{"id":1228,"date":"2017-01-21T03:00:02","date_gmt":"2017-01-21T03:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/takingeverythoughtcaptivetoobeychrist.wordpress.com\/?p=1228"},"modified":"2017-01-21T03:00:02","modified_gmt":"2017-01-21T03:00:02","slug":"praying-without-losing-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/praying-without-losing-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Praying Without Losing Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cAnd he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, \u2018In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city <\/span>who<\/span> kept coming to him and saying, \u2018Give me justice against my adversary.\u2019 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, \u2018Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.\u2019\u2019 And the Lord said, \u2018Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to <\/span>him day and night? Will he dela<\/span>y long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?\u2019\u201d \u2013 Luke 18v1-8<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/span>Here we find a marvelous parable in which Jesus teaches us to always pray and not lose heart. Unfortunately man<\/span>y<\/span> have twisted this parable in a discouraging, rather than encouraging way. Some will say, \u201cSee, God is like this judge. If we are just persistent enough and have enough faith, God will eventually give in, like the judge, and answer our prayers.\u201d But that is the opposite meaning the parable intends to give. The po<\/span>int is not that God is like the<\/span> unrighteous judge. The point is that God is <\/span>not <\/span>like the judge. It\u2019s a lesser to greater argument. If the unrighteous judge answered the petitions of the widow, after much delay, <\/span>how much more readily will our heavenly Father give justice to the cries of His elect?<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>There are two main distinctions that I would like to draw out from the text.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Nature of the Relationship<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span>In the parable, the judge had no fear of God, or respect for man. Therefore, he had no relationship with the widow. He is a judge who has no concern for the justice of his people. Therefore he had a total disconnect with the widow.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>To the contrary, the God of the Bible perfectly <\/span>enjoys, glorifies, and fears Himself<\/span> within the trinity. And be<\/span>cause of His great mercy He does not merely respect mankind, as is considered a base-level characteristic of a decent person, He loves the world (John 3:16). <\/span>While God loves the world in general, He goes further. God has a special, intense, and precise love for His children. It is a love that is sealed by the irrevocable work of His Son, in which we are brought into union with Him. <\/span>God is not distant, careless, disconnected, or unconcerned with us as the unrighteous judge who had no relationship with the widow. God is near, full of care, connected, and concerned for us because He has a special relationship with us.<\/span> We are His redeemed. We are the apple of His eye.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Emotions of the Relationship<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span>What makes the doctrinal truths of our relationship with God something that fills our hearts with hopefulness in prayer is the emotion that flows from the nature of the relationship. Because the unrighteous judge has no relationship with the widow, he was bothered, pestered, and annoyed with her, as if she was a pesky dog to him.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>God is emphatically not like this with His children.<\/span> Because of the blood-stained cross of Christ, our heavenly Father loves to hear from us.<\/span> <\/span>He<\/span> is not bothered by the constant \u201c<\/span>baa\u2019s<\/span>\u201d from His sheep. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He is not annoyed by our persistent <\/span>complaints. He does not shew us away as if we were a pesky yapping dog. He doesn\u2019t swat at us as if we were an<\/span>noying gnats on a hot summer day<\/span>. He doesn\u2019t <\/span>tiredly groan at us like one does at an alarm clock. He does not take a deep breath, bracing Himself, when He sees you approaching.<\/span> Inste<\/span>ad t<\/span>he eye of our heavenly father sparkles with excited affections toward us as He gazes upon us in our continual coming to Him.<\/span> His heart leaps within Him <\/span>as we clamor toward the throne of grace. Our Father lovingly looks forward to the times we come to Him in earnest prayer. Even more, God came to us in order that we would come to Him. He hikes up His cloak and sprints toward our weary souls. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus proved it.<\/span> What a blessing it is to be adopted by such a father as this.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>May we be constant in prayer as our faint hearts are filled with strength by the nature and emotion of our relationship to God through His Son Jesus <\/span>Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAnd he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, \u2018In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, \u2018Give me justice against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":685,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[274,557,562,596,678,679,698,699,704,771,778,911,968,969,971,1345,1355],"class_list":{"0":"post-1228","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"tag-christ","8":"tag-god","9":"tag-gospel","10":"tag-heart","11":"tag-jenkins","12":"tag-jesus","13":"tag-josh","14":"tag-joshua","15":"tag-judge","16":"tag-losing","17":"tag-luke","18":"tag-parable","19":"tag-pray","20":"tag-prayer","21":"tag-praying","22":"tag-widow","23":"tag-without","24":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5847,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/a-compassionate-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":1228,"position":0},"title":"A Compassionate God","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"July 10, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Click HERE for sermon audio \u201cYou shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.\u00a022\u00a0You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child.\u00a023\u00a0If you do mistreat them, and they\u00a0cry out to me, I will surely\u00a0hear their cry,\u00a024\u00a0and my wrath will burn, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/07\/Guido_Reni_-_Moses_with_the_Tables_of_the_Law_-_WGA19289.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/07\/Guido_Reni_-_Moses_with_the_Tables_of_the_Law_-_WGA19289.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/07\/Guido_Reni_-_Moses_with_the_Tables_of_the_Law_-_WGA19289.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/07\/Guido_Reni_-_Moses_with_the_Tables_of_the_Law_-_WGA19289.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3690,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/bonhoeffer-on-the-psalter\/","url_meta":{"origin":1228,"position":1},"title":"Bonhoeffer on the Psalter","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"January 5, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Beginning this year,\u00a0my church will be singing a Psalm from the Psalter each week. 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I have\u00a0guarded them, and\u00a0not one of them has been lost except\u00a0the son of destruction,\u00a0that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 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