”Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ 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, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’ ” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge *said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”“. Luke 18:1-8
There are times we get so familiar with the Scripture that we miss the little details. The first verse was the focus of my journaling today on prayer. I knew I had to read through the parable in order to learn about praying and not losing heart. This is one of those prayers where the request is being made for a specific thing – legal protection from an opponent. We often go to the Lord in prayer for something specific that is on our minds. Sometimes we give up f
Before the request comes to fruition. We make excuses and justify why it didn’t happen. Yes, sometimes we are not praying God’s will into a situation. In this parable, the widow was making a request to someone who was not a God fearing judge. She kept persisting in her request.She didn’t give up, despite the judge’s free will. She didn’t give up despite the many “nos.” She persisted. She didn’t lose heart in her petition. How often do we give up not knowing if the answer to our request is just one petition away?
Today as we were driving home there was almost a horizontal rainbow in front of the mountain. The arch was almost touching the ground below it. We have never seen anything like it. So I captured a picture.
As I went to share it on social media, I shared this thought:
This rainbow is almost on the ground as we drive by, so close the arch is almost touching the ground. Sometimes in our walk with God we get so close to obtaining His promise we can almost touch it. Yet we quit before we actually obtain the promise. I don’t know who else besides me needs to hear this, but His promise is closer than the enemy wants you to believe. Don’t let go of the promise, keep holding on! #promise #keepholdingon #blessingiscloser
The belief that God’s blessing or fulfillment of a promise is closer than the enemy wants me to think, is a message from the life of David that has kept me in the faith when struggles come since about 2000. I have held on and God has always come through despite the difficult attacks I have faced throughout my life and the poor choices made by me or by others. My job is to keep asking and to continue to stand in faith.
Lord, I am not always diligent to not lose heart when I make requests to You. I am grateful for Your faithfulness, and that You generally bring me back to Your promises. Lord help me to pray with more diligence and to not lose heart knowing that if it is Your will, you will bring it to pass. In Jesus name. Amen.
Restoring Voice 
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