Growing up did you ever read the book Owl Moon by Jane Yolen? It was my absolute favorite. I asked my mom to read it over and over when I was a kid. It tells the story of a little boy whose father takes him out into the woods to go owl watching. It always mystified me as a child.
I loved it and I wanted my dad to take me out to do the same thing. And I kept pestering my parents, and finally one day, I think with my moms help, my dad took me out one night to try to spot owls. And as we walked around through the woods, we saw an owl. And I believe that was a gift from the Lord. But I was persistent. I kept after my parents over and over and over, until finally they agreed.
That’s what we’re talking about today, persistence, and in particular, persistence in prayer.
During Jesus’ life he often spoke in parables, a story that explains a deeper spiritual truth. I remember when I was minister in The Salvation Army we went through a series studying every parable Jesus ever taught, and wow, did it open up a deeper spiritual realm to me.
Today we’re going to look at two parables that Jesus taught, that both illustrate different factors about prayer.
We’ve begun a new series to start the year, Jennifer began us down that road talking about dangerous prayers, then last week, over the livestream we discussed the Lord’s prayer. Now today, we look at two heart positions we should take in prayer.
The best prayers are not from the mind, in fact most anything in our Christian faith is meant to affect mainly our hearts, not just our minds.
Do you allow the truths about God into your heart, to affect your emotions, your decisions, your deepest sense of self, or are you stuck analyzing them in your mind? Let the word of God into your heart. Let the sermon affect your heart. That is where lasting change occurs.
So it is also with prayer. The best prayers, the most powerful prayers are a heart cry, something that goes from the heart, out of the mouth and up to God.
Open in your Bibles to Luke 18, and we’ll be looking at verses 1-14.
The first thing to notice here, Luke, gives us the reason why Jesus told the parable.
Verse 1 says, “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.”
So what’s the reason? That they should always pray, and never give up.
Who is Jesus speaking to? His disciples.
When should we pray? Always.
Should we ever give up on our hopes and dreams in prayer? Never.
That is an extreme word, always pray. Not often, non consistently, but always.
Your whole life, saints, can be a continuous prayer to God. Sometimes I’ll just think about someone, and long for them to be saved, I was thinking about Joe Rogan the other day, and I was just praying in my mind that God would save him. Then I was thinking about Christopher Nolan, the creator of Interstellar, Dunkirk, and the Batman remakes, longing for him to be saved, those thoughts can become prayers to God in our minds at any time.
Whenever you’re fretting about something on the news, something in politics, something with your family, even with your own mental health, turn it into a prayer request. I used to sit there and fret and worry; I’m a Christian, make it a prayer! Lay it before God. He will answer.
Second extreme word: Never give up. My grandma prayed for me for so many years, she almost gave up, when I got in trouble again in 2012, a friend of hers told me about it, then she got the news, a few months later, I’d gotten baptized.
Jesus is going to give us a parable to help us understand what this means in a deeper way.
Next, verses 2-3: He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
So we’ve got a judge, someone appointed to make decisions on legal cases. But this judge doesn’t fear God or care what people think.
And we have a widow, someone who in this historical context would have no power, and very little standing in the community. Women, and particularly widows were powerless in ancient Israeli society.
We are like the widow, powerless in regard to our adversary, the evil one, left with only one option, to petition for help. The widow has direct access to the judge, just like we have direct access to God. The widow came boldly, we should do the same.
Notice the heart of the widow, she is persistent. She doesn’t care that she is perceived so lowly in this society. She is truly in a desperate situation, because normally a widow would not appear in court, she would have a male representative, either her father, her brother, her husband, or her son. The fact that shes appearing herself proves how desperate her situation is.
Yet despite all this, her desperate situation creates this boldness. “I’ve got nothing to lose, I’m going to keep coming to this judge over and over.”
Her heart is bold to come to the throne over and over. And this is beautiful to God. Boldness, whether it’s born from desperation, or sorrow, or whatever birthed it, it’s result is beautiful, we’re told in scripture to come boldly to the throne of grace, just like the widow.
Next, verses 4-5: 4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
The judge refuses at first. But finally, he gives up, and gives the widow justice against her enemy. He fears the widow will ruin his reputation, most likely.
