Pray and Persist
Kyle Wade // UGA Graduate
The Parable of the Persistent Widow
To begin, here’s a short parable from our Lord Jesus. The Bible says that Jesus told the parable because he wanted his disciples to know “that they ought always to pray and not lose heart” (v. 1). Please set aside a moment to read it thoughtfully, even if you have read it before. It’s quite short and worth your attention:
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?” -Luke 18:1-8 (ESV)
Corporate Prayer
“Devoted to prayer”--we see similar phrases to this one in the books of Acts surrounding the birth of the church:
Acts 1:14 - All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers...
Acts 2:42 - And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Acts 4:24 - And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God...And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Acts 12:5 - So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.
In the early church, believers prayed corporately—meaning in groups together. The idea of praying together may seem strange to us, but if we want to be disciples and to imitate the church in Acts and to see the Gospel speed ahead, we should pray as they did. They prayed boldly, they prayed often, and they prayed together—corporately. And God clearly responded.
Strange? Maybe, yes. But it’s the pattern we see. Plus, consider the One we come to in prayer. Consider our heavenly Father and his goodness. Consider all the help He is capable of providing. Consider His heart. Consider how kind He is. He’s not annoyed with our requests like the judge in Luke 18. Consider how eager he is to reward those who seek him (Hebrews 11:6). And consider the joy he takes in his children being united together in seeking Him (John 17:20-23). Consider what he desires to see happen on the earth. Consider his joy when our hearts line up properly with his.
Put more plainly: Do you want to see your fellow classmates get saved? Seriously, do you want people far from God to miraculously call him “Lord?” If we want to see people go from death to life, we can ask God for that. We can plead for our loved ones’ souls. And as we do so, God will listen. We can even pray for our own boldness to share the good news. We can ask God to help us open our mouths so that we share His story with people. We can ask for courage to overcome the fear of awkwardness. We can ask for the right words and confess our fears. Remember, he shows favor to the humble (Proverbs 3:34). And that’s not all.
We can also ask God for help in our struggles. Is sin plaguing you? Do you keep failing? Crippled by depression or emotional hurt? Someone you know really hurting? Someone you love wandering from Christ? Lonely or discouraged? If we require supernatural help, we can ask God to sustain us! We can even ask this for other people, on their behalf, or ask others to pray for us (James 5:13-20).
Consider it all! We can ask for salvation, we can ask for physical healing, we can ask for spiritual growth, we can ask for practical help, we can ask for joy. Consider his goodness and his power. We have a Father who wants to help his children. We serve a king who lets us help usher in his kingdom. We can receive help in our smallest needs and play a part in his grandest purposes.
“[You] ought always to pray and not lose heart...”
Evaluate yourself honestly. Consider the state of your heart. Where are your affections and desires? What do you really desire and really love? Are your desires directed toward godly things? Toward others knowing Christ? Toward the well-being of your fellow Christians? Do you actually want his kingdom to come? If not, start praying. He can give you these desires and conform you to his own nature. And if so, keep on going! Either way, the answer is to pray and persist.
1. Practice Group Prayer: The early church modeled that we should pray together. You should find ways to pray with other Christians! Join a group, start a group, make a habit of praying with your roommates or family when needs arise. Make group-prayer normal and sincere. In your group, aim to pray for things that fit Jesus’s model of “Your kingdom come.” Pray for lost people, spiritual needs around you, missionaries abroad, the persecuted church, your friends’ relationship with the Lord. Let the Christians around you inspire you in how to pray so that your own prayers do not grow selfish and stale and self focused. Make a habit of praying together with other Christians for kingdom-minded things.
2. Practice Private Prayer: Jesus exhorted us to meet God alone, as well. He modeled this in his own life and ministry, venturing off often to seek isolation. Evaluate yourself again: are you someone who only prays in group settings? Are you uncomfortable approaching the throne alone? Secretly, do you sometimes only pray so that other people will hear you and think more highly of you? Do you think he doesn’t like you or doesn’t love you? Do you think God has no desire to answer such trivial requests? If this is you, be encouraged! It’s alright for your private prayers to be “Help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:23-25). Whether you struggle with this or not, pray and seek the Father alone. Ask him to grow you and change you and work in you. Pray for people you love. Wrestle with God. You can only be a fruitful branch if you will abide in the vine (John 15:1-8). Make a habit of praying alone where only God can see you.
“...[w]ill He find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8)
When Jesus returns to earth—an event that Jesus warns can happen at any given moment—who will He find ready for him? In the parable of the persistent widow, Jesus shows that prayer demonstrates faith. Persistence reveals the sincerity of our belief. Notice how the parable begins with a focus on “prayer” (v. 1) but ends with a focus on “faith” (v. 8). From this parable, we see the two must be intertwined. Where Jesus finds persistent prayer, he will find evidence of genuine faith. Those who keep asking are those who actually believe he still listens. Jesus wants us to seek Him and His kingdom. He wants us to keep praying and keep trusting. He wants us to persist until the end. He doesn’t want you to lose heart. We ought to pray.
To my dearest family in Christ: when our Lord returns, will he find faith in us, Watty College? Will he find us in prayer?
Kyle recently graduated from the University of Georgia and now serves with his wife Carly on Watty's missions team!
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