Courageous Enough to Pray Like This II

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     What makes us discouraged in our prayers? 

      I can think of a few things for me personally: 

  • sometimes G-D's timeline does not line up with outside expectations that I allow to attach themselves to me 
  • uncertainty if its G-D's will or not
  • I usually have to wait
  • and at times what I pray for seems like an "impossibility" (what is impossible with men is possible with G-D)  
     Yet, in the midst of the tireless currents that seek to keep us away from the shore of faith we are called to fight discouragement in our prayer life (Luke 18:1).  In Luke 18, Yeshua tells us about a widow who consistently goes to a judge to get justice. He then goes on to ask, "will the Son of Man find that faith on the earth?"  There is so much here in this portion of Scripture.  As I seek to understand and study this by the grace of G-D, I am immediately confronted with two point blank questions: "Do I have the courageous faith to pray persistently, constantly asking, constantly seeking, constantly knocking like this widow did? And am I willing to wrestle and win over the discouragement that seeks to disrupt my prayers?"  
     The fact that we have this portion of Scripture and many others like it given and faithfully preserved for us to read and embrace as our practice is remarkable.  Moreover, the presence of such an exhortation shows us the reality of the battle against discouragement that has taken place in the life of every believer for generations. In other words, we are not the first nor the only generation of believers who have wrestled with the potential of discouragement in our prayer life.  At the same time the reality of the victory that awaits us is sure as we, by the grace of G-D, pray always without becoming discouraged.   
     May we embrace the victory that HaShem has granted us. May we be strengthened to pray all the more with the full knowledge that our Father is working His will for His glory and our good and He's using our prayers to do it. 

 Remember S.W.A.G. "It's all about the way you walk." (Psalm. 128:1 "Blessed is everyone who walks in His ways.")

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