What does this mean for us? Is God unjust? Does he not care? Is that why we have to pray so often? Of course not.
For things on Earth there is often a time delay, because God works within the system he created, free will. If you pray for someone to be saved, God isn’t going to snap his fingers and make them saved, he’s going to bring about experiences in their lives, people they meet, that will slowly lead them toward Jesus. Things on Earth take time. Now don’t get me wrong, sometimes God does answer instantly, in certain situations it is possible. Sometimes when we pray for someone to be healed, they are suddenly healed, the cancer is gone, other times it doesn’t happen that way.
If we are persistent in our heart, not giving up, not becoming weary, we will receive an answer from the Lord.
It is easy, if we’re not careful, to become weary with praying. We pray for a few years, and nothing seems to happen, so we start thinking prayer doesn’t work, but it’s not true.
Guard your heart brothers and sisters, don’t give up on prayer, be like that persistent widow, coming again and again to the throne of God, petitioning. Trust God’s timing, not your own.
And yes, even trust if God doesn’t provide the answer you desire.
Next,6-7: 6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 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?
That’s what we’re talking about today, persistence, and in particular, persistence in prayer.
During Jesus’ life he often spoke in parables, a story that explains a deeper spiritual truth. I remember when I was minister in The Salvation Army we went through a series studying every parable Jesus ever taught, and wow, did it open up a deeper spiritual realm to me.
Today we’re going to look at two parables that Jesus taught, that both illustrate different factors about prayer.
We’ve begun a new series to start the year, Jennifer began us down that road talking about dangerous prayers, then last week, over the livestream we discussed the Lord’s prayer. Now today, we look at two heart positions we should take in prayer.
The best prayers are not from the mind, in fact most anything in our Christian faith is meant to affect mainly our hearts, not just our minds.
Do you allow the truths about God into your heart, to affect your emotions, your decisions, your deepest sense of self, or are you stuck analyzing them in your mind? Let the word of God into your heart. Let the sermon affect your heart. That is where lasting change occurs.
So it is also with prayer. The best prayers, the most powerful prayers are a heart cry, something that goes from the heart, out of the mouth and up to God.
Open in your Bibles to Luke 18, and we’ll be looking at verses 1-14.
The first thing to notice here, Luke, gives us the reason why Jesus told the parable.
Verse 1 says, “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.”
So what’s the reason? That they should always pray, and never give up.
Who is Jesus speaking to? His disciples.
When should we pray? Always.
Should we ever give up on our hopes and dreams in prayer? Never.
That is an extreme word, always pray. Not often, non consistently, but always.
Your whole life, saints, can be a continuous prayer to God. Sometimes I’ll just think about someone, and long for them to be saved, I was thinking about Joe Rogan the other day, and I was just praying in my mind that God would save him. Then I was thinking about Christopher Nolan, the creator of Interstellar, Dunkirk, and the Batman remakes, longing for him to be saved, those thoughts can become prayers to God in our minds at any time.
Whenever you’re fretting about something on the news, something in politics, something with your family, even with your own mental health, turn it into a prayer request. I used to sit there and fret and worry; I’m a Christian, make it a prayer! Lay it before God. He will answer.
Second extreme word: Never give up. My grandma prayed for me for so many years, she almost gave up, when I got in trouble again in 2012, a friend of hers told me about it, then she got the news, a few months later, I’d gotten baptized.
Jesus is going to give us a parable to help us understand what this means in a deeper way.
Next, verses 2-3: He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
So we’ve got a judge, someone appointed to make decisions on legal cases. But this judge doesn’t fear God or care what people think.
And we have a widow, someone who in this historical context would have no power, and very little standing in the community. Women, and particularly widows were powerless in ancient Israeli society.
We are like the widow, powerless in regard to our adversary, the evil one, left with only one option, to petition for help. The widow has direct access to the judge, just like we have direct access to God. The widow came boldly, we should do the same.
Notice the heart of the widow, she is persistent. She doesn’t care that she is perceived so lowly in this society. She is truly in a desperate situation, because normally a widow would not appear in court, she would have a male representative, either her father, her brother, her husband, or her son. The fact that shes appearing herself proves how desperate her situation is.
