Luke Series #78 September 08, 2002
Title: 3 Incentives to Keep Praying
Email: pastorsarver@yahoo.com
Website: www.newlifeinchrist.info
Introduction: Welcome to New Life in Christ. This morning we are in Chapter 18 of the Book of Luke in our verse-by-verse teaching series out of that book.
Read Luke 17:1-8
Opening Prayer
There’s a magazine cartoon that shows a little fellow kneeling beside his bed for his bedtime prayer. He says with some measure of disgust, "Dear God, Uncle Jim still doesn’t have a job; Sis still doesn’t have a date for the social; Grandma is still feeling sick - and I’m tired of praying for this family and not getting results."
Probably all of us have felt this way, at one time or another, in regard to our prayers. Each one of us has probably felt like quitting. Each one of us has probably felt like giving up on seeing answers to our prayers. Probably more than a few of us have actually stopped praying, maybe not altogether, but we have quit praying for certain things. Things that God had laid on our heart! Things that are important and not trivial. Things like seeing a loved one saved or return to Christ. Things like having a marriage restored ministry successful, sickness or infirmity healed, or an urgent need met. We quit praying because of discouragement and doubt. We quit praying because we sometimes wonder if it does pay to pray. Even though we would never voice such thoughts, the idea does sometimes come into our minds.
Jesus knew that his disciples would be tempted to quit praying. Jesus had just talked to his disciples about his return and the coming Kingdom of God. He told them that his coming, and the establishment of Kingdom of God with it, might be delayed and that during this time they would long for his return. Things would not be as good as they longed for them to be.
We are living in-between the times, and as such, we face troubles, opposition, adversity, etc... During this time, before Jesus returns, Jesus knew that his disciples would be tempted to give up on prayer, so he spoke often on the subject of persevering in prayer, to give his disciples encouragement and incentives to not give up on prayer. This passage is one of those times. In this passage Jesus gives his disciples reasons to keep on praying. Today I will be sharing with you, from this passage, five incentives to keep on praying. Without any further ado, let’s get to the first incentive to keep on praying.
1. Keep on praying because sometimes the answer to prayer will be delayed.
In other words, we should not stop praying just because we don’t see results quickly. In verse 1 we are told that Jesus gave this parable to show his disciples that they "should always pray and not give up." There would be no need for such a teaching if most prayers were answered quickly! After all, we’re only tempted to give up on something when we are not seeing significant results in a timely manner.
For example, when we diet to lose weight, we’re likely to give up in discouragement if we weigh ourselves after 2-3 days and expect significant results. Only if we approach the diet with the understanding that achieving the goal may take some time, will we persevere. It is the same with prayer. We need to understand that the answers or results we seek in prayer may be postponed or delayed significantly.
Verse 7, which I will discuss in more detail later, also indicates that sometimes God does delay answering our prayers. It would make no sense for Jesus to ask if God will keep putting off answering his people’s prayers unless he had already been doing so!
1. Keep on praying because sometimes the answer to prayer will be delayed.
This knowledge motivates us because we’re now not going to be discouraged when the answer does not come quickly; we will recognize that the delay is what Jesus told us to expect. Do not make the mistake of equating a delay in the answer to your prayers as a denial to answer your prayers. You can pray for something that is within the will of God and still not see a quick or easy answer.
Some time ago, I felt that God was leading me to pray for a significant numerical increase in the church. I was very hesitant to pray this prayer because I knew that, as the pastor, my motives could be wrong. I could be equating numbers with success, which is unbiblical, or I could want the increase out of pride. Nevertheless, after seeking God, I felt that it was he who was leading me to pray this prayer, after all it was God who had given us and enabled us to pay for a building which seats 450, so why not pray that everything God gave us was put to use.
I can’t see how empty pews fulfill God’s will, so I very enthusiastically and expectantly began to pray for numerical increase. I did this for about three months and nothing happened. Soon my expectancy and enthusiasm began to weaken and I stopped praying for the increase. I began to reason that it must not be God’s will for the church to increase in numbers, since my prayer had not been answered yet. I had mistaken God’s delay in answering my prayers for a denial to answer my prayers. I’ve forgotten the lesson Jesus teaches us here, which is. . .
1. Keep on praying because sometimes the answer to prayer will be delayed.
Perhaps you have stopped praying fervently for something important also? Perhaps you have grown discouraged or convinced that your prayers will not be answered? Perhaps you have thought, like I did, that maybe your request was not in God’s will after all and you therefore accepted the status quo? If so, I hope you will do like I did and get back on your knees and keep praying. We have every incentive to keep on praying.
1. Keep on praying because sometimes the answer to prayer will be delayed.
Now let’s look at another incentive Jesus gives us to keep praying.
Read Luke 18:2-5
2. Keep on praying because perseverance in prayer is essential for success.
Suppose John Kuhn was changing that stage light up there, which is about 50 feet above the stage. Suppose somehow the ladder he was on fell but he managed to grab hold of the light fixture and not fall. Would I need to give a motivational speech to John on why he should persevere and hold on? Of course not! He is going to hold on and not give up because he recognizes that perseverance is essential to success. He has all the motivation he needs to persevere, to keep holding on.
In the same way, we need to keep on praying because we know that it is essential for success. By success, I meant success in accomplishing God’s purposes. We need to understand that we have no other options, no hope, no other recourse but to keep praying, no matter how long it takes to get an answer. We have a second incentive to keep on praying.
2. Keep on praying because perseverance in prayer is essential for success.
Let me share with you how I find this principle in verses 2-5. In this parable, Jesus could have said that a certain woman in a certain town came before certain judge, with no other details, but he did not do that. Rather he specifically told us that this woman is a widow. This is significant because a widow in those days was without money to bribe the judge, without a husband to speak up for her, and without influence to pressure the judge to do what is right. In essence, she was in a helpless situation, without any other source or recourse.
