Jesus is found over twenty times in the Gospels praying or teaching about prayer. This one from Luke 18: 1-5...We all know this story of the widow and the judge. It begins 'that men always ought to pray and not lose heart' ... The lessons to learn from this scripture... Number 1: JUST DO IT ...We "ought to pray" We have to just do it. Put it into practice. We learn by doing! Number 2: PRAY ALWAYS... It's correct to pray "always"- at all times; for all things; and in any situation. Prayer opens the door for positive spiritual influence and results! Number 3: LEGAL DEMANDS... Praying is like a lawyer making legal demands before a judge. God is a good judge. The picture of a judge who "doesn't care" is to encourage us to make strong demands, NOT that God is uncaring! Number 4: OVERCOME EVIL... There is conscious evil in the world. We have to overcome our "adversary" during prayer. There is demonic resistance to our prayers. We pray against the forces of evil that are opposing God! Number 5: BE BOLD... Even though we live in the flesh in the world, We have to be bold and push through all the carnality to get ahold of God's power and be warrior-like in our prayer life! Number 6: BE FAITHFUL...Jesus asks a question in closing this parable..."When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith? Let us be like the widow, praying with overcoming faith and with consistent faithfulness! Number 7: LIKE THE WIDOW... Because of her lowly position, she puts all her dependence and zeal on the prayer. It is ALL she has. Let us put ourselves in a similar low position in the human sense and pray with ALL we've got...LIKE THE WIDOW!
Exodus 34:6 And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering , and abounding in goodness and truth... In this verse IS the disposition of Messiah. The early church used this important verse to judge prophecy and conduct in the church atmosphere. There were three elders who were in charge of hearing and deciding if what was said and done in that time was in the disposition of Messiah. In this very shaky and explosive time we are living in (exciting & wonderful time I might add) it would serve us well if we would write this verse on the tablet of our heart and in every circumstance, situation we find ourselves apply it rightly and justly. By doing this, we, as the body of Christ, will start looking like the "church" the public has never seen!!!
Comments
Post a Comment