Getting justice

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. ² He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. ³ And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

⁴ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, ⁵ 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!’”

⁶ And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says.⁷ 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 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”Luke 18: 1 – 8

I always find it surprising that sometimes Christians let the devil steal from them and they do nothing about it. We all know the devil is a liar, a thief and comes to destroy yet when troubles come, Christians all too often just accept that this is the way it is.

God tests our faith to strengthen it through trials and difficulties (James 1:2) and sometimes he lets the devil steal from us and lie to us, to teach us how to use our faith to overcome the devil and grow spiritually strong.  If we never had any difficulties or life was always easy, we would be very passive Christians. Jesus came to overthrow the works of the devil and he wants us to do the same in our lives.

Sometimes Christians face great injustice because of the work of the devil and in this story, Jesus explains how we can get justice by coming to God the great, just Judge.

If you imagine a court room with God as the Judge, you are the defendant, the devil is the accuser or prosecutor and Jesus is the defence counsel. We can come to this court in heaven and ask God for justice. God is righteous and therefore he has to listen to all the devil’s lies and innuendos but once they are heard, he will find in your favour if the devil has been lying and stealing from you.

A few years back we had a minor car accident which was not our fault but we could not get our £250 excess back from the insurance company.  It was ours, we were entitled to it but all letters and phone calls produced no result. I started praying in the court of heaven and coming to God the Judge and asking him for justice. We had been stolen from. I continued to pray and God showed me I need to start a formal complaint procedure. That unlocked the door and not only did we get our money back (two years late) but we got 20% added for the inconvenience (Numbers 5:7).

God is looking for faith on the earth this parable tells us and through persistent faith expressed through persevering prayer, we will get justice. In the natural if you give up on a court case before the end, you lose everything.  It is the same in the spiritual. We must persevere in faith filled prayers and God will give us justice. 

Urging Jesus strongly

As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.  Luke 24: 28 – 29

The two disciples on the road to Emmaus had just spent the day walking with Jesus from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They had started the journey upset and bewildered about the events of Jesus’ crucifixion and unable to make sense of the rumours that Jesus had risen from the dead. Jesus taught them from the Scriptures that the Messiah had to suffer these things before entering into his glory.

Imagine what they would have missed if they had not urged him strongly to stay with them. Imagine they had just said, ‘O well goodbye then. Thanks for the interesting journey!’ They would have missed the revelation that this was Jesus walking with them. They would have missed the final and best part of the day. I think it was more than just hospitality that made them urge Jesus to stay. I think they did not want their time with the stranger to end. They wanted to hear more.

I believe there are times that Jesus wants us to urge him strongly for things.  It isn’t enough to hear and know about good things – we need to apply them and that may require us to urge Jesus for more. The one thing urging Jesus strongly is not and that is praying lots of words and Scriptures in the vain hope that something we say may unlock the door of heaven to get us what we are praying for! This praying in unbelief may be loud and urgent but has no faith attached to it.

The other thing I have heard people say is that God knows where to find them if he wants them or God can do what he wants in our church but otherwise it is business as usual. Nothing usually happens with that approach. Suppose someone said to you that if you want to visit, you know where the house is. Come and find us if you want. Personally I am not sure I would bother. If someone urges us to visit we feel welcome and wanted and can’t wait to go.

When we urge God for something there is an invitation attached that says please use me, please visit, please come. We want more of you Lord Jesus. Wonderful though things may be, I want more; more of you, more salvations, more healings, more miracles, more of God’s power in my life and the church. I want more of the Kingdom to come Lord.

Let us join together and urge Jesus strongly for more of his presence and power in our lives. Amen!

Persistent, fervent prayer

The Bible has a lot to say about prayer and how people prayed.  It is both our number one means of communication with God and our number one means of connecting other people with the will of God. 

Luke 18: 1 – 8 is a parable that Jesus told to help his disciples to always pray and not give up.  He told them about a persistent widow who went on and on to an unjust judge till he gave her what she wanted. An unjust judge is an oxymoron.  Judges are meant to deal in justice but this one, who on his own admission didn’t fear God or care about man, gave the woman justice because of her sheer persistence.  Jesus taught that if an unjust judge will do that, ‘will not God bring justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? I tell you he will see they get justice, and quickly’ Luke 18: 7 – 8.  The answer of course is, ‘Yes God will bring justice as he is the just judge. 

The interesting thing though is that in verse 8, Jesus finishes off this parable with the statement, ‘However when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth.’  For Jesus persistent, fervent prayer requires faith.

Sometimes God gives us prayer answers quickly but if we got easy, quick answers to our prayers all the time, faith would not grow.  Faith does not grow in the soil of easy answers.  If God quickly answered all our prayers on demand, God would become like a slot machine.  Prayer in, answer out and no faith is required for that.  Faith grows when we have to persist to get our answers.  If we have to pray fervently and persistently faith grows or we give up.  Jesus taught us not to give up.  If it isn’t important enough to persevere, it isn’t that important. 

Persistent prayer is like saving up for something.  If we immediately got everything we asked for, we do not hold it in the same value and importance as something that we have had to save up for.  When we get something that we have had to save for, we greatly value and appreciate it.  In the same way when we persevere in prayer, with faith, when the answer comes we appreciate it and we have greater faith and confidence to ask next time for even greater things. 

If you are flagging in prayer for something that you have been praying about for ages, stir up your spirit and faith again and ask God to help you pray with freshness.  Ask God too to show you if there is a better way to pray to achieve your heart’s desire – the salvation of a loved one, provision of some sort or healing.  But don’t give up.  If as you read this, you remember something that you used to pray for but haven’t recently, start praying again with fresh faith for it.