Never Quit Praying

Jesus’ parable in Luke 18 makes it plain that PERSISTENCE is an essential quality when it comes to prayer.  God looks for it, insists upon it.  Dogged determination, perhaps even approaching what some might term “pushiness” seems to be a trait the Lord appreciates.  Read more

Praying for Vengeance

In the prayer parable that commences Luke 18, Jesus tells of a widow who kept coming to a judge for something.  Read more

Night Prayers

In the prayer parable found in the first 8 verses of Luke 18 – a story told to encourage the disciples “always to pray and not lose heart” – the Master Teacher places only two actors on the stage:  a judge and the widow who approaches him.   Why a widow?  Few figures could more succinctly portray the status of a soul that resorts to prayer.  Women in those days had little standing, a widow even less.  Along with orphans, widows were the most powerless of people, easy to victimize.  A widow had no clout.  A widow is an apt figure for the Christian:  whether male or female, we are helpless apart from the aid our Judge can give us.  RIZPAH is a prayer ministry of women and for women and by women, and I think that women, whether widowed or not, may more easily experience the humility that is always an essential element of real prayer.  Women, being in the words of the Apostle Peter the “weaker” sex (physically) may more naturally sense their powerlessness. Read more

An Encouragement to Pray

Praying can be discouraging work. Most believers have a pretty exalted view of prayer while at the same time they don’t pray very much. I know this because I am one such believer; I live this inconsistency. Why is this? I think it’s because prayer is so generally discouraging. We believe in God, we believe in His power and love, we believe God hears and answers prayer, and yet days and months and even years can pass without the answer we seek. And so we are inclined to give up, or to not pray at all. Read more

Baring Our Hearts

 

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! And when He drew near and saw the city, He wept over it. Luke 13: 34; 19:41 (ESV) (emphasis mine) Read more

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