Prayer Keys - Persistence
“Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” Luke 18:1
Have you seen that cartoon with the pelican having a frog for dinner? His dinner is not agreeing with him. In fact, his dinner is violently disagreeing with him. The frog’s head, shoulders, and most of his body are in the pelican’s beak, but his back legs are outside, kicking for all they’re worth. His front legs stick out from both sides of the pelican’s beak. His hands are choking the wide-eyed pelican. (I know. Most frog’s don’t have hands. The one in this cartoon does. The frog’s front legs stick out from both sides of the pelican’s beak and his hands are choking the wide-eyed pelican.)
If I remember correctly, the caption on the cartoon is something like, “Never give up.”
At one time or another, you may have felt like that frog. Life seemed to be swallowing you alive. Screaming didn’t help. Kicking and fighting for all you’re worth is the only thing that seemed to get you through. You may feel like that now. You may wonder if it is worth the struggle.
Never give up.
Lou Gehrig’s nickname in baseball was “Iron Horse.” His 2,130 consecutive games played was a record for 56 years until Cal Ripken, Jr, exceeded it in 1995. He was the first American Leaguer to hit four home runs in a game. He holds the record for career grand slams. His jersey, #4, was the first number retired in American professional sports.
But he was not made of iron, as events late in his career proved. First, doctors x-rayed his hands and discovered seventeen fractures that had healed without Lou stopping to get treatment. His bones were broken, but not his spirit.
His consecutive game streak might have remained a record if not for the second event proving he was flesh and blood, not iron. Eight games into the 1939 season he retired because he contracted the degenerative disease that now bears his name. If not for Lou Gehrig’s disease, who knows how many hundred more games he would have played?
As a youth, a teammate, frustrated with Lou’s mistakes costing the team yet another game, encouraged him to quit. Instead, he determined to make one fewer mistake each game. Eventually, he determined to make no more than one mistake a game. Eventually, he determined to make no more than one mistake a season. He didn’t give up.
The frog’s key to survival and Lou Gehrig’s key to success is this study’s key to prayer: persistence. Never give up.
The parable introduced in Luke 18:1 is of a persistent widow. Widows were among the most powerless of people in Middle Eastern cultures, including the Jewish culture. They needed a husband, a father, a brother, a son, they needed some male to stand up for their rights. No reference to any family helping her may suggest she is alone and powerless. She has been denied justice. She goes to a judge to ask for justice, but he doesn’t want to be bothered and doesn’t care what anyone thinks about it.
The first time the judge refuses to listen to her, she comes back a second time. She comes back a third. She hounds him. Apparently, she does not break any laws for which he can have her locked up. Stalking is not against the Mosaic law or the man-made laws added to it. She simply but persistently pursues justice.
Imagine. He goes to work, she is the first person he sees. When he leaves work, she is there waiting for him. He goes out to eat, she follows him. She is waiting for him when he leaves. A friend comes to visit. He is afraid to answer the door because he knows she will be there, beside his friend, asking for justice.
She finally wears him down. He doesn’t care about her. He doesn’t care about justice. He doesn’t care what God or men think. He just wants her to leave him alone.
Widows are among the most powerless of people in this culture. The only power this widow has is the power of persistence.
The persistent widow is often compared with the persistent friend in Luke 11. A traveler arrives at a man’s house late at night. The man has no bread to serve. Honor demands that he feed his weary guest. He goes to a friend’s house to borrow bread. His friend is in bed. His friend’s family is in bed. The door is shut. The friend does not want to get up and disturb the family. He won’t do it for friendship, but he will do it if the first friend keeps on knocking.
The conclusion of that parable is, “For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” Jesus continues teaching that, “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
In these parables, the judge and the friend are reluctant to do the right thing. By contrast, God is not only willing, but anxious to give justice and good gifts. In fact, looking at the unjust judge, the contrast could not be greater. The judge is unjust while God is just. The judge cares not at all while God tells us to cast all our cares on Him because He cares for us. The petitioner in the parable is a widow and a stranger while the petitioners in prayer are God’s children, His chosen people. The woman comes uninvited while God encourages us to come boldly to the throne of grace. The contrast could not be greater.
