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Transcript

Good afternoon, everyone. Good to be with you on this beautiful Sabbath day.

Brethren, as we start this message, I’m just going to jump in right into the topic today and you’ll see why I’m going to do that as we begin. Please stand with me to Luke chapter eighteen, right there in the book of Luke, and we will pick up in verse one. Starting to read in verse one and just want to start with the topic right from the beginning and we’re going to discuss prayer today and you’ll see again why I’m going to do that. We’re going to talk about prayer, but something very specific about prayer. Now, when you are in Luke, we’ll start in verse one. The header in my Bible says, “The Unfortunate Widow: A Lesson in Prayer.” So let’s begin to read, everyone. This is Christ speaking and He says, “And He spoke a parable unto them to this end, that men ought to always pray and not to faint.”

Christ didn’t beat around the bush, everyone, when He jumped into with this parable. He also mentioned immediately His goal, His purpose for the reason why He wanted to talk to His disciples, and that was specifically about prayer. He spoke a parable and He said, “My goal with this parable, gentlemen, and I can say to you, brethren, today is that men ought always to pray and not to faint.” In other words, Christ mentioned to persevere or persevere in prayer, to be persistent.

Now, as we go through this, I’m going to ask you a question, brethren, but think about it as we read these verses. I’m going to read right through the passage and then we’ll talk about it a little bit more. Verse says, “Saying, ‘There was, in a specific city, a judge which feared not God, neither regarded man.’” He had no respect to God and he had no outgoing concern to any man. He was a judge.

“And there was a widow in that city and she came unto Him. She came to the judge and said, saying, ‘Avenge me of my adversary.’ And He would not for a while.” So you can begin to picture in your mind this parable, but see it as a scenario playing out, brethren. “And He would not for a while, but afterward He said with Himself, ‘Though I fear not God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me,’” she troubled him, “‘I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she worries me.’”

“And the Lord said, Christ said, ‘Hear what the unjust judge says and shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear along with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the son of man comes, shall He find faith on the earth?’” So I wanted to go through this passage, brethren, and just begin to oil your mind. You can keep your bookmark, a bookmark in this passage because we’re going to pull out certain lessons from this passage.

But first, I would like to ask a self-examination question. On a scale one to ten, with one the lowest and ten the highest on this scale, where would you place your persistence in prayer, your perseverance in prayer? Now we have an example here in this passage of a simple lady, a widow. She is an example of a ten out of ten. She was a great example of somebody that were persistent in prayer. But you can place yourself anywhere on that scale. Be honest with yourself today. I have to be honest. And as I prepared this message, I had to be honest with myself in this same question.

Maybe you put yourself maybe too low on a three or a four, or maybe you put yourself on a six or a seven. Be honest with yourself, brethren, in where you place on this scale one to ten. And then the goal today, everyone, as you walk out afterwards, is to go and grow in that specific area. Maybe if you do that same test in a while again, that you can honestly say, “I’ve grown in this area.” That would be a goal for us.

But she persevered in her prayers. So the question, brethren, is not whether prayer works. We know that prayer works. The question is, how persistent are you and am I in our prayers? So today, let’s draw out key lessons from this parable about perseverance in prayer. We’re just going to look at this passage and draw out some key lessons.

The first one there, everyone, as you read verse one, it says again, as we read verse one again, “And He spoke a parable unto them,” unto His disciples, Christ speaking to His disciples, “to this end,” again, this was His goal, “that men ought always to pray and not to faint.” Now, let’s define faint, because in your mind, you might immediately think about -- when you consider fainting, you think, “All right. What does this mean?”

First of all, it doesn’t mean in a physical sense, when you go out, let’s say on the Day of Atonement afterwards, or you’ve done a spiritual fast on your own 24 hours afterwards, and you faint, you physically faint just because you haven’t had, not that it happens, brethren, but it can happen in certain circumstances, maybe that you faint, physically faint, or you ran a marathon, or you worked hard that day in the sun, and you didn’t, again, eat, maybe, or drink enough water during a specific day, and you just got exhausted, and you felt a little bit woozy, and you wanted to faint. You didn’t feel steadfast on your feet anymore, so to speak.

