Question

---

THE POWER OF PRAYER

Luke 18:1-14

Key Verse: 14:1

1. Read verse 1. What was the point of Jesus' parable? Why do people give up instead of praying? Why should they not? (1 Thes 5:16-18)

2. Read verses 2-5. How does Jesus describe the judge? What does it mean that he did not fear God? Care about people? What effect did this have on him?

3. What is the prayer topic of the persistent widow? What in her situation might cause her to be so persistent? What does it mean to be persistent? What did the judge decide to do? Why? How is this consistent with his character?

4. Read verses 6-8. Why does Jesus say, “Listen to the unjust judge”? How is God different from this judge? What does it mean to “cry out to him day and night?” What kind of prayer topics should God’s chosen ones have?

5. Why is it that God will surely listen to the prayers of his chosen ones? What will God do for them? What does it mean to “bring about justice?” Why don’t people pray? What will be revealed when Jesus comes again?

6. Read verses 9-14. What does Jesus continue to teach about prayer? To whom did Jesus tell this parable?

7. Describe the prayer topic of the first man? What was his attitude? What was the prayer topic of the second man? What was his attitude? Which man’s prayer does God answer? Why? What do you learn about God?

---

Attachment

• the power of prayer-questions.doc

Message

---

PERSISTENT PRAYER

Luke 18:1-14

Key Verse:18:1 “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.”

  In the previous lesson, Jesus taught the Pharisees, who asked about the kingdom of God, by saying, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is, because the kingdom of God is within you.” (17:20,21) In these verses Jesus taught them that the kingdom of God is not a spectacular visible revolution, but an inner spiritual transformation through repentance and the assurance of salvation. The kingdom of God is within all of us. In other words, the kingdom of God forms and abides in our hearts. Because the kingdom of God is a work of inner transformation, writing a sincere and repentant testimony is the process to gain the kingdom of God. Where there is the work of repentance, there is the kingdom of God. No matter how prosperous and exciting things are that occur daily around you, you will not be happier than when you come to know Jesus personally and have a deep fellowship with him. The first message of Jesus on this earth is about the kingdom of God. Jesus said, “The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mk 1:15) Jesus brought the kingdom of God to this world and he himself is the kingdom of God. Whoever believes in Jesus and listens to him will receive forgiveness of sin and inherit the kingdom of God.

Today’s passage is about the attitude of prayer. Jesus taught his disciples two parables about the attitude of prayer and hinted the theme of each parable before he illustrated the stories. 

First, you should always pray and not give up.(1-8) Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.(1)  The parable goes. “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I didn’t fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!” (2-5) A judge is an elected or appointed public officer who hears and decides cases in the court of the law. Judges should practice justice according to Gods’ law: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength, and love your neighbors as yourself.(Deut 6:5). However, in Jesus’ time, judges of towns in Israel were hired by the Roman government. Judgeship was bought and sold with money. It was not difficult to find judges who were corrupted with bribes. The judge in this parable must have been one of them. He did not fear God nor care about people. There was a widow in the town where the judge ruled. She kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.” At that time, a widow had no legal right to claim land or property. In the Old Testament, Naomi and Ruth were widows. Ruth had no right to claim the land of her dead husbands until Boaz married her and became her kinsman-redeemer. (Ruth 4) The widow in this parable must have been mistreated or manipulated by greedy men who aimed for her property. She had no one to depend on but this unjust judge. At first, the judge dismissed her claim. Probably he didn’t smell money in her pocket. But the widow didn’t give up. She kept coming to the judge with the plea, “Grant me justice against my adversary.” She visited his office to beg for justice. The judge sent his secretary to tell her that he was out of his office. The following day early in the morning, she was waiting for the judge in front of his office. The judge was frightened and used the back door. She waited for the judge all day long and left a message for him. “Grant me justice against my adversary.” This widow visited him every day and begged for justice. Wherever the judge went, she followed him like a shadow. The word, ‘bother’, literally means “poke in the eye”. She was like sawdust which poked his eyes. In modern terms, she sent her text messages to him every minute. The judge was tired of her. Worse than this, he became sick. Even in his dreams, she appeared and begged, “Grant me justice against my adversary.” It was his daily nightmare.