The judge reluctantly changes his mind and grants justice because the widow is so persistent. But if God is anxious to give justice, if He is anxious to give us good gifts, what is the point of persistence? Our persistence does not change God. Prayer is a conversation with God. I speak with God. He speaks with me. If persistent prayer does not change God… maybe… it changes me.
The problem is not that God is not willing to give. Sometimes we are not ready to receive. I read in a sermon by Fred Markes that, “A man becomes physically strong by working continuously. A weight lifter trains constantly. Someone has said prayer is the gymnasium of our soul. It is through persistent prayer that our faith is exercised and strengthened.”
After describing the difficulty of continuing to pray day after day, in spite of delays, discouragement, and the “dark and gloomy events in providence,” Daniel Wilson wrote, “Importunate prayer is the way to every blessing. It honors God, acknowledges our dependence upon him, keeps us humble, fearful, and spiritual; separates us from a worldly, low habit of mind; weans us from sin, unites all the workmen together in God’s building, animates us to the most active use of means, and enables us to wait in patience God’s time of deliverance.”
Going back to the sports example, did Lou Gehrig persist so long that a second pitcher’s mound was added behind the first, used only when he batted, giving him an extra fraction of a second to see the ball coming and swing the bat? Did he persist so long that a second set of bases, five feet closer than the first set, were added so he alone could run them a fraction of a second faster? No. He learned to hit the ball and run the bases.
Persistent practice did not change the sport. It changed the athlete. But the kind of persistent practice that changes the athlete is not simple repetition.
I was once a substitute teacher for a senior journalism class in which the teacher was showing a video of “Forrest Gump.” The part that day included Forrest Gump making the American ping pong team to go play China in the early 70 s.
He practiced by folding half the table up. He served the ball. It hit his side of the table. It cleared the net, hit the folded up side, and bounced back. He hit it again and again, faster and faster. It was impressive watching how fast he moved, but that kind of repetition, always standing in the same place, always hitting the ball at the same height, always hitting it in the same straight line, will never make anyone a champion, no matter how fast he does it. It was vain repetition.
Persistent practice does not change the sport, it changes the athlete. But the persistent practice is not vain repetition. Persistent prayer does not change God. It changes us. But persistent prayer is not vain repetition. God commands persistent prayer. God condemns vain repetition. Jesus condemns those who pray long prayers to be seen of men by saying, “Don’t be like them,” Matthew 6:8.
It strikes me as strange that some today preach against perseverance, against the lesson that Jesus taught. They teach that we should “name it and claim it,” that we should pray for something once and believe that it is ours by faith, that praying a second time for the same thing is a lack of faith, a failure to claim what is already ours. They seem to teach that asking a second time for the same think is “vain repetition.”
Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun. The “name it and claim it” idea that we should only pray once for something is not new. R. A. Torrey mentioned this heretical idea in a sermon a hundred years ago. I would not be surprised to find it is much older than that.
There are times that God gives confidence that our prayer has been heard the first time, that we will receive what we ask the first time we ask, and that the only appropriate prayer left is a prayer of thanksgiving. That is not an every day experience for me. Maybe it should be, but it is not. Those who claim to be so spiritual that they always know the first time that they will receive what they ask, those who claim to be so spiritual that they never ask for the same thing a second time, seem to be claiming to be more spiritual than Jesus. “So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing,” Matthew 26:44. His repetition was not vain repetition. Jesus did not receive what He asked in His persistent prayer, but He received what He needed. He had the strength and courage to complete His mission.
After the parable of the persistent widow, the context includes the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector.
The tax collector demonstrates several prayer keys, humility, earnestness, repentance and confession, sincerity…
The Pharisee is not humble, he is not repentant, he confesses nothing, he glorifies himself… “Lord, I thank you that I am not like other men. I tithe. I fast. I glorify myself. (I know. He didn’t say the last one. He wasn’t that honest.) I… I… I…” That prayer will never make him right with God. He could repeat it till doomsday. It is vain repetition.
Researchers who study world class athletes, virtuoso musicians, chess grandmasters, elite surgeons, and people who excel in other areas emphasize the importance of practice, but not vain repetition. The researchers call it “deliberate” practice; deliberately practicing the things that will improve performance.
