Jump Start # 1146

NOTE: I apologize for the delay in sending out this Jump Start. The internet server in my area is down and I had to send this from another location.

Luke 18:1 “Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart.”

This chapter of Luke contains two back to back parables about prayer. The first parable, the persistent widow, emphasizes faith and “continually coming” to God in prayer. The second parable, the two men who went to the temple to pray, shows the importance of humility and attitude in prayer.

God wants us to pray. We must pray right. Prayer is not a place to try to impress God. It’s not bragging time. Nor is God to be viewed as the magical genie in the sky who comes at our every beckoning. God isn’t working for us, it’s the other way around.

Our verse today, sets the tone for why Jesus told these two parables. It explains the situation. Pray at all times and do not lose heart. The expression “lose heart,” is where we get the idea of discouragement. We say, ‘Our hearts are not in it.’ When the spies reported back to Israel about the promise land, ten of the spies had a negative and scary report. The text states that the hearts of Israel “melted.”  Other expressions, “I’m sick in heart,” “I don’t feel like it,” “I don’t have the heart to go on,” all reflect the idea of discouragement. The very word, ‘discouragement,’ reflects a lack of ‘courage,’ thus, dis-courage.

It’s easy to see discouraged folks. They look tired and beat up. They are weary on the inside. Passion is missing. The weary mom is so tired of messes and fussing. She’d like a break but that won’t happen. The discouraged worker shows up closer and closer to starting time. He doesn’t want to be there. He works like a zombie longing to find another job but he can’t. The discouraged church member starts skipping services, and all he sees is problems. He sees cliques. He sees this isn’t being done and that isn’t being done. Deep inside of him, he is ready to toss in the towel and quit. The same feeling happens in some marriages. One mate feels that the other is ignoring them and that they are living separate lives. Their relationship is like ships passing each other at sea, going different directions to different destinations.

Discouragement leads to bitterness and depression. Things do not get better, they get worse. I’ve found that most people do not stay discouraged. They opt to make changes. Some of them are radical and the wrong choices, such as the mother who abandons her family, or the guy who simply quits his job and he has nothing now, or the marriage partner that leaves a rambling note and doesn’t return in the evening or the church member who just stops coming. Discouragement is misery. Most folks don’t stay miserable. They will seek solutions, often, wrong solutions. They toss aside all they know and believe in, just to find peace and happiness. Discouraged preachers are a mess to listen to. Often instead of preaching, they whine. The ‘woe is me,’ club is a sad club to belong to.

This passage is God’s antidote for discouragement. It is to take place before discouragement sets in. It is a pattern and a way of life. It’s all about praying to God. At all times we ought to pray. Prayer always fits in. There may be some occasions where it is not appropriate to burst out in a song. You certainly can’t preach everywhere. But pray, absolutely. You can pray without even opening your mouth. You can pray out loud or silently. You can pray in emergency rooms, funeral homes, in the car, at work, in school. The court system may have removed public prayers from school, but they haven’t removed prayers all together. Teachers and students ought to and are praying each day. There is an old saying, “As long as there are tests in school, there will always be prayer.” I well remember those days.

Praying helps keep the heart strong. Praying drives away the discouragement. The answer for that weary mom is prayer. The discouraged worker needs to pray. The church member who is starting to drift needs to pray. Pray about the situation. Pray that God will open your eyes to see things. Count your blessings and be thankful that you have someone who can do something. Pray for lessons learned. Pray for patience.

What this does is invite God into our lives. We do not struggle alone. That is one of the greatest factors that lead to discouragement, feeling that you are in this all by yourself. Sometimes the discouragement is intensified because others ought to be helping but they are not. That discouraged mom feels more bitter because her husband won’t help out with the kids or the house. He sits watching sports each night oblivious to all the things he could do to help out. She’s alone in this journey and that makes her feel especially discouraged. Invite God into the situation. Pray about things.

Prayer not only invites God in to your world, but it opens the door for the goodness and the greatness that is available through God. God can do what no one else can. Praying can open our eyes and make us see a new perspective about things. Prayer can help us count our blessings and be thankful. The weary mom, after praying, can’t catch her breath and be thankful that she has children. There are many who do not. She can be thankful that her children are healthy, many are not. Praying has a way of changing how we see things. It gets the “woe is me,” out of us.

I particularly like the expression in our verse, “at all times” pray. All times. Good times and bad times. Day time and night time. When I really need God and when things are going well. When I’m home and when I’m on the road. Pray in worship and pray when alone. All times. I think if we applied the “all times” more times, we’d find ourselves less discouraged and in less trouble. It’s hard to be praying and doing wrong at the same time. They are opposites and either you’ll stop the wrong and pray more or you’ll stop the praying and do more wrong.

It’s easiest to pray when times are bad. Wars bring out all kinds of prayers. An old expression from WW II is that there are no atheists in foxholes. Economic hard times brings out prayers. Droughts bring out prayers. Sickness, death, trouble, those are the times folks pray. But all times also includes “good times.” Times when things are up. Health is good. Job is loved and profitable. Kids are doing well. Church is awesome. Good times. Happy times. Those too, are praying times.

Don’t be eaten up with discouragement. Be praying. Don’t throw in the towel. Be praying. Be thanking God. Be seeking God. Be humble before God. All times, that includes today.

Roger