Yet despite all this, her desperate situation creates this boldness. “I’ve got nothing to lose, I’m going to keep coming to this judge over and over.”
Her heart is bold to come to the throne over and over. And this is beautiful to God. Boldness, whether it’s born from desperation, or sorrow, or whatever birthed it, it’s result is beautiful, we’re told in scripture to come boldly to the throne of grace, just like the widow.
Next, verses 4-5: 4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
The judge refuses at first. But finally, he gives up, and gives the widow justice against her enemy. He fears the widow will ruin his reputation, most likely.
What does this mean for us? Is God unjust? Does he not care? Is that why we have to pray so often? Of course not.
For things on Earth there is often a time delay, because God works within the system he created, free will. If you pray for someone to be saved, God isn’t going to snap his fingers and make them saved, he’s going to bring about experiences in their lives, people they meet, that will slowly lead them toward Jesus. Things on Earth take time. Now don’t get me wrong, sometimes God does answer instantly, in certain situations it is possible. Sometimes when we pray for someone to be healed, they are suddenly healed, the cancer is gone, other times it doesn’t happen that way.
If we are persistent in our heart, not giving up, not becoming weary, we will receive an answer from the Lord.
It is easy, if we’re not careful, to become weary with praying. We pray for a few years, and nothing seems to happen, so we start thinking prayer doesn’t work, but it’s not true.
Guard your heart brothers and sisters, don’t give up on prayer, be like that persistent widow, coming again and again to the throne of God, petitioning. Trust God’s timing, not your own.
And yes, even trust if God doesn’t provide the answer you desire.
Next,6-7: 6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 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?
Jesus says listen to the words of the unjust judge. The judge is worried about his reputation. For the Lord God almighty, he is longing to show His glory (His reputation) to a lost world through the answers he provides to your prayers.
Jesus reminds the disciples: God will bring justice for his chosen ones! If they cry out, day and night, if they are persistent even when life seems crazy, and grace is needed. He will not put them off as the unjust judge did. He will answer.
What do you do when you’re down? It was the 2017 Superbowl, and the Patriots were playing the Falcons. At the end of the 3rd quarter the Patriots were down 28-3. I watched an interview with Tom Brady their quarterback, and he had to make a decision, am I going to give up, or am I going to go to the end? He chose to give it his all. And they came back, 28-9, 28-12, 28-20, and they won that game 34-28.
The persistent widow never gave up. She didn’t just sit at home and say well it’s over. Her heart I’m sure was overwhelmed, depressed, miserable, bitter, wanting to give up, but birthed from that came a holy boldness, I’m going to strike out, no matter the cost, I’m going to keep going, and never give up.
There’s a scene in the Fellowship of the Ring, LOTR reference here, where Frodo is going to have to leave with the ring, Aragorn says goodbye to him, and turns, and finds he’s surrounded by enemy troops, orcs all around him, and what does he do? He launches off right into the midst of them, and starts swinging, fighting with all his might.
It’s like that for the body of Christ, when we’re in retreat the enemy takes us out, shoots arrows at us, hits us in the back, and we fall. But when we’re marching forward, it doesn’t matter how few of us there are, God gives us the victory! Choose boldness!
In these last days in which we live, we’re going to see darkness get darker, we’re going to see chaos and confusion, we’re going to see growing evil, but we must refuse that internal desire to flee, instead, like Aragorn, like Tom Brady, like the persistent widow, we must march out into the battle spiritually, and overcome the enemy, by refusing to run, but striking out with righteous abandon.
A bold heart is what we need, that sees chaos all around us, and says, you know what, every time the enemy hits me with something, I’m going to pray even harder. I’m going to dig in even deeper in prayer.
Then your deeds will be remembered for all eternity in the halls of paradise, in remembrance of the dark days in which we persevered, and the glory that God showed through us.
The enemy wants to try to create circumstances in our lives to poke our weak spots, so that we give up. But the best way to respond to those enemy attacks, is to strike out even harder, pray even harder, read the word even more, witness to even more people, and eventually the enemy will realize, this isn’t getting me anywhere. They just keep serving God and praying even harder.
