18:1Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
This is a lesson that we all need to learn. It is so easy to get discouraged in life. Things often don’t seem to be going our direction. Multiple struggles seem to pile on top of the struggle we already have. We often feel like we need some relief, like we need to take a break from our life for a short period of time. It is easy in those times to feel like giving up, not just like taking a break. Despair is such an overwhelming emotion on the negative side of the emotion spectrum. Jesus has an antidote for giving up. He says we need to pray. But how can a Sunday School prayer help us? It can’t! Jesus is talking about having an intimate conversation with the Creator of the Universe. He is not talking about some rote prayer mechanistically recited devoid of relationship. Jesus is talking about the conversation that takes place between two close relatives who know the details of each other’s lives in intimate detail. Prayer is about more than words spoken. Prayer is about lives shared. That is how Scriptures can talk about prayer that never ceases. If we have to get on our knees and pray facing a certain direction at prescribed times, and then get up and blow ourselves up, we are not talking about intimate relationship. But prayer is having an ongoing conversation with Jesus as we go about the duties of our day, a conversation like we would have with a friend who accompanies us on our daily journey. It is not the fire escape prayers that we make out of desperation. Those only have meaning in connection to our ongoing relationship with the Lord. If we don’t have relationship those kinds of prayers are like prerecorded sales pitches on your voicemail or spam email messages. They don’t get opened because we don’t know the sender. But when a close friend leaves you a message, you listen to it and respond. This is why we don’t need to give up. If we have a relationship with Jesus, He will listen and respond. Do you know Jesus intimately?
The Arnold Journey 