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?

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 leprosy^a]">[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.

Repetition and "I've read that before"

I was given a book entitled Moments with The Savior, by one of the pastors in my church. Also, i'm currently reading the gospel of Luke in the Bible. Ya know, sometimes it's quite comical how the Lord works. One night i read something in Luke. This, in turn, ended up being something that i had previously read the night before in Moments with The Savior. Even today- stuff like this happens . Case in point- today i got an email from a friend. He was just saying a few ways about how God was speaking to him. Here's part of the email: "When God reveals something he will allow a question to crop up to see if we will yield to his revelation or if we will yield to that which has not happened (ie the question). He doesn't mind the question if explanation is not required for obedience. (Used Zechariah and Mary being visited by the angel. Both asked questions. They both asked "How is this possible?" The difference was in how the question was asked.)" Last night, i had just heard a small devo about the very same thing, Zechariah and Mary. What i ended up hearing in the devo said something like this: (luke 1) There are 2 people presented with something that God is going to do (ie- Zechariah and Mary), both respond in the same way- but the outcome is different. Zechariah asks God how is it possible for his wife to have a son, especially since she was in very old age. Here we see Zechariah doubting God. He doesn't believe that God can do it. For his doubting, God silences him until the baby is born. Then later on, he is given back his voice. On the other hand, Mary's question of "How?" is more along the lines of- I'm a virgin, how are you going to do this? I can't wait to see what Your'e gonna do. The end of this devo had something that really brought a new meaning to this story for me. So again, 2 people, same question, different outcome. For Zechariah, he gets a lesson in what God can do, i.e.- trust. For Mary, she gets to be the vessel that God uses to bring Jesus into the world. As i said before, this type of repetition of things previously read has happened to me a lot recently. I think it's neat when this type of thing happens.

My first Entry

Don't tell me evolution created this. (pic @ right)
Don't tell me that some sludge evolved to create this masterpiece art work. Don't say that my God can't do something just because we think it's too big for Him. Naw, man- that' ain't truth. We know better than that. There is nothing too big for God. He IS able! He can do anything and everything. The only thing He cannot do is sin. He is perfect and cannot be with sin.


I'm currently working on a haiku. It's called Life. It's about my life; my ups, my downs, times when I praise God, times when i've hit rock bottom, times when i've cried out to God, times when God spoke to me...etc. Currently, i'm on the 18th page. who knows- maybe it'll be a book one day.








I recently went to a park, to write and have time to be with God and read His word. It was also an excuse to get out and enjoy the awesome weather. I came upon this passage out of Luke. While i was reading this, something struck me. The man with leprosy asks Jesus, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." My mind paused and re-read his question. "Lord, if you are willing..." ... ... ... ... Seriously? you're asking Jesus, the great and powerful awesome God, an IF question? okay so maybe the guy didn't fully know who Jesus was other than a healer. I just found it quite odd of him to ask Jesus an IF question. "Lord, if you are willing..." Why would He not be willing? Of course He is willing- it's not like He isn't. I think a lot of times we ask with the question IF. God, if you could do this- then this. IF you could just do this for this one person, i'd be happy. Instead of thinking that God, for some reason, might not have time to do it, or doesn't want to do it, why not pray to God without questioning His power.

i'm open to other views of this and other opinions.

~Accaberatyra