Jesus next makes a fascinating declaration:
8 I 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?”
God will see we get justice and quickly. Often it won’t take as long as we thought. But then he asks:
“Will I find faith on the Earth when I return?” Jesus knew that as we approached the end times, things on Earth would get harder and harder. He warned that the love of many would grow cold.
I think we get a key to surviving through the perilous times in which we live, Jesus I think is telling us, if we want to continue in the faith to the end, through tough times, we should utilize this form of bold and persistent prayer to God, over and over, until we receive the answer.
Persistent prayer is like a road we travel down, continuing on and on along the years of our lives, never giving up, always praying about all things, and enjoying the answers to those prayers.
It’s just the same in our faith walk overall.
Persistent faith is also like a road we travel down. And by the spiritual choices we make, we walk down it. We must persist to the end to receive the prize, which is the salvation of our souls.
The second parable is called “The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.” We’re not going to spend too much time on it, but I felt it tied beautifully in with our theme today.
It says this: (verse 9) "To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable."
Jesus addresses some of us who have been believers many years, who may feel tempted to think we’ve got this thing down. We know what we’re doing. We’ve got it figured out. And he’s going to challenge us to change our thinking.
We all battle pride from time to time, particularly as Americans, we have so much material abundance and frankly we Americans tend to be know it alls, we think we’re right and we’ll explain to you why if you want to know.
Next verses 10-11: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.”
Two men: One, a Pharisee, a religious leader of that time, thought of as holy, righteous good, and true. Second, a tax collector, working with the Romans, taking money from the poorest people, often collecting more than was owed to enrich themselves. Hated, and considered a terrible sinner.
The Pharisee prays and compares himself in the prayer to other people he thinks of as less than himself.
Verse 12 says, “I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’”
He cites all the things he does for God, he fasts weekly and tithes as well.
What is the attitude of his heart? He thinks of himself as better than others. His focus is on himself. His heart is looking not up at God, necessarily, but at himself, his life, the things he does. He is so focused on himself, and how good he is, God is an after-thought. It’s really all about Him. That is a heart of pride, constantly looking at ourselves.
In prayer, the focus really can’t be ourselves and our own needs. That may be surprising. But I think we often view prayer as, God needs to come in and fulfill my checklist. But that is not the purpose of prayer at all.
The goal in prayer is not just to make endless requests to God on different topics, the goal in prayer is, through intimacy we discover the will of God. Our mind is then filled with a checklist quite different from our own, it is the agenda of God. And we begin to instinctively know it as we spend times in deep prayer and study of His word.
The Pharisee was so focused on himself, he missed the agenda of God. Sometimes we do the same thing.
Begin to change how you pray, instead of always going to that list of things you want, begin to keep it open ended: Lord, what do you want me to pray about? Holy Spirit prompt me. Pretty soon, God will bring to mind an old friend, pray. God will bring to mind the riots in Minneapolis, pray. He’ll bring to mind victims of domestic violence in Traverse City, pray. He’ll bring to mind a sin in your life, pray. And now, we’ve found the heart of true prayer, where the focus in on God’s purposes, not just our own. But trust me, God also cares about our desires too. It just needs to be second to His.
The Pharisee missed the heart of God, what about the tax collector?
Verse 13: “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
The tax collector just like the widow was bold, even though the tax collector was hated, he was willing to come to the throne of grace. Many stay away when they’re in sin, fearing they’ll burst into flames if they walk into church, but the tax collector understands the heart of God, he knows he can come boldly and request mercy.
He was repentant, beating his breast for the things he’d done. His prayer was simple, God have mercy on me! And he receives it. This is exactly how we need to pray for our family, our friends, our neighbors, our enemies, and everyone in this world.
Lord, have mercy on them! They’re a sinner, we know that, but God you are so full of mercy on sinners, lead them to your son Jesus Christ, lead them into your loving arms God. Knowing you is the most amazing thing that has ever happened in our lives, we want that for them too, please God, not because of anything they did, but because of your own mercy, please save them, in Jesus name, amen.