Her only option was to keep asking the judge to help her; persevering was essential for success! She had no other alternatives. Now the window in the story represents God’s people. We need to realize that we must, not should, but must persevere in prayer because we have no other source of hope or help.
I do not think we will really pray and especially keep on praying until we come to the place of complete desperation and have no other plan or recourse. We need to get to a place like the patriarch Jacob did, when he wrestled with God. When his hip was dislocated, he had no leg to stand on, no strength of his own, all his self-reliance was gone. It was then that he held on and wouldn’t let go of God until he got the blessing. In his weakness he knew that perseverance was essential.
2. Keep on praying because perseverance in prayer is essential for success.
Jesus emphasized this same point in a previous parable dealing with prayer. In the parable of the Friend at Midnight, in Luke 11:5-8, Jesus notes that the man needs bread to feed a friend who came at midnight. This detail emphasizes that the only option that this man had was to keep knocking and asking a neighbor for help, after all it wasn’t like he could go to the local 7-11 and purchase bread. Perseverance in knocking, i.e. praying, was essential for success. We also need to get to the place where we realize that we have no strength of our own, that no plan that we have will succeed, that God must come through. This will motivate us to keep praying, because we will understand that God answering our prayers is our only hope.
Now let’s look at the third incentive Jesus gives us to keep praying.
Read Luke 18:6-8
3. Keep on praying because you’re special to God.
My daughters are much more likely to keep on asking me to take them to McDonald’s than they would an acquaintance or even a friend. Why? They know that they have a special relationship with me, which will make any more inclined to hear and answer their persistent request, than an acquaintance or friend would. That is what encourages them to keep asking. It is the same with you and me. When we realize how special we are to God, how much he loves and cares for us, then we are motivated to keep on praying.
Let me back up for a moment and point out certain aspects of this parable that I have not covered so far. In the parable, it is a widow who is asking the judge for justice. She is a nobody. She is not special to the judge at all. He is certainly less inclined to listen to her that he would to his own mother or daughter or person of renown in society. Also in the parable the judge is described as unjust. According to verse 2, he does not care about people or doing the right thing, i.e. he "neither feared God nor cared about man." In this parable then, a nobody gets an uncaring judge to meet her request, just because she persevered.
Now Jesus is not comparing God to an unjust judge or Christians to nobodies. Rather he is making a point by contrast. If a nobody can get an uncaring judge to answer her request by perseverance, then how much more can we expect the Righteous Judge (God) who does care to respond to his special people’s persistent requests. After all we are somebody in his eye; we are special to God.
I want you to notice that in verse 7 Jesus specifically refers to us as "his chosen ones." In other words, you are special to a caring God, so you can expect an answer to your persistent prayers, even more so than the widow in the parable did. If it worked for her, then it is much more likely to work for you. This is an incentive or motivation to keep on praying. God does care and can be expected to respond to our prayers, because of who he is and because of who we are by his grace.
3. Keep on praying because you’re special to God.
When you understand this, it will change your whole prayer life. I keep on praying because I expect God to listen and respond to my request. I don’t expect him to listen and respond because I have great faith. I don’t expect him to listen and respond because I have fasted or prayed for many hours. I don’t expect to be heard because I’ve been exceptionally righteous or religious. I expect God to hear and respond because he is a wonderful, caring God who loves me and sees me a special. I, like all Christians, am one of his chosen ones, so I just keep on praying.
3. Keep on praying because you’re special to God.
The Lord will not ignore his children who "cry out to him day and night." He may delay answering our prayers for a time, but he will not "keep putting us off." According to verse 8, God will see that his people get justice, i.e. their righteous request will be met. At this point, it should be noted that the widow’s request in the parable was for what was right, and that God will not honor our request if they come from wrong motives, no matter how much we may persevere or belief.
James 4:3 says, "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." Wrong motives would include asking for things out of pride, greed, lust, or to satisfy fleshly pleasures.
Jesus says in verse 8 that God will see that his people’s prayers are answered "quickly." "Quickly" could also be translated as "suddenly." This expression or word could mean that God will not delay too long in meeting his people’s request or it could refer to the answer coming very suddenly, instead of gradually.
"Quickly" is such a relative term. When I say, "Boy, they got engaged rather quickly after they met" different people will interpret the word “quickly” differently. For some people quickly in that sentence would mean one week, for others it would mean one month, and for others still it would mean one year. So you can see that a lot of things can be meant by the word quickly.
The main point Jesus is making is that unlike the unjust judge, there is no reluctance on God’s part to answer our prayers. Then you may ask, "Why is there any delay in answering our prayers at all?"
Jesus does not directly address that question, but I think the latter part of verse 8 gives us a clue! Jesus asked an interesting question here, "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" This question is interesting because Jesus was not talking about faith; he was talking about persevering in prayer. Why then did he ask this question on faith in the context of prayer? I think the answer is that persevering prayer and faith go hand in hand. The one is evidence of the other! When God delays answering our prayers, it is not because he is reluctant to bless his children, but I believe one reason he delays is to test and strengthen our faith, which is of more value to God than gold is to us!
Conclusion: If Jesus were to come this week, would he find faith in your life? Would he find you persevering in prayer? Or would he find that you had quit praying because you do not really believe? I hope that he would find us persisting in believing prayer. We certainly have every incentive to keep on praying.
1. Keep on praying because sometimes the answer to prayer will be delayed.
2. Keep on praying because perseverance in prayer is essential for success.
3. Keep on praying because you’re special to God.
Closing Prayer
