On Fainting and Prayer

The theme of this title comes from the King James Version, which is what I began reading and memorizing from in my early walk with Christ.
Luke 18:1 (KJV)
And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

A more modern rendition of the passage is from the New Living Translation:
Luke 18:1-8 (NLT)
¹ One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.
² “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people.
³ A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’
⁴ The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people,
⁵ but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’”
⁶ Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge.
⁷ Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?
⁸ I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?”

A further reading of the context tells us that Luke makes three stories about faith, and how prayer and faith are connected - so read the larger context!
There is something in this parable that is oddly strange.  How does an indifferent court official and a persistent widow suppose to encourage us to pray?  And to persevere (not faint) regardless?  Doesn't he disgust and doesn't she make you envision a nagging woman?  Well, Yes.

But the secret in the parable is recognizing that Jesus loved to use outlandish pictures to make people stop and think...and that is exactly what happens here.

Fainting is another way of saying "give up".  We lose heart, get discouraged and simply want to succumb to the inevitable disappointment of nothing is ever going to change.
Let's be honest, almost all of us have had times when we've prayed, and prayed, and prayed, and then come to the place where we simply stop praying.  Why?  Perhaps we feel like God knows what we want so why keep saying it again...or perhaps its because every time we pray it reminds us that we don't have what we want, and it becomes something inside of us that feels undesirable.

I know I have a number of things I've prayed for - for years!  Sometimes I've seen answers of prayer come long after I quit praying for something.  Sometimes I've continued to pray, but very intermittently.
Being real, it's not easy to maintain a posture of continual prayer when we want something to happen so badly.

Healing?
Marriage?
Sickness, disease?
Job, Finances?
Relationships?
Church?
Political issues?
and on and on we go.

The point of the parable is NOT that the way of prayer is to naggingly beg God.  Jesus says it this way:
Luke 18:6-8 (NIV)
⁶ And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says.
⁷ 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?
⁸ 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?"

It's that realization that if an unjust person can give justice, HOW MUCH MORE will God the Father bring about what is good and gracious.  We are not nameless widows; but "chosen ones" and therefore his beloved children.
A.W. Tozer says:  "JUST, when used of God is a name we give to the way God is, nothing more, and when God acts Justly, He is....simply acting like himself."


C. Samuel Storms poses some relevant questions in his book Reaching God's Ear that we can use to evaluate our prayer lives.
•Do we repeat a request because we think that the quality of a prayer is dependent on the quantity of words?
•Do we repeat a request because we think that God is ignorant and needs to be informed, or if not ignorant at least he is unconcerned and therefore needs to be aroused?
•Do we repeat our prayers because we believe that God is unwilling to answer and we must prevail upon him, somehow transforming a hard-hearted God into a compassionate and loving one?
•Do we repeat a petition because we think that God will be swayed in his decision by our putting on a show of zeal and piety, as if God cannot see through the thin veil of hypocrisy?

I hope not.  We persist in praying...we don't faint... precisely because we believe God is good, gracious, and just, and that we are reminding ourselves of that everytime we come to Him with our need.
Jesus ends with the words:  "when the son of Man returns, how many will he find...with faith?"  We live in the not yet, longing for the return of Jesus.

This kind of prayer  is not only the evidence of faith, but the means of building faith until his return.
It might be that we have to face our discouragements and our disappointments as part of the problem that we address to the Father in prayer.

SO...what do we need to "begin praying about all over again"?

Peace