“Lord, have mercy.” I encourage you in your prayers always return to that simple praise. This type of prayer greatly pleases God, it’s humble, and it appeals to His own infinite grace and mercy. It’s the only standing we have to hope in, that God grants mercy to lost sinners.
Lastly, verse 14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Notice the heart of the tax collector, it’s a heart boldly coming to God, meek, in submission, yielded, lowly. It’s all about the heart. Submit to him. Surrender all. This is a humble heart position.
Let’s tie it all together today.
Prayer is most powerful when it comes from the heart, not only the mind. Remember the persistence of the widow, who never gave up, and resisted the desire to become weary. The powerlessness of the widow actually caused her to come even more boldly. She knew, my only hope is God!
God is building within each of us a heart of determination, a heart that keeps praying no matter what, a heart that looks to Him for His agenda not our own, and a heart that surrenders all, humbly yielded to the Lord almighty, seeking His mercy and forgiveness for lost people.
Jesus reminds the disciples: God will bring justice for his chosen ones! If they cry out, day and night, if they are persistent even when life seems crazy, and grace is needed. He will not put them off as the unjust judge did. He will answer.
What do you do when you’re down? It was the 2017 Superbowl, and the Patriots were playing the Falcons. At the end of the 3rd quarter the Patriots were down 28-3. I watched an interview with Tom Brady their quarterback, and he had to make a decision, am I going to give up, or am I going to go to the end? He chose to give it his all. And they came back, 28-9, 28-12, 28-20, and they won that game 34-28.
The persistent widow never gave up. She didn’t just sit at home and say well it’s over. Her heart I’m sure was overwhelmed, depressed, miserable, bitter, wanting to give up, but birthed from that came a holy boldness, I’m going to strike out, no matter the cost, I’m going to keep going, and never give up.
There’s a scene in the Fellowship of the Ring, LOTR reference here, where Frodo is going to have to leave with the ring, Aragorn says goodbye to him, and turns, and finds he’s surrounded by enemy troops, orcs all around him, and what does he do? He launches off right into the midst of them, and starts swinging, fighting with all his might.
It’s like that for the body of Christ, when we’re in retreat the enemy takes us out, shoots arrows at us, hits us in the back, and we fall. But when we’re marching forward, it doesn’t matter how few of us there are, God gives us the victory! Choose boldness!
In these last days in which we live, we’re going to see darkness get darker, we’re going to see chaos and confusion, we’re going to see growing evil, but we must refuse that internal desire to flee, instead, like Aragorn, like Tom Brady, like the persistent widow, we must march out into the battle spiritually, and overcome the enemy, by refusing to run, but striking out with righteous abandon.
A bold heart is what we need, that sees chaos all around us, and says, you know what, every time the enemy hits me with something, I’m going to pray even harder. I’m going to dig in even deeper in prayer.
Then your deeds will be remembered for all eternity in the halls of paradise, in remembrance of the dark days in which we persevered, and the glory that God showed through us.
The enemy wants to try to create circumstances in our lives to poke our weak spots, so that we give up. But the best way to respond to those enemy attacks, is to strike out even harder, pray even harder, read the word even more, witness to even more people, and eventually the enemy will realize, this isn’t getting me anywhere. They just keep serving God and praying even harder.
Jesus next makes a fascinating declaration:
8 I 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?”
God will see we get justice and quickly. Often it won’t take as long as we thought. But then he asks:
“Will I find faith on the Earth when I return?” Jesus knew that as we approached the end times, things on Earth would get harder and harder. He warned that the love of many would grow cold.
I think we get a key to surviving through the perilous times in which we live, Jesus I think is telling us, if we want to continue in the faith to the end, through tough times, we should utilize this form of bold and persistent prayer to God, over and over, until we receive the answer.
Persistent prayer is like a road we travel down, continuing on and on along the years of our lives, never giving up, always praying about all things, and enjoying the answers to those prayers.
It’s just the same in our faith walk overall.
Persistent faith is also like a road we travel down. And by the spiritual choices we make, we walk down it. We must persist to the end to receive the prize, which is the salvation of our souls.
The second parable is called “The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.” We’re not going to spend too much time on it, but I felt it tied beautifully in with our theme today.