You have a medical condition, let’s say somebody with diabetes, their blood sugar can go either high or low, and somebody can faint. Or some of us, when we see blood, that can be a reason for fainting. I know a young gentleman very well that if he sees blood, he needs some juice or a cookie to eat because he can immediately faint because of seeing blood. But this, brethren, this specifically, this was Christ’s purpose. We need to understand what it means not to faint.

And it means here to become weak in resolve, to grow weary in mind, or to fail at the level of the heart. So this is something about the heart. Now that we understand what fainting truly means, we can see why the widow’s actions matter, why it was so important. She didn’t fail at heart, brethren. Let’s look at verse three here, a little bit closer to the widow, as we bolt on and make this very first point.

What was it? A lesson that we can pull out from this passage. “And there was a widow in that city.” verse three, “And she came unto him, saying, ‘Avenge me of my adversary.’” Avenge means to retaliate of an adversary. Now this widow often, brethren, when we think about a widow, this is somebody that typically would be somebody that’s helpless, somebody that needs help. She doesn’t have a husband anymore. She might not have family. She needs help.

And this widow was a wise and discerning lady. She might needed help. She might have been physically weak, helpless in the sense that she needed assistance in what matter it was, whoever was her adversary, but she understood that her problem was bigger than herself. And that’s important for you and me to realize as well, brethren, because this is not just a picture of a widow. This is a parable. But this widow represents us.

This widow represents the church. It represents each one of us, and it represents me. When we read this passage, we want to make it personal. She had an adversary. Now an adversary typically is something or somebody, when you think about our three adversaries that we often talk about in Christianity, brethren, the self, society, and Satan, those adversaries are typically stronger than we are. They are too powerful for us.

Now that widow, she was wise. She knew that she had an adversary. She knew she was too weak. And who did she go to? She didn’t go to the community leader in her neighborhood. She did not go to the principal of the school or the police chief. She went to the judge. She went to the person that had the highest authority. That’s the first point that we want to make, brethren. She went to the highest authority, the judge. In her city, she knew exactly who to approach. She knew the one that was able to help her. So where do you and I go, brethren? What do you and I do? We do the same as what the widow would do. We go to the highest power.

Let’s turn to Ephesians. Keep your hand there in Luke. Very simple understanding, brethren. But it is important for us that when we are facing any type of adversary, it doesn’t have to be the three adversaries that you and I, that I just mentioned, Satan, society, and self, it can be anything that gives you resistance, any type of adversary, anything that you go to God with, that you and I realize we should go to Him with that, the highest authority.

Let’s read. If you are in Ephesians three verse twelve, let’s read verse twelve. It says, “In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him.” By the faith of Christ, what He has done, brethren, you and I have access to the Father. We have access to the highest authority. You and I do not have to go and stand in line to face a judge or fill out paperwork. Maybe you can see him in six months, but I have an adversary. This is very, very important. You think about the red tape today, brethren. Think about the governments of today.

I’ve been in the medical field and I’ve seen so many times where people have a need and they have to wait for a long time before they can see such and such specialist or that and that person that will help them. With God, it’s not that way. You and I have access, brethren. When you close your inner room, you have immediate access through what Christ has done, through His faith, that faith in us, that we have access to the highest authority. You can just go and pray to Him.

But again, the question is, do we continue to pray for a specific matter? Do we continue to pray with perseverance? So as this first lesson, brethren, that we can pull out is to go to the highest authority, be like the widow. And we know we can do that. We know that we have access.

The second lesson that we can learn, brethren, that’s a softball one, one that we all understand, but we should never forget in a pinch, in a difficult situation, that you know who you should go. You shouldn’t go to people first. Often when we are in a difficult situation, we go to people. Yes, people can help us in many ways, but the first thing when you have an adversary is to go and go to the Father, go to the one that has the highest authority.

