Sunday, November 29, 2009

A persistent prayer: someone who prays continually

A while back i wanted to share something about Luke 18. Now that i have the time-i shall share.

There are times in everyone's life when you pray about something/someone for days, weeks, months and years. I'm certainly part of that crew. But for this scripture to have a personal meaning for me/you, you'll have to understand what happened to me a few months ago. There was a time in my life when i literally stopped praying. Why? you may ask; I honestly stopped praying because i thought God was tired of hearing my same prayer over and over and over again. To me, it seemed like He had heard it enough times and why was i asking for the same thing again anyway. God obviously heard me, i didn't need to repeat my prayer again. i think another reason why i stopped was because i felt like i was always asking this for myself or that for someone else. I knew that i needed this or that, and i knew that God could supply it to me- but every time i prayed- it seemed like i was always asking for stuff. I got tired of this and eventually stopped praying.

A smaller while ago, i read Luke 18. I went back to read the first couple of verses.
"1Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. 3And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.' 4"For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, 5yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' " 6And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

The part that stood out to me was this:
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? 8I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

I thought about this and how the widow finally got what she was asking for because of her persistence. She kept coming to the judge day in and day out asking for the same thing over and over and over again. She had the faith that she would eventually get what she wanted even though it probably took a lot longer than she expected. These verses encouraged me to NOT STOP PRAYING. Even though i may not see the results right away (when i want to), i know God's timing is perfect. My prayer was not for justice to be brought on someone or on my enemy- but the principle still remains. Persistent prayer increases faith.

comments?

Saturday, November 21, 2009

What he didn't say, but maybe implied

This morning 11am something, i read Luke 17. In the second section of this chapter, it talks about the 10 lepers who were healed.
11Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosya]">[a]met him. They stood at a distance 13and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" 14When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. 15One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. 17Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" 19Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."When i read this, something popped out at me. After the 10 lepers called out to Jesus, notice what He actually sais. No, it's not "Be clean", nor is it any other sort of phrase including the words you are healed. What does He say? "Go, show yourselves to the priests".

To me, this implies that Jesus' intent was to heal them, but the lepers had to have faith that even though Jesus did not say, "Be clean" they would in fact become clean. This is proven in the last verse where Jesus tells the 1 returning leper, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well". I thought about these verses. I think sometimes we/I want Jesus to say the magic words and make everything well. We/I want Him to say "Be clean, be healed, your troubles are now gone forever", and make everything so much better. If Jesus were, in fact, to say this- then i would not need Him because everything would be okay and i wouldn't need to trust Him...or have faith for that matter. But because we are not perfect people, we need Jesus, faith, and to trust in Him. He asks us to step out in faith. That one leper stepped out in faith- believing that Jesus would heal him as he went on his way to the priest. Maybe even step out in faith even when the lepers didn't see immediate healing.

as always, i'm open to any comments.