As we are persistent in prayer, as we deliberately seek God’s will and persistently pray, as we deliberately hide God’s word in our hearts and persistently pray, as we obey, as we live holy lives, as we glorify God, as we deliberately practice the things God has revealed as prayer keys and persistently pray, we do not change God. He changes us and uses us.
One of the first testimonies I remember hearing about persistent prayer was from an older man about being saved when he was 18. He immediately began praying for and witnessing to his family. He soon reached his mother and siblings, but not his father. He continued praying.
He prayed for 10 years to no avail. 20 years stretched into 30 and 30 into 40. He prayed for his father 42 years before the man, then in his 80 s, accepted Christ.
I cannot imagine what a struggle it must be to pray for something for 40 years with no sign of an answer. I can imagine that experience inspiring doubt, but Luke 18:1 suggests the opposite.
In over 60 years, George Mueller reported answers to an estimated 30,000 prayers. Many of his prayers were answered within hours, minutes, or even seconds of praying.
James Montgomery Boice, in The Parables of Jesus, writes, “George Mueller, the founder of a great Christian orphanage work in England in the 1800 s, was a powerful man of prayer. He knew the importance of keeping at prayer even when the answer seemed delayed. When he was young he began praying that two of his friends might be saved. He prayed for them for more than 60 years. One of the men was converted shortly before his death at what was probably the last service Mueller held. The other was saved within a year of his death.”
“God’s delays are not denials. We do not know why He sometimes delays the answer and at other times answers `before we call’ (Isa. lxv. 24). George Muller, one of the greatest men of prayer of all time, had to pray over a period of more than sixty-three years for the conversion of a friend! Who can tell why? `The great point is never to give up until the answer comes,’ said Muller. `I have been praying for sixty-three years and eight months for one man’s conversion. He is not converted yet, but he will be! How can it be otherwise? There is the unchanging promise of Jehovah, and on that I rest.’ …no sooner was Muller dead than his friend was converted – even before the funeral.” (Kneeling Christian, 93)
I cannot imagine what a struggle it must be to pray for something for 60 years with no sign of an answer. I can imagine that experience inspiring doubt, but Luke 18:1 suggests the opposite. We do not lose heart and stop praying. We stop praying and then lose heart. As long as we pray, we will not lose heart, or as the KJV says, we will not faint. As long as we pray, we will not give up.
“Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” THEN… after what? Our context takes us back to Luke 17:20.
Jesus responds to a question about the coming kingdom. He teaches about the coming kingdom, about conditions before the coming, about not looking back, and about the rapture. Then He told a parable that we should always pray and not lose heart. After the parable of the persistent widow, the context includes the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector.
This encouragement to persistence immediately follows teaching about the coming kingdom.
Even before Hal Lindsey and Carole C. Carlson wrote “The Late, Great, Planet Earth” over 40 years ago, expecting the immanent return of Christ, people were wondering how much longer Jesus would wait to return because we thought things were just about as bad as they could get. But things have gotten worse. We cry out with Habakkuk, “How long, O Lord, must we see all this wickedness and not see you do anything about it?”
Another point to notice about the context is that in Luke 18:31, they begin their journey to Jerusalem. Jesus has only a short time left before His arrest, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection. After His resurrection the disciples ask, “Will you now restore the kingdom? He ascends. The Holy Spirit comes. The disciples look for His return and the new kingdom. Persecution comes. The disciples look for His return and the new kingdom. The persecution continues. The disciples look for His return and the new kingdom. Persecution that started under the Jews becomes worse under the Romans. The disciples look for His return and the new kingdom.
When it seems like Jesus is waiting too long to return, when it seems like Jesus is not returning, Luke 18:1 says we are to pray and not faint. We don’t faint until we stop praying. Praying keeps us from fainting, from losing heart, from giving up. Then 18:8 asks, when Jesus comes again, will He find faith on earth?
As long as His people continue to pray, there will continue to be faith on earth. It may not seem reasonable, but when we pray persistently, even when the answers don’t come, our faith continues to grow. We may not feel faithful, we may feel doubtful, but we continue to pray. Then, after days or weeks or months, after a year or two, in some cases after 40, 50, 60, or more years of persistent praying, when the answers finally do come, faith rejoices but should not be surprised.