Now interestingly, brethren, this widow did to a man, to a human judge, that our prayers can never do to God. Think about it. This little lady was able to do something to a judge. Now this judge, He said outright, “I do not fear God. I do not regard man. I have no outgoing concern. I’m thinking about myself.”

I think about the town where I spent about 16 years of my life. It was a town that was -- there’s two colleges, a military base, and it was also the city, a medium-sized city in South Africa that was the place where the appeals court was in South Africa. So there were several judges. And I can remember as a student, some of us wanted to have some fun, and we went into one of these high-rises, took the elevator up, wanted to go to the revolving restaurant. As a student, you didn’t have money to go and eat there. You just wanted to go and see how that restaurant looked like.

And as we went up the elevator, there was an elderly man and his wife, and the two friends, the three of us that went up the elevator. He gave us fifty rand. Now back then, fifty rand, imagine somebody put fifty dollars into your hand. And we started to speak to him on the way up the elevator, and he mentioned that He was a judge in the city. We just had a nice conversation for the several floors that we went up to.

So a judge is somebody that is respected. In that case, he was also somebody with some cash in his hands and was looking at the weaker vessels back then, those students, and he had pity on us, and he gave us fifty rand, or in the U.S. terms, fifty dollars. But not this judge, Brethren. He was different. But he eventually gave in, didn’t he?

Picture this as we read in the passage, if you go back to chapter eighteen of Luke and you have your bookmark there, picture this judge, Brethren, sitting daily administering justice. He was bold in what he knew he was able to do. And maybe he made the right judgment sometimes and maybe a wrong judgment, but day after day, this widow appears before him: “Sir, I have an adversary. Please avenge me of my adversary.” Now the fact that it says that he would not for a while, it means that she came to him day after day.

At first, he maybe ignored her. “Just take this lady away, please. I have greater matters to handle, greater judgments to make in this city. I’m the judge of this city.” Then later on, he started to notice her. Maybe he looked in the crowd and he said, “There’s that widow again.” Maybe he started to roll his eyes and think in his mind, “Here she comes again. How do I get rid of her? How do I stop her?” But she would just come day after day with the same request.

Christ said, she asked one simple thing, five words, “Avenge me of my adversary.” She was persistent. She knew exactly that she had an adversary. That adversary was greater than she. And she applied that first principle, that first lesson, Brethren. She knew who to go to. She didn’t turn around and say, “I need to find somebody else. This judge is not going to help me.” She had the wisdom and she had the discernment, but she had perseverance, Brethren. She got ten out of ten, as we mentioned earlier on, for perseverance. And you and I can do and should do exactly the same.

Finally, Brethren, in verse five, let’s focus a little bit on verse five. And the second point that we want to make is, there’s power in perseverance. She was powerless, but look at the power that she had on a man, as we said, Brethren, that she did to a judge that you and I cannot do to God. Let’s read verse five. “Yet because this widow troubles me,” now you can think that he said loudly or in his chambers at the end of a day with a whiskey in his hand or cognac in his hand, as a judge often do and they read all the cases and all the judgment that they make. They get physically weary. But this is not what a physical weariness that we are talking about.

It says, “Because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she wearies me.” That weary, Brethren, is exactly the same as to faint, meaning that she was able to pull him down. He ultimately gave her what she wanted. She made a man weary, a strong judge, a little lady, just because she was persistent in her continual coming.

Brethren, you and I, when you have something to bring to God, you cannot make Him weary. He cannot get weary. You and I have to know that. Maybe we think about the fact, “God is not answering me in whatever I bring to Him.” Even if it’s an adversary or a small matter that you bring to Him, you might say, “Is God hearing me, or did He maybe get weary? Is He the one that’s getting weary?”

We can, again, if you keep your hand there, let’s go to Isaiah. Have this promise always in your mind, Brethren, from his perspective. Let’s read Isaiah chapter forty, a well-known verse, chapter forty and verse twenty-eight. Isaiah forty and verse twenty-eight, it says, “Hast you not known?” That’s what Isaiah says, but Brethren, you and I can ask that to ourselves. Do we not know? I’m sure we know. We know this answer.

