We Pray Persistently and Not Lose Heart to be Mingled with God and be One with Him

In Luke 18 we see how the Lord told a parable to the end that we should pray persistently and not lose heart; in a sense, we are like a widow in the present age because Christ (our Husband) is apparently absent from us, and Satan is our opponent, but God seems to be an “unrighteous Judge” as we appeal to Him in prayer again and again.

There was a judge in a certain city who didn’t fear God and didn’t regard man; in the same city there was a widow who kept coming to him saying, Avenge me of my opponent.

And for a time, this judge would not avenge her, but after a while, he said within himself, Even though I don’t fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow causes me trouble, I will avenge her, lest by continually coming she wears me out.

To this the Lord said, Hear what the unrighteous judge says; will not God by all means carry out the avenging of His chosen ones who cry to Him day and night, though He is long-suffering over them.

He will carry out their avenging quickly; nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth? This is a very interesting parable regarding prayer; it doesn’t mention that we should pray sitting or standing, with eyes closed or open, or at home or only in the church.

It mentions a widow who is being wronged by an opponent, and she comes to a judge who doesn’t fear God or man and who doesn’t seem to avenge her. But because of her persistent coming and bothering, he will avenge her, lest she wear him out.

It seems that in this parable the Lord likens Himself to an unrighteous judge; the One who avenges, the One who answers prayer, seems to be like an unrighteous judge.

Of course this doesn’t mean that God is unrighteous; rather, in the eyes of the widow, for a short period of time while her prayer and plea went unanswered, she felt that this is unrighteous, that she is suffering unrighteously.

She feels that if the judge doesn’t avenge her, he is unrighteous; this doesn’t mean that the judge is unrighteous but that to her feeling, he seems to be one.

This is so applicable to our experience, for many times we insist before the Lord concerning certain situations and people, and we want God to avenge us on the enemy who keeps bothering us, but He seems to be like the unrighteous judge.

But the Lord wants us to come to Him again and again and pray persistently, not giving up.

May we come to the Lord and read this portion in Luke 18:1-8 in His light, allowing Him to shine on us, direct us, and draw us to pray persistently and never give up.

We are like a Widow praying to God to Avenge us and He seems to be an Unrighteous Judge

In Luke 18:1-8 we see the Lord’s parable to the end that we should always pray and not lose heart; the significance of this parable is profound, and we need to know God as He is revealed here.

This is a particular aspect of God; He is not unrighteous in Himself, but this aspect of God causes us to temporarily consider that He is not being righteous.

Many people today, as the pandemic is spreading all around the world, they accuse God and ask, Why is God allowing so many innocent people to die and to suffer? What kind of God would do such a thing?

Especially the unbelievers are thinking this way. Well, is it true that God is unrighteous, unkind, and seemingly not doing anything about this situation?

We need to realize that God in His sovereignty has allowed what is currently taking place, but He is not ever for the death of man or for the unrighteous suffering of man.

On the other hand, He seems to be doing nothing, for He hides Himself; however, He is not doing nothing but He is very active but in a hidden way.

This is an aspect of God that we need to know; He doesn’t operate in the sight of man but He hides Himself.

The widow in this parable signifies us, the believers; in a sense, we can say that we believers are like a widow in the present age because our Husband – Christ – is apparently absent from us (2 Cor. 11:2).

We are betrothed to Christ and, if we are the overcomers, we will become His bride at the end of this age; but this seems to be taking a very long time.

Our perspective of time is that it takes such a long time for our Husband to come, but He said, I come quickly!

He will come as soon as He has those overcomers who are the prepared bride of Christ. Like the widow in the parable (Luke 18:3), we believers in Christ have an opponent, Satan the devil, concerning whom we need God’s avenging.

This parable indicates the suffering that we have from our opponent during the Lord’s apparent absence; we are like a widow whose oponent is troubling all the time.

And while our opponent is opposing us, persecuting us, and causing us troubles, it seems that our God is not righteous, for He allows His children to be unrighteously persecuted (see 1 Pet. 2:20; 3:14, 17; 4:13-16, 19).

If we look at the world situation today, atheism is prevailing, and even in so-called Christian countries like the United States, there’s a campaign against the Christian faith.

This is happening in the government, in the schools, in the universities, and in the media; we are suffering unrighteous persecution because we love the Lord and His economy, and this persecution will only increase.

If we look at history, throughout the centuries thousands upon thousands of honest and faithful followers of the Lord Jesus have suffered unrighteous persecution; even today many believers are undergoing unrighteous treatment (Rev. 2:8-10).

There was the unrighteous suffering under the Roman Empire, the persecution of the believers in so many countries on earth today is unrighteous, and yet God in His sovereignty allows us.

He seems to be unjust, since He doesn’t come in to judge and vindicate; because of this situation, the Lord Jesus used an unjust judge to signify God, who doesn’t seem to do anything on behalf of His persecuted people (Luke 18:2-6).

So we as a widow are appealing to Him, praying, coming before Him, and we pray persistently concerning our situation, the avenging that we need, and the justice that needs to be done; but on His side, He seems to be unrighteous.

