Author: Gary Witcher

Parables Thirteen

In the first verse of Luke chapter 11, the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray.  Jesus fulfills this request by giving them the prayer recorded in verses 2-4.  This is sometimes called "The Lord's Prayer," although a more correct name would be "The Disciples' Prayer."  The prayer found in chapter 17 of the Gospel of John could more nearly be described as one of the Lord's prayers.
We know from Matthew 6:5-15 that the prayers recorded in the Bible are meant to be examples and are not intended to be simply memorized and repeated.
After giving this sample prayer, Jesus tells a parable to teach the disciples the attitude they should have in prayer.
"Suppose one of you shall have a friend," the Master says in Luke 11:5-7, "and shall go to him at midnight, and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; and from inside he shall answer and say, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything."'
"I tell you," Jesus points out in verse 8, "even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs."
As we notice from the Master's comment in verse 8, the lesson of the parable is one of persistence in prayer.
Jesus elaborates on this in verses 9-13.
"And I say to you," the Lord points out, "ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; and he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks it shall be opened.
"Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he?
"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"
The instruction in this parable is the same as that in another parable found in Luke 18:1-5.
"Now He was telling them a parable," this passages states,  "to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, 'There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God, and did not respect man.  And there was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, 'Give me legal protection from my opponent.'
"And for a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, 'Even though I do not fear God or respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, lest by continually coming she wear me out.'"
"Hear what the unrighteous judge said;" Jesus explains beginning in verse 6, "now shall not God bring about justice for His elect, who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?
"I tell you that He will bring about justice for them speedily. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?"
The last part of James chapter five, beginning in verse 7, deals with the importance of patience and perseverance.
"As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience,” verses 10,11 admonish, "take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
"Behold, we count those blessed who endured.  You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful."
Verses 16 and 17 make special mention of effective or earnest prayer.

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We are to be dedicated and persistent when we pray.   This is not because God does not know what we need or because we have to convince Him of something.  We know this from Matthew 6:25-34.
	"For this reason I say to you," Jesus instructs in this passage, "do not be anxious for your life, {as to} what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body, {as to} what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body than clothing?   Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and {yet} your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?  And which of you by being anxious can add a {single} cubit to his life's span?  And why are you anxious about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these.  But if God so arrays the grass of the field, which is {alive} today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, {will He} not much more {do so for} you, O men of little faith?  Do not be anxious then, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'With what shall we clothe ourselves?'  For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. {Each} day has enough trouble of its own."
It should be enough to simply say that we should be persistent in prayer because God says we must be.  But we always want to understand why, don't we?  Could it be that the persistence is more for our benefit than for God's?  It is easy enough to make a foolish request on an impulse.  As we continue to make that request, though, we begin to see the folly behind it.  Does God want us to convince Him that we need something, or does He want us to convince ourselves?
What else can we say about prayer while we are on the subject?
"Pray without ceasing," Paul admonishes in 1 Thessalonians 5:17.   So prayer must be an integral part of our life and not something we do only when we get ourselves in trouble or when we want something done for us.
"Be anxious for nothing," Paul writes in Philippians 4:6,  "but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made to God."
"And whatever you do in word or deed," Colossians 3:17 instructs, "do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father."
These two verses tell us that prayer must be directed to the Father through Jesus.  Not only is directing prayer to someone else or through someone else totally foreign to the New Testament, it is also contrary to Scriptures such as 1 Timothy 2:5.
"For there is one God," Paul notes in this verse, "and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."
	Prayer must be offered with the spirit and with the mind, as Paul points out in 1 Corinthians 14:15.
"What is {the outcome} then?" this verse expresses.  "I shall pray with the spirit and I shall pray with the mind also; I shall sing with the spirit and I shall sing with the mind also."
"And when you pray," Jesus says in Matthew 6:5, "you are not to be as the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, in order to be seen by men.  Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full."
Prayer must not be made just to be seen or heard, or to be praised for piety.
"And when you are praying," the Lord adds in verse 7 of the same passage, "do not use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words."
Prayer must not be filled with empty words or meaningless repetition.
"But if any of you lacks wisdom," James 1:5-8 promises, "let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.  But let him ask in faith without doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
"For let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."
 Prayer must be undertaken with faith.
"What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you?" James 4:1-3 discusses.  "Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?
"You lust and do not have; so you commit murder.  And you are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel.  You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures."
Our prayers must request the right things.
"And this is the confidence which we have before Him,” 1 John 5:14 says,  "that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us."
Prayer, then, must request things that are in accordance with God's will.
By reading passages such as 1 Timothy 2:1 and 1 John 1:9, we notice that our prayers contain four elements that can be remembered by using the word "ACTS."  Our prayers include adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication.
Let's go back for just a moment to Jesus' statement at the end of the parable we looked at in Luke 18.
"However, when the Son of Man comes,” Jesus asks in a moment of reflection, "will He find faith on the earth?"
	Is there any verse in the Bible that should cause more soul-searching than this one?  When Jesus returns, what will He find?  Will He find only people who insist on doing what they want to the way they want to, or will He find at least one who is holding faithfully to the truth that will set him or her free?

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission."