Study in Prayer

The past few days, we have been talking about persistent prayer. Yesterday, we were looking at what Jesus was saying in Luke 18:1-8. Let’s look at these verses again.

“And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man.  And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’  For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

We left off yesterday with an understanding of God answering the cries of His people speedily. We were talking about this is not applied to requesting help with your finances or material things. Jesus is emphasizing here that God will speedily answer the cries of His elect as they are being persecuted. That is the emphasis of this parable, not all of the other hyperbole that prosperity preachers and others have put on this scripture.

For instance, some people believe this passage of scripture is saying that if we have unsaved loved ones, if we keep praying long enough and hard enough, eventually, we will wear God down to the point that He will answer our prayers just to shut us up. But that is NOT what this verse is implying.

Others think these verses talk about God meeting some personal need or financial need. That if they just keep praying long enough and hard enough, we will wear God down and He will rain money down from Heaven just to shut us up. But that is NOT the case either, is it?

Jesus is not talking about persistent faith to wear God out so He will answer our prayers. He IS saying, that if believers will be persistent in faith, HOW MUCH MORE will God avenge them as compared to how the unjust judged avenged the widow woman. HOW MUCH MORE. Amen!

But, as verse one says, it is the PERSISTENCE of Faith, not the persistence of doubt, that causes God to respond and avenge his elect. 

To take scriptures out of context, out of their actual settings and try to apply them to other areas will cause us more harm than good. The main thought of Luke 18 is that men should always pray and not faint – not quit praying. 

To quit praying is easy.  To keep praying – even in the face of adversity and persecution, that takes FAITH. Amen!

Let’s Pray!

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You can also WATCH these session on our Facebook Playlist at this link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtKWeKtmv-BwgkquBTsSh-GznbmuUp_R2

The past few days, we have been talking about persistent prayer. Yesterday, we were looking at what Jesus was saying in Luke 18:1-8. Let’s look at these verses again.

“And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man.  And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’  For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Here, Jesus is encouraging believers in prayer, by telling them that even an unjust, unrighteous judge finally heard and answered the widow woman’s prayer. This, even though we are told this judge “feared not God and regarded not man.”

This widow woman had come before the unjust judge and simply continued to request the judge “avenge me of my adversary.” Then, Jesus said that if the unjust judge avenged the widow, “Shall not God avenge His own elect?”

In this parable, Jesus was not talking about praying to be saved. He was not talking about praying to filled with the Holy Spirit, either. Nor was He talking about praying to have your financial needs met (sorry to bust your bubble on that one, Amen)!  He also was not talking about have your material needs met.

We have already had sessions where we covered all of these different types of prayer. Amen.

But here, in Luke 18:1-8, Jesus is talking about the people of God who are under persecution, crying out for deliverance. Look at verse 7-8 again, “And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

We have been blessed, and spoiled, by not having too much persecution in the United States. But in today’s political and social climate, we are beginning to experience persecution like never before. We are not used to it. We thought we were better than “all of those heathen nations.” 

Why? Because we WERE a Christian nation. Not anymore. And when you are not blessed, what’s left? The curse. That is what we, as a nation, are beginning to experience. If a nation rejects God, God cannot and will not bless that nation. But He will allow the curse to come upon it. Amen!

So what many people on other nations have experienced in the past, we had better prepare for it  here. We are beginning to see Christians persecuted IN THIS NATION such as we have never seen before. 

But Jesus is saying here, in Luke 18, that the time is coming (and now is beginning to manifest), when pressure is going to be put on all Christians, no matter where we live. The Book of Revelation talks about the end times and about the cry of God’s people will be ascending up to Heaven before Him.

But Jesus is telling us right here, “I tell you, God will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, shall he find faith on the earth?”

Jesus is telling us the TRUE BELIEVERS will not be giving up on prayer! Amen! While the world, and this nation, grows darker and darker and persecution gets worse and worse to the point where we are despairing for our very lives, God WILL avenge us speedily.

God is not and will not be like the unjust judge in the parable. That judge did not avenge the widow speedily. But her persistence paid off in the end.  But notice that Jesus said GOD would avenge us speedily. 

God will quickly answer the prayers of His very elect, His children – QUICKLY. That is almost exactly the opposite what all of these preachers are teaching concerning these verses. Amen!

I’m over time for today…so we will stop here and pick it back up tomorrow.

Let’s Pray!

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You can also WATCH these session on our Facebook Playlist at this link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtKWeKtmv-BwgkquBTsSh-GznbmuUp_R2

Yesterday, we talked about persistent prayer. We discovered that it does not mean to keep bothering God with the same prayer requests every day, just because you have not seen the prayer answered in the natural. That demonstrates lack of faith and that is what is truly hindering your prayers being answered.

Today, I want to continue along that line, but I want to look at Luke 18, verses 1-8. In this teaching, Jesus is continuing the same theme as Luke 11. Let’s see how this scripture applies to the “prayer of persistence” or “persistent prayer.”

“And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man.  And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’  For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Verse one says Jesus spoke this verse to His disciples. Not to the crowd. He always spoke in parables to the crowds. But He explained things in great detail to His disciples. So this is something we should be able to plainly see the meaning of, right?

It says He spoke this parable to “this end, that men ought always to pray and not faint.” Or “not quit.” Quit what? Praying! Amen!

Another translation says, to “pray and not give up.”

We have already established, through this teaching every day all year long, that there are different rules that need to be applied to different kinds of prayer. Many Christians just lump all kinds of prayer into one bag and think it doesn’t really matter. I pray that you are now wise enough, after all we’ve done these last 139 days or so, to understand that is not how it works. Amen!

Many times, we think that something that is said about one kind of prayer applies to all kinds of prayer. But saying that would make about as much sense as saying the rules of football apply to all sports, including tennis. But it’s just not right. Amen! It doesn’t’ work that way.

And it doesn’t work that way in prayer either.

As we said yesterday, you must continue to pray with persistent FAITH, not persistent WORDS.

Too many Christians have read Luke 18 and think it is telling them that if they just keep pestering God enough with the same prayer, eventually, we will wear Him out and He will answer their prayer just to get rid of them. But that cannot be farther from the Truth.

So, although I’m about out of time today, I want you to see here that Jesus is talking about praying with persistent Faith and not taking NO for an answer. 

Now, let me end here by saying that Bible tells us in John 7:38 that when we pray in the Name of Jesus, God’s answer is always – ALWAYS – “Yes and Amen!”  There is not a NO anywhere in that verse.

So, who is the one saying NO to your prayer request? The DEVIL. And everything He says is a lie. So if you are praying and it seems like the answer is NO, just say out loud, “Mr. Devil, you are a liar. I know the Word says in 1 John 5:13-14 that whatever I ask, in prayer, God hears me. And since I know He hears me, I have the confidence to know that I RECEIVE THE PETITIONS I DESIRED OF HIM.”  So, be gone, devil – for with my God, I believe I have already received my prayer as answered the moment I said AMEN!  Glory to God!”

When you stand in Faith like that, as we will see when we pick this up tomorrow, it will not be long before the answer to your prayer will be manifested. And the reason why – well, I want to surprise you with it tomorrow… It will absolutely blow you away when I show what the Lord showed me about this judge… I guarantee it! Amen!

Let’s Pray!

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You can also WATCH these session on our Facebook Playlist at this link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtKWeKtmv-BwgkquBTsSh-GznbmuUp_R2

Luke recorded something about faith and prayer that neither Mark nor Matthew said. Luke talked about the importance of persistence in prayer. That is, being persistent in your faith and in your praying. 

But many Christians misunderstand what Jesus is saying here. They believe Jesus is saying that we are to keep on asking and, eventually, you will get what you want.” But that is not what is being taught here. Let’s look at the entire story:

Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread;  a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’  And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity, he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.”

Here was a man who had a friend who arrived at his house in the nighttime. The man didn’t have any bread prepared to set before his friend. So he went to his neighbor and asked to borrow three loaves of bread.

The friend said, “I’m already in bed. My kids are in bed, too.” Then in verse eight, Jesus says, 

“I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity, he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.”

If you take this passage literally, it appears as if God is the friend in bed. However, we know God never sleeps from Psalm 121:3-4). So we know Jesus is showing us an analogy to prove a point.

Jesus is simply saying that, even in the natural, you could get results from a friend like this man did. Not necessarily because the person was your friend, but because of your urgent request. In other words, the man got up and gave his friend the bread, not because he was his friend, but because the friend would not take no for an answer.

Then, Jesus goes into his, “Ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door shall be opened unto you,” in Luke 11:9. Amen! Praise God. See how all of this ties together?

You see, it is the persistence of FAITH, not the persistence of unbelief, that gets the job done and your prayers answered. 

You could just keep going on and on, begging God and being persistent in your begging. And you will never see the results you want because you are being persistent in begging, demonstrating unbelief. God is not moved by unbelief, but by faith. Amen.

If you are praying and have not seen the results manifest yet, don’t go back and ask God for the same thing in the same manner and using the same words again. To do so demonstrates your lack of faith that you “received when you prayed.” That puts you over into doubt and unbelief, not faith.

You just need to remind God that THANK HIM for answering your prayer request. Remind Him of His Word and, as Isaiah 43:26 tells us, “put Him in rememberance” of His Word. Not that He has forgotten it, don’t get me wrong. But that YOU have not forgotten His promises. Amen! That is the difference.

Jesus is not teaching us to “keep on asking and pestering God until He gives in and gives you what you want.” NO. 

