King David understood the value of regular and faithful prayer to God. He realized that practicing this would keep his relationship with his Heavenly Father strong. New Testament believers have been afforded the luxury of being able to live according to Jesus’ example. Unlike King David of the Old Testament, New Testament believers have encouragement from both fellow believers in Christ and from Christ himself. The apostles showed in the book of Acts that they felt a healthy prayer life would strengthen the New Testament believers’ relationship of faith in the God whom the apostles were preaching. “Persistent prayer is needed in order to maintain a healthy faith. This idea should work two ways; faith prompts prayer, while prayer strengthens
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In Luke 11, when a man went to his neighbor in the middle of the night for bread, he received it, not because he was the man’s friend, but because of his persistence. In Luke 18, when a widow persistently bothered a judge to give her justice, the judge did not grant her request because she bribed him; rather, she received justice because she was persistent. In his commentary on Luke, R. Kent Hughes says this about prayer; “Continual prayer until he [Jesus] comes is not only the evidence of faith, but the means of building faith until his return.” Not only is it beneficial, but persistent prayer is necessary and a means of building faith until the ends of the earth.
Trust, confidence, and persistence are all aspects of a sincere, heartfelt, and faithful prayer to God. When a prayer contains these, a believer’s relationship of faith with God is strengthened and he is all the more prepared for Jesus’ second coming on Judgment Day.
God used two methods in the Bible to encourage believers to strengthen their relationship of faith with him: by instruction and by example. Often times, Jesus would use parables to illustrate what he wanted to tell people. The next section of this paper is going to illustrate portions of the Gospel of Luke that instruct believers to pray in this
In Luke 11, when a man went to his neighbor in the middle of the night for bread, he received it, not because he was the man’s friend, but because of his persistence. In Luke 18, when a widow persistently bothered a judge to give her justice, the judge did not grant her request because she bribed him; rather, she received justice because she was persistent. In his commentary on Luke, R. Kent Hughes says this about prayer; “Continual prayer until he [Jesus] comes is not only the evidence of faith, but the means of building faith until his return.” Not only is it beneficial, but persistent prayer is necessary and a means of building faith until the ends of the earth.
Trust, confidence, and persistence are all aspects of a sincere, heartfelt, and faithful prayer to God. When a prayer contains these, a believer’s relationship of faith with God is strengthened and he is all the more prepared for Jesus’ second coming on Judgment Day.
God used two methods in the Bible to encourage believers to strengthen their relationship of faith with him: by instruction and by example. Often times, Jesus would use parables to illustrate what he wanted to tell people. The next section of this paper is going to illustrate portions of the Gospel of Luke that instruct believers to pray in this