It's time for a new edition of the Weekend Sermon. I want to thank all of you who read this blog every week. I hope that everyone who reads the blog is having a fantastic week.
I am very grateful to the Lord for all of the writing work that He has allowed me to do this week. I've been writing a lot of health related articles for a company, and I've been working on a new book project.
I would like to ask everyone to be in prayer for those who are in the path of Hurricane Irma. This hurricane has already decimated several islands in the Caribbean, and it is making its way toward Florida. Pray for those affected by the hurricane that they will receive the aid that they need. Pray that this hurricane will weaken and go out to sea without hurting anyone else.
I heard on the radio this morning that southern Mexico and northern Guatemala had an earthquake. Let us all pray for those affected by this natural disaster that they will receive the aid that they need to recover.
Please keep the people of Texas in your prayers. They have a long way to go in the recovery down there. Also, continue to pray for those affected by the floods in India and Bangladesh.
Continue to pray for peace in this troubled world. Syria and Iraq really need our prayers right now.
For our prayer focus countries this week, let us pray for those in the nations of Cambodia and Guinea-Bissau. Pray that many in these two countries will hear about the love of Jesus.
This week, we are once again studying one of Jesus' parables. We only have about four more parables to go in this series. Today, we are going to focus on a parable that teaches us about prayer.
Jesus was asked by His disciples if He would teach them how to pray. In response to this request, Jesus taught His followers what we now call the Lord's Prayer. Immediately after providing the prayer, Jesus told a parable about prayer.
Jesus said that there was someone who had a friend come to him at midnight. This friend had a friend of his come to visit, but there was not enough bread in the house to feed the guests.
The man who was awakened at midnight told his friend that he was already in bed with his family. However, the friend kept persisting. Jesus said that the man who was awakened wouldn't get up and get the bread just because the man was his friend. He would get up and get the bread because his friend at the door kept persisting in asking.
Following this story, Jesus tells us that we should keep asking, seeking and knocking. We must persist in prayer.
Jesus said that an earthly father would not give something bad to his children if they asked him for something good. The Father in Heaven will give us good things and He will especially give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.
So, what does this parable have to teach us? What are we to take from it?
I think that Jesus is quite clear in this parable. We are to pray,, and we are not to lose heart even when things don't look like they are improving. Sometimes we will pray and pray for something to happen, but the thing we pray for just doesn't come to pass. At these times, we might feel like giving up. But Jesus is telling us to not give up. We should not give up in prayer unless we receive the answer, the Lord tells us no, or like He did with Paul, He says that His grace is sufficient and we aren't to pray about a certain matter any longer.
There have been times in my life when I have really had to persist in prayer in order to receive what I had asked the Lord to do. I will give you a couple of examples. My friend Toby had a terrible autoimmune disorder that affected his skin. I prayed and asked the Lord to heal him. Toby didn't get well right away. I prayed for Him everyday for almost one year, yet Toby kept having intermittent flare ups of the skin disorder. However, one day, Toby was completely healed, and he never had another flare up again.
About 20 years ago, I developed a skin problem called vitiligo. It was a fairly bad case. I prayed for about six months before God completely healed me of vitiligo, and I've never had any problem with it again.
These are just some examples of my own life about continuing in prayer and not giving up. I urge you not to give up because you never know when the answer is going to come.
I can't even begin to answer the question as to why the Lord answers some prayers right away and why He sometimes makes us wait. Sometimes, even when we persist, the answer doesn't come. I've had this happen too.
When my Mom had the bad stroke that left her so debilitated, I prayed every night until she died five years later that the Lord would make her better. She never got any better. She got worse every single day. I don't know why this happened, but I do know that she is now with Jesus, and all is well for her.
I can think of one time when I had an instant answer to pray for a what I'd call a major situation. Toby had just had an operation for liver cancer. The oncologist at the veterinary specialty clinic told me that Toby would live a maximum of six weeks. I prayed and asked the Lord to let Toby live longer than that and to totally blow away the veterinary prognosis.
Toby didn't live six weeks. He lived for 13 months cancer free. I will always be grateful to the Lord for this blessing, because that was an awesome 13 months that I will never forget. The veterinarians were amazed.
I know that it is hard to keep believing when answers to prayer don't come. I know people who've been praying for family members to come to Jesus for decades, but still there is no response. Please don't give up. Jesus tells us to keep asking, seeking and knocking.
We all need to be confident in the fact that the Lord wants to give us good things. He does want what is best for us. We need to trust in His goodness and His love while we obey what He has taught us.
Never give up in prayer. Never give up in trying each day to be more and more like Jesus. Never give up in trying to help others and to make this world a better place.
Next week, we will continue with our series on the parables of Jesus. I will post the verses on Monday, and I will have a book review on Wednesday. May God bless you all. Amen.
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