“Hast you not heard?” We have heard, Brethren, before. We know that the everlasting God, the highest authority, the one that we use that first lesson, the one that we come to. “God, the Lord, the creator.” God is piling on who He is. He wants you and me to make sure that we understand who He is. He’s the creator. He’s the everlasting God. He’s the Lord. “Of the ends of the earth faints not, neither is weary. There’s no searching of His understanding.” He will never get weary. You can go to Him, even persisting more than the widow, Brethren, and you will never be able to wear Him out.

Don’t ever think that you wear Him out in any way. Just say, “Come to me.” “I will never get tired of hearing you. You will never be able to wear me out.” So Brethren, there must be different reasons than why you and I get weary. God is not irritated by your persistent prayer. You come to Him day after day after day, Brethren. We’re asked, where do you and I put ourselves on that list of persistence? He’s not burned out by your persistence. He’s not worn down by faithfulness. The fact that He says you have to come to Him faithfully every day with a heart that’s persevering. He’s never worn down or wear out unlike the judge. Unlike the judge, Brethren.

Let’s go to Matthew chapter seven. This was in the Old Testament. Let’s look at the New Testament. Well-known passage for us. Brethren, contrary to the judge, God is good. God is just. God is loving. Let’s read verse seven. If you are in Matthew chapter seven and verse seven, again, an instruction of Christ when we pray, He’s teaching us to go to the Father, the highest authority.

That power of perseverance that you and I have. “Ask and it shall be given, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asks receives, and he that seeks finds, and to him that knocks it shall be opened.” This is a promise, Brethren. “Or what man is there of you whom if His son asks bread will give Him a stone?” Brethren, we are human beings, but when our children come to us, sometimes we can be a little bit tired after a long day’s work, but we will always give our children food when they ask.

“Or if He asks a fish, will you give Him a serpent?” If you go and take your young boy or your girl fishing, then you have a fun time. You go and maybe afterwards you fry that fish. But let’s say your child asks you, “Dad, Mom, give me a fish,” and you go in the bush and you grab a serpent and you say, “Okay. I’ll give you the serpent instead.” God doesn’t do that, Brethren, because you and I won’t do that.

“If you then being evil…” God knows that we have a human heart, Brethren. He knows that we can get weary, but about Him, He says, “You that evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children. How much more shall your father, which is in heaven, give you good things to them that ask Him?” And we can put it in there with perseverance. Persistently going to Him. How often do you go, Brethren, when you ask something? Maybe once? In a certain serious situation, do we go twice, or maybe after a week we get weary? There are lessons for us in this passage, Brethren.

The second one was there is power in perseverance. If an unjudged, just judge response to persistence, to perseverance, how much more will a righteous Father respond to faithful perseverance? God, Brethren, will always answer. He will reach out and give us what we ask for.

So let’s look at the third point here. What’s the causes? What’s causing us to lose heart? What causes human beings to lose heart? Because Christ from the get-go said, “I don’t want my people to lose heart.” He doesn’t want you and me to lose heart, Brethren. Every human being will lose heart without God’s help. Brethren, it doesn’t matter if you were Adam or the last person in God’s plan that will ever get the opportunity to teach, to be taught, to receive the truth, to receive God’s Spirit.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a president or a widow, a king or an orphan, growing up in a first-world country or a third-world country, living on Earth or, for that matter, living on Mars.

It doesn’t matter where you are, where you’re from, when you lived. Every human being will lose heart without God’s help. We need God’s help. We need God’s Spirit. Otherwise, it’s easy, Brethren, over time to just get weary and lose heart and faint at some point. But you and I are called to be different, aren’t we? We want to be different, and we can be different, and we should be different.

So it will be helpful for us to look at the causes of losing heart. The first one, let’s go to Proverbs chapter thirteen. Proverbs thirteen. There are different causes, Brethren. I just wanted to highlight some of those for you that will be helpful. Maybe that’s an example that you think about. This is something that I’ve struggled with before. I’m sure you have, Brethren. I have before.