  Finally, the judge made the decision to answer her plea, not for the sake of justice or for her, but for himself.  He said, “Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!” Here the words, “to wear me out” literally means ‘to give a black eye”. In modern terms, it is to damage one’s reputation. Her persistent and tenacious plea was not only marring his health but also damaging his reputation as well.

  Jesus continued, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?” (8) Jesus did not talk about the comparison between the unjust judge and God, but about the contrast between the two. Our God is just. He practices justice. He brings about justice for his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night. Here, to bring justice means to answer prayer. God hears us and answers our prayer. Here Jesus teaches us persistent prayer. We should always pray and not give up.

In the Old Testament Jacob was in trouble between his coming angry brother Esau in front and his chasing wily uncle Laban in rear. Jacob was alone one night by the Jabok River. He wrestled with the angel of God all night, which meant he prayed to God all night long. His prayer was intense and persistent. When the angel realized that he couldn’t overcome Jacob, he touched Jacob’s hip bone. At daybreak, though the angel pleaded with Jacob, Jacob would not let him go, saying, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” (Ge 32:26) Jacob’s plea for God’s blessing was not for abundant wealth or for worldly fame, but for peace in his heart which comes from God. Jacob never gave up on God’s blessing until God answered his prayer. (Ge 32:28)

 Hannah was loved by her husband more than anyone else. However, she was always sorrowful because she had no child. Her desire for a son was desperate. She made a vow that if God gave her a son, she would dedicate him to the Lord. She prayed for a son day and night. She was even misunderstood as a drunk. She prayed persistently until God answered her prayer and gave her a son, Samuel. (1 Sa 1:1-20)

Our Lord Jesus also prayed persistently in the Garden of Gethsemane the day before he was arrested. Jesus prayed to deny himself in order to obey God’s will. He prayed and prayed until he submitted himself to God’s will. His prayer was so persistent and tenacious that his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. (Lk 22:44)

Have you ever prayed like this? Have you ever prayed persistently until your hip bone was broken, until you were misunderstood as a drunk, or until your sweat was like drops of blood? Or did you pray for a while and then gave up? Last week during the Bible study I asked Shepherd Ben West about this. He said that he continues to pray for the conversion of one of his friends. I was convicted by his answer because I haven’t prayed for one of my Bible students recently. I forgot about praying for him. So why do people give up praying? People give up praying because of their lack of faith. Impatience is lack of faith. We must wait until God answers our prayer. Our God answers our prayer. Remember verse 7 again. “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night?”

 It is important to know how God answers our prayer. God sometimes answers our prayer right away. Jesus said in verses 7,8 “Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.” God answers our prayer even before we finish praying. In a previous lesson, ten lepers came to Jesus and asked for healing. They cried out in a loud voice for Jesus’ mercy. Jesus sent them to the priest, showing themselves for his certification of their new life. On their way to the temple, even before they reached the priest, they were healed. Their prayer was answered immediately.  Here the word “quickly” means “suddenly”. God answers our prayer suddenly when we don’t expect.

God sometimes answers our prayer later. George Muller, who is known as a great man of prayer, had prayed for one of his friend’s conversion for 63 years. However, his friend did not change his mind until Muller died. But at his funeral ceremony when the friend saw Muller lying down in a casket, his heart was moved. He repented with many tears and accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. God answered Muller’s prayer not right away, but later. In this way God answers our prayer in his time which is always the best time for us. 

