Faith Tested By Fire

One of my favorite scriptures in the Bible is found in Luke 18:1. This is the parable Jesus teaches his disciples to pray and NOT give up.

Luke 18:1
(1)  And he spoke a parable to them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

Here’s the entire parable.

Luke 18:1-8
(1)  And he spoke a parable to them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
(2)  Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:
(3)  And there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, Avenge me of my adversary.
(4)  And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
(5)  Yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
(6)  And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge said.
(7)  And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night to him, though he bear long with them?
(8)  I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man comes, shall he find faith on the earth?

Some people get caught up with the details of the parable, such as – should you keep asking the same thing over and over again? Is God the unjust judge or is that a reference to the devil?

Here’s another look at this verse using the Modern Literal Version of the Bible.

Luke 18:1
(1)  And he also spoke a parable to them, to show that, it is essential for them to always pray and not to be depressed;

The whole point of the parable is to make you realize that you shouldn’t become depressed and give up if your prayers seem to fail. It’s easy to look at the world around you and give up. If you’re going to pray for help, guidance, healing or anything else, there will usually be plenty of opportunities to give up. That’s the very thing Jesus warned against.

Proverbs 13:12
(12)  Hope deferred makes the heart sick: but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.

It wasn’t all that long ago that I went through a difficult time of testing myself. During that time, the more I analyzed the problem, the less hopeful I became. I thought, I must be missing something. Then I went about trying to figure out exactly what that was. Finally, I grew tired of going in circles and decided to do what Jesus said and commit myself to it 100% – no matter what happened. I wasn’t going to allow discouragement to settle in. I wasn’t going to give up.

So I prayed. Some days I’d just thank God for His promises. Other days I’d have an audio version of the Gospel of John playing in the background about 10 hours a day. Sometimes I’d speak to the mountains of challenges (as Jesus said to do in Mark 11:23). I continually went back to Luke 18:1 to reaffirm my mission. When frustration started to creep in, I took that as a sign that I was starting to take the problem out of God’s hands and back into my own. I quickly changed my attitude and again – resisting worry and concern.

James 1:2-4 (American King James Version)
(2)  My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations;
(3)  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience.
(4)  But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Persevere and see things through. Don’t give up. There are only so many ways to say it. God doesn’t want those who put their trust in Him to be defeated. Hebrews 11:6 may say it the best –

Hebrews 11:6
(6)  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Any situation can be turned around. All that’s required is that you believe and have faith one day at a time refuse to let thoughts of doubt take root.
photo credit: Sander van der Wel via photopin cc