Devotions for Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Luke 18:1-8
And he spake a parable unto them to this end , that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:1-8)
Pastor Ben’s Commentary:
Today’s passage and commentary will be short, but don’t let that make you think that it isn’t important or profound.
Jesus is teaching on the relationship to prayer and faith. He gives the example of a “judge” (same word as deliverer). Even a judge who does not care about God or others is moved by persistence. Jesus says that God is moved by our persistent prayer even more than the unjust judge is moved by the persistence of the widow who makes requests to him.
Application:
Persistent prayer shows faith in God. Our faith pleases God.. Is there something you need? Have you prayed about it?
Persistent prayer shows authentic faith in God.
Study the Scriptures with Ben Jennings 
First: there is something I need but I know it will problaby not happen cuz god can’t make your wishes happen sometimes and I prayed, and prayed about.
Second: y would the lady or the widow make reguest to ab unjust Jugde then make request to god??
Mafalda- Zac was right on. This passage doesn’t obligate God to be like our own personal genie. The point is that we should have enough faith in God that we communicate with him consistently and persistently.
Hey Mafalda that’s a good question! But the lady didn’t ask God! Jesus uses the story to give us an example of how to pray! What Jesus is saying is if a lady will ask a unjust (which is like cruel and bad) judge and if the lady is persistent then eventually the bad judge will give it to her. What Jesus is saying is that God is even better than that because God is just he is good and loves us so he is even more likely to answer our prayers if we are persistent. If the bad judge will answer a persistent pray and God is good and loving he will definitely answer a persistent prayer. Does that make sense?
The application today is pretty simple if there is something you need or maybe even something you want tell God about it. Be persistent and pray until something happens and God answers you, whether it takes a week, a month, 3 months, or even a whole year don’t give up. Pray until God answers you. God may not always give you everything we pray for because he knows what’s best and a lot of the time we pray for things that are not what’s best for us! So its simple what prayer do you want answered? Start praying about it today and pray about it everyday until God answers you!
(PS. I miss you guys already, love ya and I’m praying for you guys in school!)
We miss you too!!…and the prayer I want is that I get to have my brother back 😦
Praying persistently to God about things definitley shows that we have faith in God! Sometimes i feel like i pray the same things over and over, but i do because i know God is listening. Whenever it’s the right time (or if it isnt), i know God is going to answer them! A lot of people say “i pray to God all the time and nothing ever happens.” what Zac said was true! It could take a year or more, who knows. But i know God has a plan for each of our lives and that sometimes the things we pray about don’t happen the way we plan them to be! God knows what is right for our lives, and by praying it proves to Him that we have faith that He can do all things! 🙂
Lindsey and Zac are so right! I love what Pator Ben said to Mafalda, God isn’t our personal genie. He isn’t going to grant our every wish because God knows what’s best for out lives and He’s going to give us the things that He knows will be best for our life. Lindsey made a good point when she said that they pray all the time and nothing happens. We talked about this yesterday that prayer is so important and it goes hand in hand when it comes to your faith in Him. When someone says that they pray all the time, but it doesn’t seem to be working, they’re missing a huge part… It’s faith! We need to have faith in God that He knows what He’s doing and that He knows what’s best! Zac is right that sometimes we pray for things that aren’t best for us, and God probably isn’t going to answer them because He knows what’s better for our lives! I know I’ve prayed for specific things to happen in my life over and over again and sometimes it did take longer then I wanted and sometimes it never happened, but I look at where I am now and I see why God did what He did, because right now I’m living for Him and going down the road He has designed for me. & it’s the greatest thing ever!!!! 🙂
We talked about this a while ago in the “Can You Hear Me Now?” series! Sometimes it’s hard to remember to pray everyday, but like Ben said, it pleases God and he’ll do what he thinks is best for u individually. 🙂
Oh ya!! Ur exactly right Alexis! I remember tht series.! ;D I think I have notes on my iPod! 😉 great point!! 🙂
That’s awesome that you kept them! 🙂
i honestly don’t get this.can someone help me!
Hey ally! The best way to understand this is to read pastor Ben’s commentary, then read the comments from all of us. Why do you think praying to God everyday is important? Read the application question in the devo & try answering it 🙂
Hey,
My prayer life is not always as consistent as it should be. Without even meaning to I stop praying for really important things. I get so mad at myself when I catch myself doing that. We should never give up. This is a good reminder for me. I should be in constant prayer about my loved ones salvation and I admit I fall short in this area at times. God doesn’t operate in “time” like we do. So what seems like a long time to us isn’t for God. I know someone who prayed and prayed about a loved one’s salvation and it took 17 years. Wow! That’s patience. It is true that we don’t always get what we pray for, but it doesn’t mean we can’t bring it to God anyways. He does know what is best for us. We should be praying for God’s will in our lives and accept it when it comes because He has our best interests in mind.
i guess because it shows our faith in god and he likes that.
What I think the passage is talking about is that, When you pray for something it is not going to happen over night and that when you pray for something stuped it is not worth it cause God is not ower own personily genie.
Your prayers might happen over night, it just depends on God! He decides when He answers your prayers or whether He does or not at all. & it’s not about if the prayer was stupid it’s about if it’s best for you. For example, I could pray to God that I wanted to date this guy even if I knew he was completely wrong for me, but he was so cute and popular that I didn’t care. God has someone better out there for me, so He probably wouldn’t answer my prayers to date the guy who was wrong for me. Make sense?
Ya id does thankx Melanie!:)
what i got out of this is that to pray every day is important but do no just do it cause you have to, do cause you want to talk to God. i also learned that when you pray dont pray about things that you need like stupid stuff. when i pray it is cool cause i get to talk to god and tell him cool stuff that i learned at church or even at home. that is what i got out of today.
Hey great job everybody, and keep up the good work! But today is cool because it not only grow are faith but strengthens are relationship with God.
That’s a good point Ryan 🙂
I am so proud of you guys! Really good interaction on here today!
What I got out of today’s passage was that Jesus is teaching us through faith, prayer, and love. The faith we have means that we have trusted god asour savior and accepted him into our lives. The prayer we have shows that we have faith and we pray for good things and the bad things. The love we have for god shows that we are ready to give up on all the ungodly things that we do or we’ve done.