In Luke 18, Jesus presented the parable of the widow and the unjust judge. In verse one, He gave the reason for telling the parable--"Men ought always to pray, and not to faint."
The Greek word for ought is "dei" and means "it is necessary, there is need of, is right and proper." It seems very evident that in this parable about prayer, Jesus is saying that prayer is necessary, that there is a need for prayer and that prayer is the right and proper thing to do.
The Greek word for faint is "ekkakeo" and means "to be utterly spiritless, to be wearied out, exhausted."
In view of my previous entry, just this part of His parable yells out to me, "Henry, it is necessary for you to pray. There is a need for you to pray. It is the right and proper thing for you to be doing instead of some of the frivolous activities that you participate in. Will anybody else out there raise their hand to the conviction of just this one word. Can you hear the heart of Jesus giving instruction to his disciples about the necessity of prayer? No wonder, after the day of Pentecost, the disciples chose deacons to help minister so they could give themselves over to this command (not request) of Jesus.
How about your prayer life when you do pray. Is it spiritless? Have you spent enough time in prayer to enter into His Presence. Do you remember times of refreshing when His joy would overwhelm you and you knew, that you knew, that you knew that He was there.
Have you prayed and prayed and then stopped because the answer didn't come when or how you expected it? Jesus said for us not to faint. He said that the moral of this parable was, "That men ought always to pray, and not to faint."
More in my next blog.
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