God sometimes answers our prayer in different ways against our request, but it is proved as the better way. God sometimes answers our prayer with the word, ‘No’. It is because he knows us better than we know ourselves. God knows what is best for us and which way is the best way for us to go. In any case, God answers our prayer. Ruth Bell Graham, the wife of Rev. Billy Graham once said, “If God answered every prayer of mine, I would have married the wrong man seven times!”

Persistence in prayer is an expression of our absolute faith in God. Persistence is the key to success. There was a successful oil man. People were amazed that wherever he dug into the ground, oil came up from there. They asked him about his secret for finding oil. He said, “I don’t have any secret. I just dig the ground until oil comes up.”  People dug the ground for a while and gave up. Then, they moved to other sites to dig. Then they moved to still others. But this man dug the ground persistently until oil came up. The secret of a successful prayer life is like this. We must pray persistently until God answers. We must ask until it is given to us. We must seek until we find. We must knock until the door is opened. (Mt 7:7) One pastor called this “PUSH”; Pray Until Something Happens. We must push like this persistent widow. We must pray until something happens.

One of characteristics of our initial UBF ministry was persistence. Once they had one person in their hearts, they persistently prayed for them. They prayed for their conversion day and night until the person was changed. Before I was born again, I was wavering between God and the world. But my Bible teachers did not give up on me. She called me, encouraged me, and rebuked me until I repented of all my sins and gave my life to Christ. I want to pray for my bible students as she did. In 1985, after Dr. Samuel Lee gave us a prayer topic for Bible Russia, the whole UBF family began to pray for Russia day and night. Chicago UBF members ate Russian bread and drank Russian tea as an expression of their prayer. Dr. Jim Rabchuk sang “Moscow Night” every Friday night during the disciples’ meeting. Dr. Lee himself visited Russia to plant the seed of prayer. Still Russia was a communist country where the iron curtain was lowered down. However, our prayer for Russia was persistent. We were like the persistent widow saying, “Send a UBF missionary to Russia within 10 years.” God answered our persistent prayer by sending the first missionary Mrs. James Hwang within 5 years after we had prayed for Russia. Praise God!

We have been praying for this country America to become a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.  This prayer topic seems to be unrealistic as we see the current spiritual condition of this country. However, God answers our prayer when we always pray and never give up. In fact, God is answering our prayer at present, even this moment while we are praying.  Next week, we’ll have the Leaders Development Workshop in Chicago. We expected 60 members to join. However, more than 100 registered for this meeting. God is working mightily by raising many spiritual leaders and harvest workers on each campus and in each city of this country. Amen.

St. Louis UBF motto is “Your kingdom Come”, based on Jesus’ prayer. We have been praying for ancestors of faith on each campus. God will answer our prayer as long as we always pray and never give up. Do you have anyone for whom you pray for his or her salvation? Do not give up, but always pray!  God answers your prayer sometimes immediately, sometimes later, or sometimes in better way. But God definitely answers your prayer when you don’t give up.

Look at verse 8. “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”  This verse contains an eschatological implication, which means that we must wait patiently for Jesus’ second coming. Patience is an important factor in our prayer. Patience is an expression of our faith. We need patience for a person’s change. We need patience in our spiritual growth. We need patience for the coming of the kingdom of God. Those who have patience pray persistently. Those who have patience experience the power of prayer. Those who have patience win the final victory.

Second, God hears our repentant prayer. (9-14)  Jesus told this parable to those who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on others. Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men-robbers, evildoers, adulterers-or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ (10-13) In this parable Jesus teaches us what kind of attitude we should have toward God when we pray. We should have repentant and humble hearts like the tax collector. Indeed, we are nothing but sinners who have nothing to boast about ourselves, but who only need God’s mercy. God hears our humble and repentant prayer. Look at verse 14. “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Today Jesus taught us how to pray. We should always pray and not give up. We should come to God with humble hearts and repentant spirits. I pray that God may help all of us to grow as men and women of humble and persistent prayer in our generation. Let us always pray that God may make America a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Amen.

---

Attachment

• PERSISTENT PRAYER-messag.doc