THE PRAYER PERSPECTIVE: A WIDOW’S CRY

Hello, my name is Pernell Hill and welcome to The Prayer Perspective, a biblical viewpoint on the principles and practices of prayer. Each perspective will have a Prayer Take-Away, these are steps you can use to maximize your prayer discipline.

Luke 18:1 says And He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not faint. The parable is about a king and a widow woman. The widow woman was in need of the king’s help, she kept going to the king requesting that the king would avenge her of her adversaries. Now the Bible says that the king did not fear God, nor gave any regard to man which could be interpreted as, he neither gave reverence to God nor any respect to man. But the widow kept coming, she was quite persistent; despite his unwillingness to resolve her concern. Eventually the king would say “Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me”. Let me encourage you, what the king saw as pestering, Jesus see it as persistence. Jesus see your persistence as acts of faith. Your faith motivates you to go and to keep going to the source through which you get your results. Jesus would also say “And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though he bear long with them.” So today, as an elect of God, I want to ask you to not give up. God does not see your persistence in prayer as pestering Him, but He see your persistence in prayer as acts of faith. Lastly, its encouraging to know that no matter what my troubling situation is, God has the power to resolve it; keep going to the King. Amen.

Prayer Take-Aways

1. Accept the fact that you have an issue that needs resolving

2. Don’t be afraid or intimidated to approach God

3. Rule out other options as to who can help your situation. When you determine that God is the only one, He will eventually become your focus, which can make Him bigger than the issue. God is where you start, and stick with Him all the way through.

4. Use the word of God for your specific situation. For example the widow asked the king to avenge her adversaries, avenge means to take vengeance for or on behalf of…Romans 12:19 says Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord…. to know this about him can help your cause.

5. Be Persistent, but also be consistent. In other words, don’t give up, but be consistent with the truth. You don’t have to try and change the story to try and convince God. God knows what is going on with you. You must realize the king had the capacity to know what was going on with the widow.

6. Wait by faith and expect an answer.