Demands of Jesus - Always Pray and Do Not Lose Heart - 3

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

We have been learning about the demand of Jesus to pray. In the previous session, Part 1 & Part 2, we received an answer to our why we should pray, Jesus says: because God is very much inclined to hear and answer our prayers - which is not surprising, since prayer is designed to magnify God's glory while sustaining our joy in Him. Now let us understand on How we are to pray...

HOW? Simplicity

The readiness of God to answer and His perfect knowledge of what we need before we ask means that we should be simple in our wording and reject anything like a repetitive mantra that would imply God is aroused by our monotonous incantations. "When you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him" (Matt.6:7-8).

HOW? With Perseverance

This does not mean that there is no room for perseverance in prayer. In fact, Jesus is explicit in telling us to be persistent in prayer over a long period of time, if necessary, as we seek some crucial breakthrough in the cause of righteousness for His glory (Luke 11:5-8; 18:1-8). The point is not to finally break God's resistance but to discover, by patient prayer, God's wisdom as to the way and time the prayer should be answered. He is not disinclined to help His children and glorify His name. He simply knows better than we do when and how the answer should come. Therefore, our persistence in prayer shows both our confidence that God is our only hope and that He will act in the best way and the best time in response to our persistent pleas.

HOW? Through His Death and In His Name

The confidence that we have in prayer is owing to Jesus. He did not just teach us to pray - He died for us and rose again to remove insuperable obstacles to prayer. Without the death of Jesus, our sins would not be forgiven (Matt. 26:28) and the wrath of God would still be against us (John 3:36). In that condition we could expect no answers to prayer from God. Therefore, Jesus is the ground of all our prayers. This is why He taught us to pray in His Name. "Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (John 14:13; 16:23-24). Ending our prayers "in Jesus' name, Amen' is not a mere tradition; it is an affirmation of faith in Jesus as the only hope of access to God.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, I know stop here. We have understood 3 aspects on How we are to pray to our Father in Heaven. May the grace of our Father, the love of our Savior Jesus, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be a guidance unto us to keep on praying on our knees and in our hearts. Please do keep our spiritual fathers, especially our father, H. G. Zachariah Mar Theophilus, who is undergoing treatment for cancer in US  and please do keep me a sinful servant in your prayers.

Your Brother in Christ Jesus

Jobin

Source: What Jesus Demands from the World - John Piper

Demands of Jesus - Always Pray and Do Not Lose Heart - 2

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

It has been a month since I last posted on the series on "Demands of Jesus". I had been busy with some personal matters and was also in the transfer process from Cochin to Pune in India on work related matters. We have been learning about the Demands made by Jesus of His followers for the past few months. In the previous session, we started to learn about Jesus' demand to keep on praying and we were learning on WHY should we pray. We learnt one of the reasons being that prayer glorifies our God - Prayer is designed by God to display His fullness and our need. Prayer glorifies God because it puts usin the position of the thirsty and God in the position of the all-supplying fountain.

Now let us look into the second reason why Jesus asked us to pray

WHY? For our Joy
The other purpose Jesus came to accomplish was our joy. Everything He taught was aimed to free us from eternal-joy-killers and fill us with the only joy that lasts - joy in God. "These things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves" (John 17:13). One of His most pervasive teachings for our joy was the teaching on prayer, and He made His motive explicit: Our joy. "Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full" (John 16:24). The most wonderful thing about prayer, as Jesus demands it, is that it is perfectly suited to secure God's glory and our joy.

These are great incentives for us to obey Jesus' demand that we "always... pray and not lose heart" (Luke 18:1). To these He adds other incentives, because He is so eager for us to feel hopeful in our praying. He says, for example, "Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him" (Matt. 6:8). The point is that we don't need to multiply pious phrases in prayer hoping that we might awaken God's attention or inclination. He is our caring Father, and He is all-knowing. He will answer. Then Jesus underlines God's readiness to answer by comparing Him to a human father, but pointing out that God is far more eager to answer than human fathers:

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you... which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in Heaven give good things to those who ask Him! (Matt. 7:7-11)

So in answer to the question why we should pray, Jesus says: because God is inclined to hear and answer our prayers - which is not surprising, since prayer is designed to magnify God's glory while sustaining our joy in Him.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, we have now understood on 'WHY' Jesus asks us to pray without losing heart. In the following series, we will understand on How are we to pray and What are we to pray and For Whom are we to pray. 

May the love of our Heavenly Father, grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit guide us all to pray unceasingly to our Father. Please do keep this sinful servant in your prayers.

Your Brother in Christ Jesus

Jobin

Source: What Jesus Demands from the World - John Piper