Praying For FaithSample

DAY TWO: God's Time Table  

Maybe you are tired of waiting for an answer. You’ve prayed for a specific situation, person, or circumstance, but you have not seen an answer, and you are beginning to lose heart.

We can infer from Luke chapter 18 that Jesus gave the judge the power to make a difference. So this dear widow came to him and said, “Help me—my adversaries are after me.”

The judge had the power to help the widow, but the answer didn’t seem to be coming. After much persistence by the widow, the judge finally said, “Because of her continual coming to me, lest she weary me, I’m going to get up now and answer her.”

At the end of this parable, Jesus says, “Shall God not avenge His own elect?”

In other words, if an ungodly human judge can grant the request of a persistent widow, how much more will God answer you if you call out to Him?

God’s decision to answer and to help us when we pray will be made quickly. He doesn’t ignore our pleas.

However, you might not see the answer with your natural eye for a season, even though the answer has come; even though God has decreed that your prayer will be answered, you may not see it. There are reasons for that. Jesus finishes this story about the widow, saying, “But will there still be faith on the earth?”

God is asking us this very question in our instant gratification society: Will there still be the kind of faith on the earth that believes it has the answer and doesn’t give up until it is fully seen? When Christ returns to the earth, will there be a shortage of people who believe and persist in that belief?