Genuine Faith

Jesus told a parable about a persistent widow in Luke 18:1-8 read about it, “Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying: ‘There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’

Then the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?’”

When I think about this story, and put it into reality in my mind, about this lady and this judge who didn’t fear God or regard man, my way of thinking is this lady was like a burr under this judge’s collar, you might say she was just a plain irritation.  But this lady was not going to let him off the hook that easy, she was going to, and did, pester him and try to bring him to some accountability in this case until she got what she wanted, she was not taking no for an answer.  He got so fed up with her that he started getting weary of this pest that kept coming back, maybe like a fly that you swat at over and over again and you keep missing it and it just keeps landing on the same spot, so he finally granted her request.  

Then Jesus goes on to say that God will much more avenge His elect who cry out to Him day and night and He will avenge them speedily.  When a born-again believer seeks God for help, God is only a prayer away.  We don’t have to beg or plead but there are some guidelines, and one is we need to ask Him in faith, believing we will get what we ask for, and for many that is much easier said than done.  How many times have you prayed but didn’t really believe you would receive your request?  Be honest!

Another thing is how many times do we pray selfish prayers, in other words prayers that will only benefit us?  The next thing I will bring up is, how many times have we prayed with unconfessed sin in our lives?  And two more, although there are probably other things that could be mentioned, how many times do we pray God’s will to be done and not ours?  The last thing is, we don’t get our prayers answered because we don’t ask.  Like I said not everything we pray for is God’s will for our lives.

Think about the apostle Paul, he prayed three times that the thorn in his flesh would be removed but it wasn’t because it wasn’t God’s will.  Read 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  

God could have taken care of that situation, but it was for Paul’s own good, so He didn’t.  Sometimes God has to humble us because that is the best thing for us at the time.  Sin always separates us from God so that will hinder our prayers.  At times we don’t ask so we cannot expect to get our request from God and sometimes we ask with the wrong motives.  Then there are times we ask without believing we will receive, which is called a lack of faith and we, more than likely, won’t receive what we ask for.

This is a question everyone should ask themselves; when the Lord comes will He really find faith on the earth?  I think many people lack faith because on various occasions they have prayed and didn’t receive because of one or more of these things I mentioned above, and then we blame God because He doesn’t answer our prayers the way we want Him to.  If we do our part God will do His part because He loves us and wants the best for us.  Something to think about!   Have a super day and may the good Lord bless you and yours!!