"Pray without ceasing." (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
This is the inspired injunction. Here is another expression: "Continuing steadfast in prayer." (Romans 12:12,RV) "In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." (Philippians 4:6)
The Saviour said: "Men ought always to pray, and not to faint." (Luke 18:1)
Few understand the reason for these directions, and that is the reason why there is so much praying that seems to be to no purpose.
Prayer is not for the purpose of changing the mind of God, nor to make Him favorably disposed toward us. That is the heathen idea of prayer, and so the heathen connects with his prayer a sacrifice made by himself. Often it is a money offering as a bribe to God, and sometimes it is a self-inflicted injury, as was the case with the prophets of Baal, as recorded in: "And they took the bullock which was given them, and theydressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, andsaid, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleeps, and must be awaked. And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them." (1 Kings 18:26-28)
But God himself has provided the sacrifice which brings the things that we ask for, and is willing and anxious to bestow good gifts upon us even before we are ready to receive them. It is His promise alone that is the basis of all true prayer.
The fact that God has made "exceeding great and precious promises" (2 Peter 1:4) to us, and that in our prayers we have only to claim those promises, shows that prayer, instead of changing the mind of God, is simply coming to take what He unchangeably holds out to us. "[He] satisfies the desire of every living thing." (Psalm 145:16)
Wherever there is an intense, earnest desire for God's good gifts, there follows the bestowal of them. "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled." (Matthew 5:6)
Why, then, the necessity for continual, unceasing prayer? Because there is continual need. "A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven." (John 3:27) "Every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above." (James 1:17)
We are to pray every day, "Give us this day our daily bread," (Matthew 6:11) because we need food every day. The fact that we have eaten and been satisfied today, will not do away with the necessity for food tomorrow. So with all spiritual blessings. Our inward man must be "renewed day by day." (2 Corinthians 4:16)
And it is just when we realize the necessity for natural food, that we get a continual supply.
This is the lesson conveyed by the parable of the importunate one and the unjust judge. The widow kept coming continually, because she realized that she was in extreme need. Her very existence depended upon her being delivered from the adversary who was about to devour her property. She would not be satisfied with anything less than complete deliverance.
The widow in the parable is an apt illustration of our case. We are in great need. "[Our] adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour." (1 Peter 5:8)
His power is the power of death: "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." (Hebrews 2:14)
With this power, he would devour our life; and the sting of it is sin, which he leads us into. "The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law." (1 Corinthians 15:56) "He that commits sin is of the devil; for the devil sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil." (1 John 3:8)
What we need is deliverance from sin; the only difference between us and the widow is that she realized her need, while as a general thing we do not. "Because you say, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and know not that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." (Revelation 3:17)
The poor widow obtained her request even from the judge who "feared not God, neither regarded man," (Luke 18:2) because she would not give him any rest until he granted it. He finally said, "Because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest she wear me out by her continual coming. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge says. And shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily." (Luke 18:5-8)
The Greek word rendered "though" in the above, is a regular word for "and," which is given in the Revised Version. The whole sentence is, "And He is long-suffering over them."
Liddell and Scott's Greek Lexicon renders the same expression, "long-suffering towards." Wycliffe rendered it "patience," instead of "long-suffering," the meaning, of course, being the same. We may therefore read the passage thus:
"And shall not God avenge [give satisfaction to] His own elect, that cry to Him day and night, and He is long-suffering [or patient] toward them?"
Now we see the contrast clearly brought out between the Lord, "the righteous judge," and the unrighteous judge. The latter forced the poor people to "bear long" with him; taxed their patience to the utmost. But with the righteous Judge, it is different; it is He that is long-suffering and patient.
Whereas the unjust judge did not wish to do justice, and forced the people to wait long upon him, God is most intensely anxious to confer benefits, and is begging us to come to Him and be saved, but yet is extremely patient with our unwillingness.
Here is the sharp contrast: The unjust judge did finally, much against his will, give the poor widow satisfaction, because her need made her importunate, how much more, then, we may expect God to give satisfaction to those who cry to Him, since He has long been imploring them to come to Him for deliverance, and has been patiently waiting upon them.
But what about their crying day and night unto Him? Does that mean that He will keep them waiting a long time? Will He hold them off as long as possible? By no means. "I tell you that He will avenge them speedily." (Luke 18:8)
When will He avenge them, or give them satisfaction speedily? When they are so in earnest that they will cry day and night for deliverance.
When we ask God once or twice for deliverance from sin, but have so little burden for it that we may forget it for days, or even weeks, there is no real sense of need, and consequently no real desire for help, nor willingness to receive it.
But when our whole being cries out for the righteousness of God, just as every fiber of a starving man's body cries out for food, then the promise is, "He will give speedy deliverance." What a blessed comfort is given us in the parable of the unjust judge.
Have we sins that have long beset us, with which we have kept up an intermittent struggle, sometimes in dead earnest, and sometimes willingly overcome, yet all the time feeling guilty and ashamed? Let us fully realize that those sins will shut us out of heaven, so that we shall cry out: "Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:24) and be so much in earnest that we must have that deliverance above all things else, and the promise is that it will speedily come. "Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:14-16)--Present Truth, December 28, 1893.