Forty Days of Promises: God answers prayer

Week 8--Focus of the Week: God's Commitment

God promises to answer prayer

Thus says the Lord who made the earth, the Lord who formed it to establish it—the Lord is his name, "Call to me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things which you do not know...Jeremiah 33:2-3

All promises are fulfilled in Christ.

Please read Luke 18:1-8.

In yesterday's passage, we read about a woman kneeling before Jesus in humble gratitude and adoration. Now, in today's reading, Jesus speaks of a different woman under different circumstances. By using a parable, He wants to make a point to His disciples (and to us) about prayer. The point is stated cleary from the start and it is this:

"...(we) ought to pray and not lose heart" (Luke 18:1).

Jesus then explains HOW we ought to pray. He calls attention to the attitude of a persistent widow who continually asks for justice. She is one of those people who "knocks and keeps knocking." The good news unfolds as the parable continues and it ends with this truth: our prayers are met by a righteous God who is not bothered by us; on the contrary, He is pleased with our persistence and answers us with a willing heart.

Let's continue to pray. God promises to answer us! He hears our cries. He sees our hearts. He knows our needs. He wants us to talk to Him! In the holy conversations with our Savior, we grow in both our intimacy with Him and dependency on Him, which are two reasons that Jesus WANTS us to pray! As we give Him our requests, we must trust that every answer we receive is wrapped in the confines of His steadfast love and faithfulness.

This past week, I have been in a place of fervent prayer much like the persistent widow in the parable. I have begged and cried and bowed and laid prostrate and claimed God's living word on behalf of my long-time-soul-to-soul friend Sharon Suiter Reyes and her husband Fred who is in the hospital on a ventilator due to the Corona virus. Their family invades my thoughts and takes over my emotions, but I must not stop there. I must run to the God of Mercy, and I must persistently plead. All my worrying and all my weeping must be turned into fervent prayer on their behalf. My tearful eyes of faith are focused on the mighty God who heals. I must believe that my persistence pleases the Lord, and that my faith "fuels" His power. Why else would He call us to pray?

God will be faithful to do His part in providing His best answer for your prayers, and for mine. What He wants us to do is to be faithful in our part, which is to "pray and not lose heart."

For further reading: Matthew 7:7-11; Mark 11:22-24; John 16:23-24

Dear Lord,

Thank you that we can talk to You. What a privilege! Every day and often, may we bring You our humble adoration and as well as our desperate needs. You hear every word and You are faithful in Your answers. Amen.