God hears our Prayers!”

“And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.” (Luke 18:1-3 ESV)

Remember, one characteristic of Luke’s gospel account of Jesus’ ministry is that it is fast-moving. As you read these teachings and miracles of Jesus, it seems we don’t have time to digest what they mean before we are hit with another teaching from our Lord.  Sometimes, I have to stop reading these accounts and take time to digest what our Savior was telling his disciples.

Chapter 18 starts with another teaching: “And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” Now it may just be the way my brain is wired, but I love it when I’m told the reason for a parable right up front. So I don’t have to get bogged down in the details of the parable and try to understand just what Jesus wanted his disciples to understand, and how this parable applies to me. His purpose was to show His disciples not to grow weary of taking their requests to God the Father in prayer.

I don’t know about you, but I needed to hear that today. Honestly, sometimes it feels like my prayers don’t do any good; sometimes it feels like God isn’t even listening. Have you ever felt like that? You don’t need to answer; I know many of you have, and I understand why, and so does Jesus. The problem we as humans have is that we base too many decisions on how we “feel,” not on what we know is true.

Whenever I hear someone say, “But I don’t feel…,” I want to stop them (or stop myself) and say, feelings aren’t facts; you can’t trust them. Whenever our feelings start to cast doubt on our God, we need to realize it is Satan talking to us, not the Holy Spirit. You see, Satan is the great accuser; we are told that the devil is the “father of lies”, and all day long he plans to fill our thoughts with lies about our loving God constantly. The devil’s greatest ambition is to get the elect of God to start living and making decisions based on their feelings.

Because feelings are liars, they distort the truth; they make us see the world through “rose colored glasses,” ignore warnings that disaster is approaching, or “awfulize” what we are living through. The English dictionary defines awfulize as: “People may awfulize when their emotions are heightened, leading them to focus primarily on the negative aspects of a situation while disregarding any positive or neutral elements.” If Satan can’t “snatch us from the Father’s hand,” and we know he can’t, then he spends day and night trying to get us to believe lies about the goodness of our loving God.

You see, in this parable, Jesus teaches His disciples to trust that God hears their requests, and He will answer in His time. We can believe that truth, trust that truth, and depend on that truth.

All of us need to stop relying on how we feel about God’s answer and start realizing that if this judge in the parable, being evil, will hear the widow and will grant her relief, how much more will God, being good and loving, hear the prayers of His children, and when the time is right, grant them their requests and fulfill His will for their lives. This teaching shows his disciples that they need to turn their attention from their feelings to what they know about God, and trust the truth that God hears His elect.

The other thing I’ve found in my life is that “knowing and doing” are often two different things. I know what is true about God, but those “feelings” keep telling me it isn’t true. So how do I stop listening to feelings and start listening to what I know to be True? First, I need to know what the Bible says about our God and how He works in the lives of His beloved. Second, I need to put Philippians 4:8-9 into practice: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

When we are overwhelmed by the lies of Satan, what do we need to do? Believe the truth: our God hears our prayers, loves us, and wants only what is best for us. We need to stop listening to doubt and fear, stop awfulizing and going down the “what if” trail, and start filling our minds with the wonderful promises of our God.

"Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"