He is NOT unrighteous; He simply does things in a secret, hidden way, and He does many things not outwardly but inwardly, not to change the situation but to change us from within.

May we continue to pray persistently before the Lord, coming to Him again and again, and opening to Him from the depths of our being, asking Him to avenge us of our opponent and to bring in justice according to His righteousness.

Lord Jesus, teach us to always pray and not lose heart; may we pray persistently and bring our case before God again and again. We love You, Lord Jesus; You are our Husband, we are betrothed to You, and even though we don’t see You physically, we know that You will one day come to be our beloved Bridegroom and we will be married for eternity. Lord, avenge us of our opponent. You see the prevailing of the atheistic teachings and lifestyle in our society. You see the persecution and opposition we and our brothers endure on earth today. You see the pandemic spreading on earth today and the innocent lives being lost. Lord Jesus, come in with Your life and Your salvation. Avenge us of our opponent and put him to shame. You see the enemy’s frustrations, persecutions, and opposition. Keep us praying persistently and not losing heart!

Learning to Pray Persistently and Not Lose Heart to be Mingled with God and be One with Him

In this parable in Luke 18 we see that, just as the widow kept coming to the unrighteous judge asking him to avenge her of her opponent, so we need to pray persistently for this avenging and we should not lose heart.

What the Lord wants is this persistent prayer; He used the illustration of an unrighteous judge to teach us that our prayer needs to be persistent.

In this parable it seems that the judge did want to avenge the widow but kept delaying it, so she persisted in her coming and bothering him. God wants us to pray persistently and not lose heart.

This may puzzle us, for we know that God wants to avenge us, we know He wants to destroy the enemy, and we know He wants to bring in His kingdom, so why doesn’t He answer our prayer?

If He would answer our prayer after one hundred times, why doesn’t He answer it after ten times, or after just one time?

We can’t really say exactly why, but we know this: we need to pray according to God’s will, and we need to pray persistently and not lose heart.

There has to be the harmony of wills between the praying one and the answering One; our will must come into harmony with His will.

Many times for this to happen, however, we need to pray more than once and we need to pray persistently.

Maybe we begin to pray and our prayer is natural, coming out of our own thoughts and feelings; but as we continue to pray and pray again, our will becomes one with God’s will, and the divine and human will are in harmony.

When we pray persistently and not lose heart, we are mingled with the Lord, we want what He wants, and He has accomplished more than answering our prayers – He has gained our being.

God can answer our prayer, but at the same time He wants to gain us in a way that He has not gained us before.

What the Lord is after it the persistent prayer; it isn’t that He is not listening to us or that He isn’t hearing us or that He is unrighteous, but that He wants our prayer to be persistent.

He wants us to come to Him again and again and pray persistently. Our natural view of prayer is that, when we pray about something, God would hear us and answer us.

God’s view of prayer is that we need to come to Him, pray ourselves into Him, pray persistently, have our will joined to His will, and never lose heart in our prayer.

One thing that happens when we pray persistently is that we come to Him again and again, we are getting more and more mingled with Him, and His divine thought and feeling is being infused into us to be mingled with us.

His will and our will are in harmony, His prayer is expressed through our prayer, and what He wants becomes what we want; such a prayer is the uttering of His will and He will surely answer as we pray persistently and not lose heart.

We may want Him to answer our prayer and give us a result or change something; He wants us to pray persistently and not lose heart so that we may be mingled with Him and be one with Him to the point that our prayer becomes His prayer and His desire is imprinted into us.

We are not left alone here to fight the enemy on our own; we have the Lord, He is with us and in us, and we are in Him and with Him.

Praise the Lord, we can learn to pray persistently and not lose heart, and He is gaining us more and more for His purpose, His heart’s desire, and His ultimate move!

Lord Jesus, teach us to pray persistently and not lose heart. May we come to You again and again concerning the things that bother us, the situations that cause us suffering, the unrighteous treatment and persecution of others, and all the things that frustrate us from going on with You. Lord, keep us coming to You again and again to pray, learning to pray persistently and not lose heart so that we may be mingled with You, You may be infused into us, and Your desire become our desire and Your heart become our heart. Lord, gain our inner being. Save us from merely seeking an answer to our prayer; may we treasure the mingling of God with man and the harmony of the divine and human will obtained by the persistent prayer and never losing heart!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Mark Raabe for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Luke, msg. 40 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, A Timely Word Concerning the World Situation and the Lord’s Recovery (2020 Memorial Day Conference), week 4, Praying Persistently with God as Our Faith.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Teach me to pray, Lord, teach me to pray; / This is my heart-cry day unto day; / I long to know Thy will and Thy way; / Teach me to pray, Lord, teach me to pray. (Hymns #766)
  – Pray with one accord in spirit, / Pray and watch persistently; / For God’s kingdom and His glory, / Pray and watch in harmony. (Hymns #779)
  – “Keep the incense burning” / Though thy faith be weak; / Though in words thou canst not / All thy longing speak; / Silent heart-petitions, / Spirit-taught, will be / Gloriously answered; / Wrought by God for thee. (Hymns #790)