It says this: (verse 9) "To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable."
Jesus addresses some of us who have been believers many years, who may feel tempted to think we’ve got this thing down. We know what we’re doing. We’ve got it figured out. And he’s going to challenge us to change our thinking.
We all battle pride from time to time, particularly as Americans, we have so much material abundance and frankly we Americans tend to be know it alls, we think we’re right and we’ll explain to you why if you want to know.
Next verses 10-11: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.”
Two men: One, a Pharisee, a religious leader of that time, thought of as holy, righteous good, and true. Second, a tax collector, working with the Romans, taking money from the poorest people, often collecting more than was owed to enrich themselves. Hated, and considered a terrible sinner.
The Pharisee prays and compares himself in the prayer to other people he thinks of as less than himself.
Verse 12 says, “I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’”
He cites all the things he does for God, he fasts weekly and tithes as well.
What is the attitude of his heart? He thinks of himself as better than others. His focus is on himself. His heart is looking not up at God, necessarily, but at himself, his life, the things he does. He is so focused on himself, and how good he is, God is an after-thought. It’s really all about Him. That is a heart of pride, constantly looking at ourselves.
In prayer, the focus really can’t be ourselves and our own needs. That may be surprising. But I think we often view prayer as, God needs to come in and fulfill my checklist. But that is not the purpose of prayer at all.
The goal in prayer is not just to make endless requests to God on different topics, the goal in prayer is, through intimacy we discover the will of God. Our mind is then filled with a checklist quite different from our own, it is the agenda of God. And we begin to instinctively know it as we spend times in deep prayer and study of His word.
The Pharisee was so focused on himself, he missed the agenda of God. Sometimes we do the same thing.
Begin to change how you pray, instead of always going to that list of things you want, begin to keep it open ended: Lord, what do you want me to pray about? Holy Spirit prompt me. Pretty soon, God will bring to mind an old friend, pray. God will bring to mind the riots in Minneapolis, pray. He’ll bring to mind victims of domestic violence in Traverse City, pray. He’ll bring to mind a sin in your life, pray. And now, we’ve found the heart of true prayer, where the focus in on God’s purposes, not just our own. But trust me, God also cares about our desires too. It just needs to be second to His.
The Pharisee missed the heart of God, what about the tax collector?
Verse 13: “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
The tax collector just like the widow was bold, even though the tax collector was hated, he was willing to come to the throne of grace. Many stay away when they’re in sin, fearing they’ll burst into flames if they walk into church, but the tax collector understands the heart of God, he knows he can come boldly and request mercy.
He was repentant, beating his breast for the things he’d done. His prayer was simple, God have mercy on me! And he receives it. This is exactly how we need to pray for our family, our friends, our neighbors, our enemies, and everyone in this world.
Lord, have mercy on them! They’re a sinner, we know that, but God you are so full of mercy on sinners, lead them to your son Jesus Christ, lead them into your loving arms God. Knowing you is the most amazing thing that has ever happened in our lives, we want that for them too, please God, not because of anything they did, but because of your own mercy, please save them, in Jesus name, amen.
“Lord, have mercy.” I encourage you in your prayers always return to that simple praise. This type of prayer greatly pleases God, it’s humble, and it appeals to His own infinite grace and mercy. It’s the only standing we have to hope in, that God grants mercy to lost sinners.
Lastly, verse 14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Notice the heart of the tax collector, it’s a heart boldly coming to God, meek, in submission, yielded, lowly. It’s all about the heart. Submit to him. Surrender all. This is a humble heart position.
Let’s tie it all together today.
Prayer is most powerful when it comes from the heart, not only the mind. Remember the persistence of the widow, who never gave up, and resisted the desire to become weary. The powerlessness of the widow actually caused her to come even more boldly. She knew, my only hope is God!
God is building within each of us a heart of determination, a heart that keeps praying no matter what, a heart that looks to Him for His agenda not our own, and a heart that surrenders all, humbly yielded to the Lord almighty, seeking His mercy and forgiveness for lost people.
Always pray, never give up, stay humble, and your heart will grow to be like the heart of Jesus.
