Sermon Central
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Persistent Prayer
Contributed by Revd. Martin Dale on Oct 11, 2025 (message contributor)
Summary: Richard Foster has written a book on prayer with 21 different types of prayer. But I won't preach on all of them this Sunday
Luke 18:1-8 – Persistence in Prayer
Father, we pray this morning that you will reveal more about the nature of prayer to us. We ask this in Jesus’ Name Amen.
Story:
A friend of mine, Alun Morris once told a story of a very irreligious man, who he knew in Switzerland.
One Sunday he met him going to a confirmation service.
And as the man walked in, Alun watched as he bowed his head for a minute standing in front of the altar.
Alun was very impressed.
After the service Alun went up to him and said: I didn’t know you were that religious, I liked the way you prayed up there.
The man looked at Alun furtively and said: Well actually I didn’t pray, I just counted from one to ten.
What is Prayer?
Richard Foster has written a book on prayer
Let me just read the Chapter titles
1. Simple Prayer
2. Prayer of the Forsaken
3. Prayer of the Examen
4. Prayer of Tears
5. Prayer of Relinquishment
6. Formation Prayer
7. Covenant Prayer
8. Prayer of Adoration
9. Prayer of Rest
10. Sacramental Prayer
11. Unceasing Prayer
12. Prayer of the Heart
13. Meditative Prayer
14. Contemplative Prayer
15. Praying the Ordinary
16. Petitionary Prayer
17. Intercessory Prayer
18. Healing Prayer
19. The Prayer of Suffering
20.Authoritative Prayer
21. Radical Prayer.
Do you recognise any of them?
Well I was thinking of preaching about all of them……
You will be pleased to know I won’t take all of them
But I will take one .
Unceasing Prayer
I realised when I got up the other day that Hudson, my Bernese Mountain Dog always comes running to see me
He seems overjoyed when I come down.
I wonder how excited we are when we come to God. Often when we do pray, we don’t persevere with it
In this morning’s gospel reading Luke 18:1-8 Jesus focuses on prayer - using the parable of the Unjust Judge to encourage us to stick at prayer.
We should pray so we don’t lose heart.
Prayer is very precious to God.
We read in Revelation 8: 3 and 4 that there is only one thing that we can do that will be in the throne room of God
The prayers of the saints.
That’s our prayers –not our deeds
Our prayers are equated with incense offered to God at the altar.
“Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. (Rev 8:3-4)
The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel's hand.”
What JESUS is NOT saying.
It is important to note what Jesus is not saying with Parable of the Unjust Judge.
He is NOT saying that God is as parsimonious in answering prayer as the unjust judge was frugal in dispensing justice.
Judges were notoriously corrupt in Jesus’ day and the implication of the parable would be that some rich person has bribed the judge not to give the widow justice.
It probably meant stopping her inheriting her husband’s estate.
Without the protection of a benefactor, the widow wouldn’t have any strings to pull. Nor could she offer any kind of bribe.
Yet, in this parable, her persistence won through.
What Jesus is saying is that :
If the Unjust Judge in this parable gives justice to the woman - surely God - who wants to answer our prayers - will answer prayer.
For me, there are three challenges from this passage:
1. God is looking for people who are persistent prayers.
2. He is looking for people to be changed through prayer
3. He is looking for people who have time for him
1. Let us look at the first of these challenges:
God is looking for people who are persistent in prayer
The Jews in Jesus’ day, limited prayer to three times a day, so that they wouldn’t wear God out by their pestering.
Jesus taught quite the opposite.
God is glad when we pray.
And the real danger is that we will wear out first. That we will run out of energy and give up praying.
It is worth noting that the woman came to the judge because she EXPECTED to win.
In other words, she had faith in receiving a fair judgment from the judge EVENTUALLY.
I meet people who really don’t EXPECT God to answer prayer. And it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
There may be some of us here today who find prayer very hard.
The reason we don’t seem to get anywhere may be because our motivation is suspect:
I’d like to ask the question
When I pray - why do I pray?
