January 10
“There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God, and did not respect man. And there was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ And for a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, lest by continually coming, she wear me out.’” Luke 18:2-5
I can’t say enough about how crucial prayer is to the joyful, victorious Christian life. I have had many prayer lists and several prayer journals over the years, some more diligently prayed over than others, and I highly recommend them to everyone. The prayer list is like a compass; it serves as a daily reminder of where I am going and what I am asking God to do in my life. Without one, I am adrift in my spiritual journey as I easily forget what was on my heart and so important to me even as little as a few weeks ago.
When I don’t follow a prayer list diligently, I don’t see progress in my life because I am not diligently asking and persevering in my requests. “You do not have because you do not ask,” is unfortunately true for me more times in my life that I would care to admit. We urgently need to become like the widow of Luke 18 who repeatedly, day after day, pursued the judge until he gave her the help she was seeking. The point Jesus is making is that it is the same with our prayers to God; we must petition and keep on petitioning the Lord for our requests day after day or until He grants the request or makes it obvious that we should stop asking for the thing. I find that I have quite a few requests all the time, and it is essential to me to clearly write them down and keep track of them in order to remember them.
Include on your prayer list character qualities you want the Lord to develop in you and bad habits, sins, hurtful ways, hardness of heart, blind spots, etc., that you want Him to remove. I believe you will see amazing answers to prayer if you diligently pursue the Lord in regular prayer, especially relating to things regarding Christ-like behavior and overcoming sins. Work to avoid letting the prayer list become monotonous or a burden. Ask the Lord to help you become diligent in prayer. Keep up the intensity and urgency in the prayer by recalling to mind why you want the Lord to do the thing, the benefits if He does it, and the consequences if He doesn’t.
Overcoming temptation is easier when we diligently, regularly, and urgently ask the Father to help us. Let it not be true of us that we did not faithfully seek Him and ask.
Tomorrow we will talk about another aspect of prayer that is essential for every Christian to practice regularly: praying without ceasing.