The power behind our answered prayers 2/2

The Lord Jesus teaches us in a parable, the principle and method of persevering prayer that obtains results, a teaching that has the power, if we understand it, to revolutionize our prayer life.

This parable, full of simple and effective illustrations, describes universal principles that naturally stimulate perseverance, universal principles because they are equally valid for the spiritual realm as well as the natural world. Here is the parable:

Luke 18:1 - Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.  He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought.  And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think,  yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says.  And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?  I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?

Here is a widow, alone and without any human support. She only has one asset but a powerful one: she knows her rights, and she knows the judge's address.

This is the natural engine of all perseverance. Do we feel obliged to insistently claim something that belongs to us when we are truly sure that it is rightfully ours? No, we don't feel obliged. We do it with a natural force and insistence.

This is the principle highlighted in this parable. If we understand and apply it, because the Lord Himself established it, our life of answered prayers will take on a new dimension. This parable is an invitation to pray with the aim of asserting our rights until justice is rendered to us. It enriches our understanding of what the prayer of the new covenant is.

Since the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, when the Lord answers prayer, He administers justice, through the new jurisprudence and the new legal texts that took immediate effect with the death of Jesus and after His resurrection and triumphant entry into heaven. It is up to us to know our new rights and assert them before Him. It is a way of manifesting our faith that the Lord expects concrete expression from:

Hebrews 11:6 - And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him..

Let's go back to the widow in this story. She has two problems. There is a blockage on the side of her adversary who unjustly withholds what belongs to her,

and it is blocked on the side of her judge for reasons we do not know because the fact that he does not fear God and has no regard for anyone is not the cause of the problem. A judge who has regard for people or shows empathy cannot be impartial and engages in favoritism. Therefore, the lack of regard is not really a flaw for a judge.

Despite all the obstacles, this widow persists. She persists because she has a very serious motivation. She knows, as we all know, that the moment justice is rendered, a case is definitively settled. And she especially knows that she is in the right and that when the judge decides, it will be in her favor. She is sure to win if the judge intervenes. So, she goes and makes her voice heard.

Good news! We do not have two obstacles but only one. We only have that of the adversary with whom there is a struggle, but there is no unjust judge.

Look at this judge, Jesus tells us. He can settle a case simply because a woman annoys him, which, by the way, is what makes him an unjust judge. A normal judge judges in every circumstance, as he has the responsibility to do so, not only when he finds a personal interest, in this case, his peace.

Look, says Jesus. If such a judge can favorably expedite a case for such bad reasons, will not our heavenly Father who operates out of compassion and love, settle this matter that concerns you?

Certainly, He will ! However, let us not misunderstand! It is not that the heavenly judge tests us or turns a deaf ear, but it is the opposing party that resists, it is they who hold back unlawfully and lead us to insist until justice decides. Our God is just. Justice is the very foundation of His throne.

Psalm 89:14 - Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.

Psalm 9:5 - For you have upheld my right and my cause, sitting enthroned as the righteous judge

"Grant me justice against my adversary," repeats the woman without relenting. We must similarly insist and in the same spirit. "Grant me justice, Lord against my adversary!"

What inclines a judge in our favor? What should we bring to him?

• Legal proof that we are only claiming what is rightfully ours by presenting an undeniable law, a legal text that the adversary cannot oppose.
• And a lawyer who can present all of this and especially... who does not give up the case.

We have both.

The irrevocable law: we have it. We even have several with legal texts that we should not hesitate to present to the ‘court’ of answered prayers. Revisit the first part of this article ("The Power Behind Our Prayers - 1"). There you will find the massive legal text before which your adversary has no means of resistance. It will have to let go.

The lawyer, we have him too. In heaven, at the right hand of the Father. But not everything happens only in heaven!

Romans 8:34 - Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us

Christ does intercede for us. Christ, the head of the body which is the church. But we are not passive in this intercession.

We are in Christ. Therefore, we are one of the members of His Body on earth, and Jesus needs a mouth to intercede on earth. His spiritual Body is on the planet earth; the mouths are you and me.

While we are His mouth on earth and claim what is rightfully ours by praying, relying on the legal texts in force in heaven, Jesus, our celestial lawyer, presents His pieces of evidence.

Jesus shows the stigmata of the cross that are still in His hands, in His feet, and in His side.

John 20:25-27 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”. But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Jesus shows the scars of His wounds. They attest that the blood that was shed gives us the legal right to the peace we claim. Revisit the first part of this article; you will understand that I am not Judaizing the gospel ("The Power Behind Our Prayers - 1").