He is telling us to keep on THANKING GOD for the promises that we HAVE RECEIVED the answer because we know His promises are YES and AMEN and that we “believed we have received when we prayed.”

Keep on THANKING and PRAISING GOD – not begging for answers.

Let’s Pray!

Please subscribe to this podcast, leave us a quick 5 star review on Apple Podcasts to help us grow and be sure to visit our website for more information on our ministry: https://podcastersforchrist.com. And while you are at the website, download the free resource I have for you… it is free and is called, “How to Start a Christian Podcast.” It will bless you – go and download it today.

You can also WATCH these session on our Facebook Playlist at this link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtKWeKtmv-BwgkquBTsSh-GznbmuUp_R2

We have been studying about the Prayer of Petition for the last several days. We’ve covered the reasons why it works. We covered how to do the research. How to layout the Petition. We covered how to present it. We covered the reasons why this works and the need for your Faith to grow in the process of preparing your prayer of petition.

Today, I want to just layout the importance of WRITING OUT your prayer of petition. If possible, do so word for word. That way, when you pray, you are simply reading it to the Lord. Another way, is to list out the bullet points for your case.

For example, you have the introduction, where we covered you are presenting this to God, your Heavenly Father, Creator of all things. You are coming before Him in the Name of Jesus, your Savior. You are coming before Him in accordance with your right standing based upon what Jesus did, etc.

Then, you present your reason for the petition. Healing, salvation of loved ones, employment, finances, whatever the case is for your petition.

Then, you have a bullet point for past cases where a petition just like yours has been answered by God before…

Here, you may have your 100 scripture references, minus the scripture passages. Remember, I’m talking right now about your WRITTEN petition. In your prayer, you SHOULD HAVE a separate list of ALL of these scripture references. You need to READ every single one of those scripture references AND the scriptures, “into the record” (if you want to call it that, you’ve seen that done in court cases, etc.). In each and every single scripture, you start with, “IT IS WRITTEN…(then give the reference and then read the scripture).” This is what will take the majority of your time as you pray and present your petition to God.

Once you have finished with that, you draw to your conclusion. Something to the effect of “seeing how you have answered the prayers of other with similar petitions, I know I am standing on good ground right now to believe you will grant this petition as well. I know this because I have based this petition completely on the Word of God, that cannot lie. In addition, (and you need to say this as well), IT IS WRITTEN in 1 John 5:14-15, “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he hears us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”

There for, Sir, I am here, before you this day, with these scripture references of where you have heard the prayers of others in similar circumstances. You heard their prayers. You answered their prayers. I know you have heard my prayer this day. Therefore, I know I have the assurance that you will grant this petition as presented this day. In the Name of Jesus.” AMEN (which means “so be it!”).

Then, you need to sign and date it!  Yes, just like a legal brief would be signed and dated and put on file – you need to do the same thing with your Prayer of Petition.

If you and your spouse are praying this together, BOTH of you need to sign it! Amen! Just like a legal document.

What then? Keep it on file. It is a written record of a legal brief you filed with God Almighty Himself. And what did you state from 1 John 5:14-15...?  “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he hears us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”

So, when the devil brings up, “you’re going to die of cancer” or “you’re not going to be able to pay your bills,” or whatever it is you created and presented this “Prayer of Petition” for – you can refer back to it.

This is what you do. When the devil tries to bring doubt as to you receiving the answer to your prayer, simply pull it out. Physically, pull it out and then say, out loud, “IT IS WRITTEN…” and then you read the entire thing. Scripture references AND Scriputures… and then conclude with, “and we believe we receive the answer to this prayer of petition according to the promises of God – and I signed this (as attested to by my signature and that of my spouse) dated (and state the date) and God’s Word says, in 1 John 5:14-15, as it is written, “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he hears us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”

“So, Mister Devil, if you are trying to say that I have not received the answer to this prayer, either you are lying or God is lying. I choose you. Now, in the Name of Jesus, be gone from me and take it up with God. Because, in the Name of Jesus, I HAVE MY PETITION AS ALREADY ANSWERED. In Jesus Name, AMEN!”

When you get to doing things like this, the devil cannot mess with you like he used to. This prayer of petition will power your faith like you have never experienced before. I know, I’ve experienced this. I’ve done this many times over the last almost 30 years. 

Again, this is not something you do every week, every month or even every year. You can – there is nothing wrong with that. But this should be used in those special situations where you ABSOLUTELY NEED GOD TO MOVE. Amen!

Let’s Pray!

Please subscribe to this podcast, leave us a quick 5 star review on Apple Podcasts to help us grow and be sure to visit our website for more information on our ministry: https://podcastersforchrist.com. And while you are at the website, download the free resource I have for you… it is free and is called, “How to Start a Christian Podcast.” It will bless you – go and download it today.

You can also WATCH these session on our Facebook Playlist at this link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtKWeKtmv-BwgkquBTsSh-GznbmuUp_R2