Good
Morning All,
Luke
18:1; “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to
pray, and not to faint”
Are you a household that has two types of dishes? Do you have the “every day” bowls, plates and
silverware and then have the “good dishes”?
Perhaps it is even china with real silverware. It might be handed down from your mother or
grandmother. It might be special to you. It may have even caused some discomfort in
the family as someone got it and someone else did not. Do you use it sparingly? Perhaps for Christmas, a special anniversary
or birthday, it may be a special guest who you want to impress.
In our verse, Jesus uses a story to try and teach his disciples. The basic idea of the story is to pray and
not faint away. So what does that mean
to us? What is Jesus telling us? The message here is pretty clear. First and foremost, prayer is not a luxury in
the life of a Christian. It is not the
fine china in the house that we take out and use when we want to impress
someone. Prayer is the everyday stuff. Prayer is the day in and day out dishes that
we use. We need to see that prayer is
not a meaningless function or something that we try to fit into our busy
schedule. Prayer is, and should be far
more than that. When Jesus says “ought
always to pray” He means we ought to be in prayer at all time.
Yet he does not want us to avoid our everyday activities either. What he is talking about is that our soul has
an intimate contact with God. We keep
his Word in our heart and on our mind.
Our first thought is to look to his grace to defend us and to comfort
us. In this mode, we never lose
conscious fellowship and communion with God.
When we stay in this communal state or desire is to trust God. Our desire is to rely on him from the start
and not from the middle.
This type of prayer is the type of prayer in which it is completely and
intricately connected to God’s Word. The
two combined and never can really be separated.
It is by keeping this combination first and foremost in our mind that we
keep focused on God’s grace. We remember
our inability to accomplish on our own and can thus rely fully on God. By fully relying on God we will not faint
away at those times of intense emotions or reactions to events.
The thing to remember is that there will be times when we fail. Fear will creep in and control us for a
while. Yet God does not give up on us so
we should not give up on God. Continue
to strive for the prayer life that God has designed for us. It is designed give us hope. When we cling to it, we have the comfort and
the peace that we desire.
Father
of all mercy, in you we have our hope secured.
Keep us mindful and focused on this truth. Keep us in prayerful communication with you
so that we may not faint away. Keep us
courageous at all times that we may stand strong in this life. Be with those who are struggling and in need
of your grace. Strengthen them by your
tender mercy. In the precious name of
Jesus we pray, amen
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
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