Proverbs thirteen verse twelve, it says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.” Just focus there on the first half. “Hope deferred.” Any delay. You need help right now. Now I can give you an example of an answer. My family and I traveled to South Africa a couple of months ago, and there was a situation where in the beginning our flights got delayed. There were changes made to the whole flight plan, our whole itinerary, and instead of flying directly to South Africa, we had to go around Europe and then to South Africa.

But when we went back, around 24 hours before you can book in, as we got ready, we visited the Brethren and family, and we got ready to book in. The flight was gone 24 hours before we had to leave. We were ready to visit family for the last time. It’s evening, and there were no flights. We contacted the flight company, and they ultimately told us, “No, you have to do this and that,” and that would have delayed our flight completely. We would have been delayed for a couple of days.

And that was in a pinch, Brethren, where I just in that moment prayed. It was an urgent matter, and God, within thirty minutes, our flight was back, ready to go back to South Africa. It took some prayer, but God answered that prayer immediately. Imagine if He did not answer. That’s not an example of being delayed, Brethren. Think about yourself. That’s an answer of instant prayer because we needed instant help.

If you’re in a situation where you are diagnosed with a chronic disease or progressive illness, neurological weakness, or somebody that has cancer or a degenerative condition, you need help. You know you need help from the start. Maybe you went and prayed about it. You ask an anointing. You prayed earnestly to God faithfully from the start. Others pray with you. And first, there is hope. You get excited. You feel better. There is an improvement initially, but then weeks turn into months, and sometimes months into years, Brethren.

We have all examples of things where we had to persistently pray for one thing for a long time, and God delays. Delays, Brethren, can erode our faith. It can come to a point then where you begin to ask, “Am I doing something wrong? Do I lack faith? How long am I expected to endure this?” Brethren, we’ve all been there.

And God’s people can begin to lose heart in that situation. Not by rejecting God, Brethren, but by becoming spiritually exhausted. You don’t reject the fact that you believe that He can help you, but you become spiritually exhausted. Your prayers slowly shift from earnest and fervent to just a regular prayer, one where you begin to be guarded in your prayers, asking the request in a minimal way. You’re not that serious anymore because you don’t see the result. There’s a delay. It’s not that you become angered to God; You just resigned from going persistently and persevere. Brethren, a delay is not a denial, but that is one of the things that can make you and me to become weary.

What is another one? Let’s go to Second Corinthians. There are other things that can make you and me weary. Second Corinthians four, and we will pick up in verse eight. Second Corinthians chapter four, verse eight. And I read here, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despair.” Verse nine, “Persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed.”

Brethren, what about obstacles and pressure? Pressure at work, obstacles in life. Let’s read verse sixteen. It says, “For which cause we faint not,” even though all the pressures that you can think about, pressure of an unconverted spouse, pressure at work to disobey God, certain things that you pray about, that there is pressure, but here we see, brethren, it says, “For those things, for that cause we faint not. We don’t get weary, but though the outward man perish, the inward man is renewed day by day.” Renewed day by day, brethren, because the new day when it comes, we feel renewed and we go back to the Father and we continue to ask again.

There’s another day to go and to ask and not to get weary. Think about, for the young people, the pressure from society, the pressure to fit in, the problems, the violence that we see all around us, the suffering, the sin of this world. Those things, brethren, are those things that pressure us to do and stop doing something that as simple as going to the Father and pray for those pressures and obstacles and lose heart.

Another one here, Matthew twenty-four. Another reason why you and I can lose heart. Matthew twenty-four and verse forty-eight. What about discouragement, brethren, to become discouraged? Discouragement can drain our spiritual strength. Verse forty-eight, it says, “But if that evil servant shall say in his heart,” again, this is a matter of the heart, “my Lord delays His coming.”

