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 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
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.