Poor                           Riches of grace

 

 

If we fail to pray, our condition spiritually will be just like that of the poor widow. That should encourage us to pray!

 

 3. The judge contrasted with the Father (vv. 6-8).

 

Luke 18:6 And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge said;

 

Luke 18:7 now shall not God bring about justice for His elect, who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?

 

Luke 18:8 "I tell you that He will bring about justice for them speedily. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?"

 

Unless you see that Jesus is pointing out contrasts, you will get the idea that God must be "argued" or "bribed" into answering prayer!

 

God is not like this judge; for God is a loving Father, who is attentive to our every cry, generous in His gifts, concerned about our needs, and ready to answer when we call. The only reason the judge helped the widow was because he was afraid she would "weary" him, which literally means "give me a black eye" - i.e ruin his reputation.

 

God answers prayer for His glory and for our good, and He is not irritated or annoyed when we come.

 

John 14:13

And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

 

He said He would forgive us of the same offense 490 times in a day. That’s 490 rebounds over the same iniquity, i.e. limitless and He’s not annoyed. He asked Peter if he loved Him three times. After the third time Peter was annoyed. This is the way of people and not of God.

 

How, then, do we explain delays in answers to prayer, especially when Jesus said that God would "bring them justice speedily"? (Luke 18:8)

 

God's delays are not the delays of inactivity but of preparation. God is always answering prayer, otherwise ROM 8:28 could not be in the Bible.

 

God works in all things at all times, causing all things to work together to accomplish His purposes. God gets to work [or got to work in EP through the divine decree] immediately when the prayer is heard.

 

ROM 8:28

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

 

Don’t think that just because you don’t see the end result that the Master of circumstances hasn’t begun the process that will bring that result.

 

Matt 21:22

"And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive."

 

You may petition God for something and believe He will do it when you are praying and then some time later disbelieve or doubt Him simply because you haven’t seen the result.

 

Matt 21:21

"Truly I say to you, if you have faith, and do not doubt, you shall not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it shall happen.

 

Landscaping is not in view. The moving of the mountain is an idiom for the impossible, or what you cannot do alone without supernatural help.

 

Parallel to this:

Mark 11:22 And Jesus answered saying to them, "Have faith in God.

 

Mark 11:23 "Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it shall be granted him.

 

Mark 11:24 "Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you.

 

Mark 11:25 "And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your transgressions.

 

The moment we send Him a request that is in His will (1 John 5:14-15), God begins to work. We may not see it now, but one day the answer will come.

 

1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

 

1 John 5:15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

 

I believe that this is another benefit of asking a petition multiple times, over and over again, since as we wait for the answer to come we are not waiting as long. If I prayed for something last week then I have been waiting a week, but if I repeat the prayer today I’ve only been waiting a few hours. Every time I ask I am encouraged to know that He hears me and the He has commanded me to keep asking. Again we see comfort and assistance for the one praying.

 

Don’t forget that there is a petition and the desire behind it [the “so that”]. God is able to grant any petition in a second, but His justice would not allow Him to do that without also granting the desire. Doctrinal and spiritual capacities are always the prerequisites of fulfilled desire. And, He can say no to the petition but yes to the desire, and so in that case you may not see the fulfillment of that prayer until long after it was accomplished (2 Cor 12:8-10).

 

Go back to:

Luke 18:6 And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge said;

 

Luke 18:7 now shall not God bring about justice for His elect, who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?

 

Luke 18:8 "I tell you that He will bring about justice for them speedily. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?"

 

The question in Luke 18:8 ties in with what Jesus taught in Luke 17:22-37: "Shall He find [that kind of] faith on the earth?" The Second Coming of Christ will not be days of great faith. As are the examples that He gives; eight people were saved in Noah's day, and only four out of Sodom (and one of them perished on the way).

 

As we study eschatology we see that the only faith at the second coming of Christ is with the born-again Jews who heeded His warning during the first advent and ran to the wilderness without even packing [Matt 24]. They are nourished and protected by God and they ignore the rumors that the Lord has returned, as per Jesus’ instructions. They alone have faith in such a time of crisis.  

 

Benefits flow to the one praying and those for whom he prays as the Father grants the supplication, and the Father as the Grantor and the Son as the foundation are glorified for the believer’s access and privilege.

 

 

 

Matt 7:8

"For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.

 

All verbs are present active imperatives indicating continuous action.

 

Examples of continuous prayer through the early Church:

a. After the Lord’s ascension …

 

Directly after the Lord’s ascension to heaven the disciples along with the women waited for the Lord’s promised Holy Spirit in Jerusalem and as they waited they continuously prayed.

 

Acts 1:12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away.

 

Acts 1:13 And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.

 

Acts 1:14 These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

 

b. Directly after Pentecost …

Acts 2:41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

 

Acts 2:42 And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

 

They were obviously instructed to pray.

 

c. After the church began to grow exponentially in Jerusalem …

 

Acts 6:1 Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food.

 

Acts 6:2 And the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, "It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables.

 

Acts 6:3 "But select from among you, brethren, seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.

 

Acts 6:4 "But we will devote ourselves to prayer, and to the ministry of the word."

 

d. Before the Gospel reached the northern provinces …

In the early Church, the prayers of those who knew only of the baptism of John and to whom had not come the good news of the Lord’s victory were heard and in the case of Cornelius, were answered.

 

Acts 10:1 Now there was a certain man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian cohort,

 

Acts 10:2 a devout man, and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people, and prayed to God continually.

 

Acts 10:3 About the ninth hour of the day he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God who had just come in to him, and said to him, "Cornelius!"

 

Acts 10:4 And fixing his gaze upon him and being much alarmed, he said, "What is it, Lord?" And he said to him, "Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God.

 

Cornelius would have heard the good news eventually, but his continual prayers led God to send him the Gospel sooner and directly from the apostle Peter, and in so doing, Peter learns a valuable lesson about the Gentiles.