Think about the big picture. Think about the promise that God made, the understanding that we are waiting for the Father and we have been waiting for a long time, persistent in praying and persevering in all of those matters, brethren, and then you can lose heart just because there’s a delay. There is a wait that you and I have to continue to wait, even to the coming of God and everything in between that you and I can think about that can discourage us, but again, in this verse, it’s speaking about a person that begin to think in their heart, God is delaying. “He’s not answering my prayer.”

Can be discouragement about your own spiritual growth and development. Left unchecked, it can cause, brethren, your prayers to fade and for you to begin to faint. Brethren, the things that make us weary are not random. They are attacks on our faith. And this is the fourth point that I wanted to bring out in this, the fourth lesson.

And it is, if you turn back to Luke eighteen, it says, verse eight, Christ started with persistence in prayer and He went on to verse eight. “I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.” When God answers, brethren, He answers speedily. He bears long with us. He suffers long. “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, shall He find faith on the earth?” Christ ends with this question. Not about prayer technique, brethren. It’s not about how we pray. This is about faith.

Prayer sustains our faith. Think about it for a moment while you wait. If you pray and persevere, that can build your faith. You go to God’s word. You begin to look at verses and you persistently know you know God will answer. That will build your faith. And faith sustains your prayer. The fact that you believe God will bring you back to prayer again and help you to work through whatever delay, whatever obstacle or pressure or discouragement there might be, that will strengthen your faith, your belief in God. Simply believing Him.

Brethren, this verse and this passage is not so much about God’s character. It’s more saying something about us. God is looking and values this passage and what you and I do in persistence of prayer for a specific reason. God values perseverance not because He’s reluctant or He’s forgetful or He’s unwilling. “Oh, I forgot you asked me about this yesterday. I forgot.” God never forgets, brethren. He’s not reluctant. He’s willing. He wants to answer us.

Let’s go to Ephesians chapter three. Ephesians chapter three and verse twenty. Think about His character again. This verse will strengthen that. Ephesians three verse twenty says, “Now unto Him, unto God that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you ask or think according to the power that works in us.” Think about all the thoughts that you have. You don’t pray about all of the things that you can pray about, brethren. He says there are certain things that you ask about and there are certain things that you think about.

God says, “I can answer everything that you ask me about. And if you have prayed, there are certain things that you didn’t even pray about yet, I can even answer them. I can go above and beyond what you think and ask I can do.” He says there are things you do not even ask Him about, but He knows you can ask. And if you ask, He will answer us even about those things.

Brethren, God values perseverance because of what He produces and reveals in us. It reveals a seriousness, that you are serious about your request. It reveals trust. If you go and persevere day after day after day, it shows a dependence on Him. It shows endurance. Something as simple as prayer, brethren, can help you and me to endure just because you are persistent and persevere in prayer. It’s not about praying in life overall. We know as Christians, we want to pray. We want to pray without ceasing. This message is more about perseverance in one area, one specific area that you pray about.

So how do we persevere, brethren? There are a couple of things. That list can go on and on, but there are things that I just wanted to highlight of how you and I can persevere in prayer. First of all, just to understand the purpose of perseverance. Simply understand why God expects sometimes for you and me to just persevere.

Perseverance protects you from losing heart, not to faint. That is why Christ jumped out from the beginning in this passage that we read. And if you turn back to it again, it helps us not to faint. Just the fact that you persevere, understanding the purpose of persevering. When we pray with faith, everyone, a second one anchors us in God’s character.

Let’s go to verse eight. Again reading verse eight of chapter eighteen, it says, “I tell you that God will avenge them speedily.” God is ready, brethren, to answer. That is His character. He’s suffering along. He wants you and me to build faith. He wants to see that you and I persevere. He wants to see that we grow. He wants to see that we trust. He wants to see that we will not lose heart, that we are serious about what we ask even if it’s just one thing. You maybe have ten things, but you persevere in all ten of them.

But He wants to see His people persevere in something as simple as coming in prayer with one question, one thing, just like the widow lady. She had an adversary, but she did not give up in asking. It’s not an emotional request that we bring to God, brethren. We trust in His timing. We trust that He’s able to answer us, that His timing will be the right time. But we don’t know when He’s going to answer. Sometimes again it might take a moment, then He answers. That builds your faith. But what about if it’s a week or two or three weeks? Do you continually coming before Him?

