(Sermon by Vicar Kelly Huet 10/28/07)

INTRODUCTION:

Now I lay me down to sleep; I pray the Lord my soul to keep.  If I should die before I wake; I pray the Lord my soul to take.

I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You.  For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things.  Let your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me.  Amen

Father in heaven; grant me relief from the troubles and grief I am facing.  Lord I know you are in control of all things, and that you work for the good of those who love you.  Please Lord if it is not your will to remove this from me, grant me strength to endure this trial for your glory!  All this I confidently pray in Jesus name!

I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from? My Help comes from the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth!

Prayers... We all offer them daily, weekly, hourly, taking our concerns, requests, pleas, thanks, and praise to our Father in Heaven.  This morning’s lessons focus your attention on being persistent in your personal prayer life!  Jesus points us to this as the theme in the first verse of our Gospel lesson, “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.”  So take a moment this morning and learn by example about how to be persistent in your personal prayer life!

Be Persistent In Your Prayer Life
1) Learn By Example
2) Be Assured By Christ's Promise

In the Gospel lesson for this morning we were introduced to a widow.  This widow had no one to go to court for her, no representative to fight to bring her justice.  Her only hope was in the judge in the town.  When we think of judges we think of honorable men or women, people who are sworn to uphold justice!  Only in this case, the judge was corrupt, so corrupt that he feared neither God nor man.  This guy didn’t care who you were.  If he didn’t like you, he didn’t give you justice.

The widow, though, continually came to the judge pressing him for justice.  Finally, the woman’s persistence pays off!  The judge says, “Because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice!”  The idea painted by this picture is that of a boxer who is in the ring and who is so tired of the constant blows given him that he just gives up.  The woman received her justice due to her persistence.

Persistence... From this widow we learn about what it truly is to be persistent in the face of adversity.  Persistence is to continually ask for something, even when we don’t seem to be getting anywhere.  This is how Jesus says it is necessary for us to pray.  He says it is necessary that we pray continually without giving up or becoming discouraged.  We are to be persistent in our prayers.  

In our Old Testament lesson we heard the story of Jacob.  Not only did he wrestle with God, but he was so bold that he would not let go of him until God blessed him.  This is yet another example of how persistent we should be in our prayer life.  We are to be continually bringing our prayers, requests, and thanks before the Lord and not giving up until he blesses us.

So are we like Jacob and the widow?  Do you continually pray?  Are you persistently bringing prayers to the Lord?  How much time do you spend in prayer every day?  Is it a continual process, or do you maybe say a prayer in the morning, then at meals and if you think about it before bed?  Do we continually bring before God all of our concerns, prayers for deliverance, blessings, guidance, and strength?  Or do we quickly give up because we figure if our prayer isn’t answered in 24-48 hours God must not be listening or has decided the answer is no.  Do we give up because we think he might not be listening?

My friends, what are we thinking when we give up on God, when we think, that because he hasn’t answered our prayers this instant, he must not be listening or doesn’t care!  Not listening?  Doesn’t God care?  We know God, so much better than that and yet so quickly we give up on him when his answer or his timing doesn’t square with ours.  That’s not honoring or trusting him is it!

On a Friday afternoon (in the middle of spring), he, in love, went to the cross to pray for all the times we aren’t persistent in our prayers.  To pay for all the times we have not trusted in him and given-up!  To pay for the times when we think God isn’t listening because he’s not answered our pleas on our time tables.  To remove the guilt of our giving up on God.  All this he removed on one Friday afternoon, out of love for us!

Jesus, knowing our frail state, takes a moment this morning to remind us of the necessity for us to have a persistent prayer life.  His lesson on prayer isn’t a lesson taught by a hypocrite teacher, one who says, “Do as I say, not as I do.”

Look at Christ’s life here on earth.  His prayer life was active.  He often went away to pray by himself.  He prayed with his disciples, he prayed for all believers in the upper room, he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, and even on the cross he prayed!  His prayer life was not just an example for us.  He was actively keeping God’s command to pray, praise and give thanks. Do you remember that part of the Second Commandment?  He credits his perfect keeping of this command to us, who have at times given up on God.

Jesus loves us and does not want to see us fail.  He wants to see us succeed in keeping of God’s will.  That is why Jesus promises, “I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.”  Be assured by this promise of Christ, that God will listen to your prayers and answer them.

Following the parable of the widow and the unjust judge, Jesus asks two rhetorical questions.  “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?”  You can almost sense the ‘duh” tone of Jesus’ questions.  Hey, if that unjust judge is going to issue justice, how much more will my Father, who loves you and sent me to die for you, surely listen to you and answer your prayers?  We have the assurance from Luke 11: “Ask and it will be given to you.” and from John 16: “My father will give you whatever you ask in my name.”

We have Christ’s personal assurance that God hears our prayers and petitions whatever they are.  Be assured by Christ’s promise that you can bring it all to him: your loving concern for that family member suffering in the hospital; your prayers of thanks for his grace for this new day; your fear over your adolescent teen (Did you raise them right?  Will they make the right choices?), your fear as a teen about where your life will be leading you in the weeks, months and years ahead;  your concerns for your coworker or family member who doesn’t  believe in Jesus as their Savior (Ask God to work through you); your prayers that you or a loved one find stable work, your prayers for guidance and patience when dealing with coworkers or parents with whom you don’t see eye to eye, or whatever else you are struggling with at this time.  Be persistent in whatever your pleas are!  Be persistent knowing that you have Christ’s personal assurance that God will answer your prayers!

But also be reminded that justice or answers delayed are not answers or justice denied.  God works on his timetable for our good. Sometimes the trials he allows us to face are to strengthen our faith.  Sometimes they are to teach us to be persistent in prayer.  Whatever the case, we are not to become disheartened or give-up praying.

We pray confidently – and persistently as the widow and as Jacob, because Christ died for us and we are his children, children told to bring troubles to their father.  Had Christ not paid for the times in our life when we give up praying, times when we don’t know what to pray, the times when we don’t trust his will be done, our prayers would be in vain.  But we have the assurance that Christ did die for our sins and that as God’s children we can come to him day and night with all our thoughts, concerns, and petitions.  

So take your cares to him and don’t stop bringing them.  Be so persistent that he must answer your prayer, because you are not going to stop bringing your cares before him until he blesses you!  Be persistent for God loves you and will answer!

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