Please forgive me for stating the obvious, but persistent prayer is hard work. It is hard to keep praying when the answers do not come. Andrew Murray wrote,
“Of all the mysteries of the prayer world the need of persevering prayer is one of the greatest. That the Lord, who is so loving and longing to bless, should have to be asked, time after time, sometimes year after year, before the answer comes, we cannot easily understand. It is also one of the greatest practical difficulties in the exercise of believing prayer. When, after persevering pleading, our prayer remains unanswered, it is often easiest for our lazy flesh, and it has all the appearance of pious submission, to think that we must now cease praying, because God may have His secret reason for withholding His answer to our request. It is by faith alone that the difficulty is overcome…
“Our great danger, in this school of the answer delayed, is the temptation to think that, after all, it may not be God’s will to give us what we ask. If our prayer be according to God’s word, and under the leading of the Spirit, let us not give way to these fears.” (http://www.whatsaiththescripture.com/Voice/Murray.Persevering.Prayer.html)
It is easy to think after asking once or twice, after asking for weeks, months, or years, “Maybe this is not God’s will,” and stop. We must be careful to discern between submission to God’s will and spiritual laziness. Persistent prayer is hard work. It drains us. It is hard, but it is eventually worth the effort.
It can be hard for a reason we are reluctant to admit, but every prayer warrior for any length of time knows the experience. You are praying in faith, in power, with effectiveness. Then you can almost hear the doors of heaven slam shut. You feel like crying out in anguish with Job, “I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: On the left hand, where he works, but I cannot behold him: he hides himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him…” Job 23:8-9
Some of you know that feeling. We don’t want to admit it when we feel like heaven’s doors are barred. Persistence becomes even harder work. At those times, we need to consider three things:
First, is what we are praying according to God’s will? If not, stop praying for it.
Second, have our prayers become lopsided? Are we spending all our time asking and no time adoring, praising, or thanking? If so, we need to get our priorities right before we continue our requests.
Third, is sin blocking our access? “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me,” Psalms 66:18. If sin blocks our access, we need to repent and confess before we continue.
Sometimes, it is just a matter of persevering. As Andrew Murray said, “It is by faith alone that the difficulty is overcome.” Eventually, we will move beyond knowing Job’s anguish in 23:8-9 to knowing the victory he expects in 23:10: “But he knows the way that I take: when he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”
Again, please forgive me for stating the obvious, but persistent prayer is hard work. It drains us. It is hard, but it is eventually worth the effort.
Bill Hybels writes about an encounter after a baptism service: “I bumped into a woman in the stairwell who was crying. I thought this was a little odd, since the service was so joyful. I asked her if she was all right. She said, ‘No, I’m struggling.’ She said, ‘My mom was baptized today. I prayed for her every day for almost 20 years. The reason I’m crying is because I came this close to giving up on her. At the five year mark I said, “Who needs this? God isn’t listening.” At the ten year mark I said, “Why am I wasting my breath?” At the fifteen year mark I said, “This is absurd.” At the nineteen year mark I said, “I’m just a fool.” But I just kept trying, kept praying. Even with weak faith I kept praying. Then she gave her life to Christ, and she was baptized today. I will never doubt the power of prayer again.”
It may not seem reasonable, but when we pray persistently, even when the answers don’t come, our faith continues to grow. We may not feel faithful, we may feel doubtful, but we continue to pray. Persistent prayer does not change God. It changes us. “The reason I’m crying is because I came this close to giving up on her… I will never doubt the power of prayer again.”
Persistent prayer is hard work. It drains us. It is hard, but it is eventually worth the effort. I want to challenge you to remember two sentences. These two sentences may encourage you in your struggle. The first sentence is very short. “Always pray.” The second sentence is a little longer, but not much. The second sentence is, “Never give up.” These are the commands of Jesus. “Always pray. Never give up.”
Jesus told this parable so we would pray and not lose heart. No matter how long it takes, He will come again. Will you pray, no matter how long it takes? Will you persistently pray, even when the answers are slow to come? Your faith will grow… and the answers will come. Always… pray…. Never… give… up.