And that leads us to the next point. Be diligent and not sporadic. Meaning, brethren, you go repeatedly, you return to God for that one error. You don’t forget. He won’t forget. We shouldn’t forget. Continue to be earnest. Even if you are tired. We not always come with fervent boldness before God in certain areas. Sometimes it’s just before you go to sleep and you maybe fall asleep, but you did not forget to ask about, “Father, remember that request. Father, please remember that prayer.”

Not always even for ourselves. Even we can think about praying for others. It reflects a seriousness, brethren, not nagging. God doesn’t think that you’re nagging Him. He wants to see that you are persevering. Another thing is yielded prayer, brethren, yielded to God’s will. God has all of our prayers in mind. He has every plan that He has. When He breaks down that plan, it involves all of us, all our prayers.

Now imagine how He has to manage all of that when it comes to timing. And He knows the best time to answer all our prayers. He hears all our prayers. He manages all of those requests, not just individually for us. Yes, individually, but He looks to all of us, all our prayers as a collective body of Christ. We have to think about His will. What is His will in this matter? Maybe it involves another era that has to play out first.

Matthew twenty-six, an example of Christ. Matthew twenty-six, Christ knew what was coming, brethren. In verse thirty-nine. Matthew twenty-six, verse thirty-nine, Christ, an example that He gives us. And He went a little further and fell on His face. He was like that lady. It was urgent. It was serious. And He prayed, saying, “Oh, my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” He knew exactly what He was facing, what was coming. “Nevertheless,” He did not forget to ask this. “Nevertheless, not as I will, but you will.”

So part of our persistence, brethren, is doing like Christ, the Father, what is your will in this situation? Bring out or answer me in the best time that you think possible. Maintain humility, brethren, and a teachable attitude. That’s another thing that will help us to persevere. Keep a clear conscience and repentance, always a repented mind, ready to ask God’s will, but also change my mind, Father. Maybe I’m praying about this having the wrong perspective or the wrong attitude.

Let’s go to Philippians four and verse nineteen. You can draw from the strength of God’s spirit, brethren, to persevere. Philippians four verse nineteen, it says, “But my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in the glory of Christ Jesus.” God will supply, brethren. We can trust Him. You can draw strength from that that God will supply. He’s willing to supply and He says He will do that. We can draw strength from God’s Spirit, knowing that He will do that even if He delays in obstacles through obstacles and pressure that you and I face.

Another one is to replace discouragement with outgoing concern. Galatians chapter six and verse nine. Think about that judge. He didn’t have outgoing concern. But if we go to Galatians six and verse nine, it says, “And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season, we shall reap if we faint not,” in well-doing. Those things that God expects. Continue to serve, brethren. Continue to pray for others. Continue to think about others and their needs, not just our own needs. That will help us to persevere.

And then, brethren, in Hebrews, as we begin to draw to a close, one final verse, keep the big picture of God’s plan in mind. Hebrews chapter ten verse thirty-eight. Just keeping God’s big picture, that hope of the gospel in our mind will help us to persevere. Verse thirty-eight of Hebrews ten. “Now the judge shall live by faith, but if any man draw back,” if anyone begin to faint as a way of life, brethren, “over all my soul, my life,” God says, “shall have no pleasure in Him. But we are not of them.” You and I are not of those that pull back, that draw back unto perdition.

The big picture. You see the big picture in mind: “But of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” The saving of our lives. We keep the big picture in mind. Again, God has the big picture in mind, brethren. If we keep the big picture in mind, that will help us to persevere.

In conclusion, brethren, Christ’s question still stands today. Shall He find faith on the earth? The answer is not revealed in our words, but in our perseverance. The widow did not stop praying. She did not lose heart. She kept going until justice came, until the answer came. Brethren, persevering prayer is faith that refuses to quit. Let us be found faithful.