Winning In The Kingdom Court Series

Tonight, we are going to view a fresh perspective on prayer from Dr. Franics Myles in his book on “dangerous prayers.”(1) Now, I have taken some time to wade through his book and weed out the muck. Let me get started by saying that I have heard it said, “Prayer is a walkie-talkie for warfare, not a domestic intercom for increasing our conveniences.” This catchy statement shows how we often view prayer as a type of weapon for doing battle in spiritual warfare; and in some respects, it is, for it is the last thing emphasized in that well-known passage in Ephesians about “the armor of God” (cf. 6:10-18; specifically, v. 18). But it’s not just an offensive weapon. Prayer is a defensive measure; one which will allow us to present a solid defense in court; specifically, in the Kingdom Court.

Robert Henderson says, “The first thing we must do to step into [the Kingdom Court] is to get off the battlefield. We have to recognize the need for legal precedents to be set before we run to the battle. We are in a conflict, but it is a legal one.”(2) He continues to say that “Jesus never pictures prayer in the battlefield context. He did put prayer, however, in a courtroom or judicial setting in Luke 18:1-8”(3) – which is our primary text. You see, most of us probably have not considered that before we suit up for battle with the armor, we must put on our Sunday best. We must enter the courtroom, being clothed with the precious blood of Christ, and through prayer plead our case for divine judicial intervention. So, with this idea in mind, let’s go ahead and begin with our main passage.

Pleading with the Unjust Judge (Luke 18:1-8)

1 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, 2 saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. 3 Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ 4 And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, 5 yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me’.” 6 Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. 7 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”

How many of you have been praying over a situation for a long time, maybe even years, with no apparent answer or relief? In verse 1, Jesus said “that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.” “This [statement] suggests that this [parable] . . . is for people who are on the verge of giving up or losing hope, because the mountains of problems they face have been stubbornly resistant to the prayers they have prayed.”(4) The disciples once came to Jesus discouraged because they had no success in praying for the healing of an epileptic, and He told them, “This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21). Jesus implied that some prayers may take a little extra boost, like fasting; but others, as shown by this parable, may require some kind of divine legal proceedings.

This prayer represents “the final court of appeal for anything legal in nature, spiritually speaking. Jesus . . . tells us the story of a desperate widow and a corrupt judge. He tells us that in a certain city there was a judge, a corrupt one at that, who did not fear God nor respect any man. This widow went to this corrupt judge and asked him to give her justice and legal protection from her adversary.”(5) Now, “the word ‘adversary’ used in the passage comes from the Greek word antidikos. This is where we get our prefix anti, meaning ‘against,’ and the word dikos means ‘rights.’ So, an adversary is a person or entity who is violating your legal rights as a citizen, [and we must not forget that we are citizens of the Kingdom of God]. We immediately see that Jesus is placing prayer in this realm in a judicial context or framework.”(6)

“The corrupt judge was very reluctant to give the widow the justice and legal protection she deserved. However, her persistency became a nuisance to him; so, in order to save himself the trouble, he reluctantly gave her justice and legal protection from her adversary.”(7) “The moral of the story is that by going to a judge, though he was corrupt and reluctant, the woman got the breakthrough she desperately needed. Her breakthrough, having come out of the court system, was legally binding within the judge’s jurisdiction. What is also interesting is that . . . the widow never addressed her adversary directly. She only talked to the judge – the whole time! It is interesting that in courts all over the world, the defendant or plaintiff is never allowed by the judge to address the prosecutor directly except through their attorneys.”(8)