Our mouth must resonate on earth the completed work of the crucified Jesus, the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us.

It is not about reciting verses in a 'recitation prayer' mode unless it helps you to say them often to encourage and strengthen your faith. (I even suggest memorizing them so you don't have to look them up in the Bible every time).

What is important is to understand the powerful truth revealed in these texts and, on that basis, without religiosity, to make our needs known persistently. Claim that justice be done to the adversary. It is a thief, a murderer from the beginning, and wants to retain what belongs to you. This kind of faith will please the Lord, believe me.

There is no need for technique or 'spiritual' words to pray without relenting; it is so unimportant.

Look at the cross. Think of it. It is the guarantee that healing or deliverance belongs to you. Then do as the widow in the parable who certainly was not a great orator. Her persistent request boiled down to: 'Grant me justice against my adversary,' or in another way: 'Deliver me from the evil that withholds what is mine.' By Jesus Christ, moreover, we have the right to add: what is mine because it has already been paid for. Jesus gave Himself to buy it for me! Shalom translated by peace means : full salvation, deliverance, healing, moral, psychological, and financial tranquility, bodily strength.

Never mind if you feel like you are repeating yourself in prayer. The widow did not have a large repertoire of words or great eloquence, but she knew her rights, and that's what counts. If someone has bought something for us and asks us to go and pick it up on his behalf, we don't leave the store without what is rightfully ours. We don't make grand speeches full of vocabulary. We insist. Knowing that we are in the right is the secret of perseverance.

We are not in a timed marathon either. It is not about launching into an exhausting personal prayer meeting where God counts the hours as if God said: there, he or she has prayed enough; we can grant the request. He has filled the quota! What a strange conception of spirituality.

Pray without relenting. But we are talking here about not relenting in the confidence of what has been purchased for us, not in the time spent. Our insistence is the expression of the faith of someone who wants to recover what is his and it takes the time it takes.

Our trust is neither in our faith nor in the number of hours spent praying but in the law on which we rely to continue claiming, several times a day and even at night, what is owed to us. Our eyes and our trust are in our hero, Jesus Christ, who is the source of all our answered prayers, the Amen to our prayers. We don't let go because this law that Christ signed with His Blood is in our favor; it does not change and must be kept high, day and night, high in the sky of our thoughts, like the cross on Mount Golgotha.

2 Corinthians 1:20 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.

We don't exactly know what happens in the invisible, but the Scriptures clearly teach us that there are battles, and the mouth of the adversary can only be closed, and his actions annulled by the truth, which we firmly maintain as a war banner. Persistent prayer serves this purpose. Also note that we are not addressing the adversary but the judge, invoking our right.

Romans 8:31 - What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

Persistent prayers do not serve to convince or sway God. He is already for us. The cross was deadly, bloody, and horrible enough for God to need us to add to it. His favor is already gained for us in Jesus Christ, but it resists on earth and in the invisible world because of the adversary. That's why Jesus taught us to pray daily that the will of God be done on earth as it is in heaven. So:

"Grant me justice against my adversary!"

Psalm 9:3 - My enemies turn back; they stumble and perish before you. For you have upheld my right and my cause, sitting enthroned as the righteous judge.

Stand firm. It is yours. The adversary collapses before the firm assertion and proclamation of the eternal law of the cross and the wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ, especially when, like a lawyer, you stand your ground, sure of your argument.

Jesus promises, "He will quickly grant justice." It will not even be necessary to exhaust yourself or wait for exhaustion. Sweat is a product of sin. It smells bad. Our exhaustion adds no value to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

God will quickly grant justice. That is how the parable ends. If you feel shaky at times, as it is possible, return to the texts, exhort each other as often as necessary, and don't let go because faith is nourished by the unchanging word of Christ. It is a calm mental exercise of resistance with the support of the living Word and the Holy Spirit. In our minds, stand firm, in rest. In Christ, we don't hustle; we sit.

Assemble these two texts :

Psalms 110:1 The Lord says to my lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet.”

Ephesians 2:6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus

In spirit, we are seated in Christ in the heavenly realms, but our soul and mouth are on earth and plead with that perseverant prayer until God makes our adversary a footstool for our feet. A very reinvigorating truth. Ask and let the Holy Spirit remind it to us and strengthen us

Regain strength and continue to hammer the defense of the adversary by claiming to the judge that justice be done against this adversary, until, through Jesus Christ, what you need and is already legally yours, is released to you.

Colossians 2:13 - When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you[d] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross

Daniel 10:12 Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.

Proverbs 18:9 - One who is slack in his work  is brother to one who destroys.