New Beginning | New Focus

January 30, 2022 

The first week of our New Beginning message series was on a New Heart. We talked about how our heart can get cynical, and we don’t trust, we don’t believe in a new day. But we can trust God! If you want a new beginning it comes from a new heart for God. 

The second week was on a New Mind. We talked about the importance of reading a promise of God from Scripture each day. Then when you face challenges, you will be encouraged that God is with you and has a purpose for you. Reading the Bible and time with God renews your mind for a new beginning. 

Today we’re talking about having a new focus by seeking help from God in prayer. When you have a problem, where do you go? One place you can go is Google. There’s a guy in my relation named James Bond, who bought a real fixer upper house, and he went to google to learn how to fix it up. If he needed to learn how to operate a front loader, he looked it up on google, then went out and rented one. I think I would want some experienced plumbers and excavators. But he’s James Bond, so he can do anything, right? 

But there are limits to Google! There are things that Google can’t do. Google can’t get you a job. Google can’t restore your marriage. Google can’t help you in a financial pinch.  Google can’t help us in the most desperate moments of our lives. 

Lucky for us, God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Jesus taught his disciples that going to God in prayer should become a habit for us that comes out of faith in God. 

Jesus tells a parable in Luke 18. A parable is a made-up story to make a point. Luke 18:1-2 says, “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.’” This is a bad judge. He doesn’t care. He doesn’t care about doing the right thing, he doesn’t care what God wants. And he doesn’t care what anybody thinks of him. He’s in charge and he’s just going to do or not do what he pleases. We all know someone like this. It’s unfortunate, but true. 

And there was a widow that kept coming to him and saying basically, you have to give me justice. I have been taken advantage of. Do something about it. People probably told her, just give up. That judge doesn’t care about you, he doesn’t care about justice. It is useless. Let’s be realistic. This judge is not going to change. He will not help you. 

Verses 4 and 5 say: “For some time the judge 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!’” 

Yes, the judge is afraid she will attack him! She’s a fighter! The word for attack here can mean to give a black eye. The widow is so persistent that the judge is afraid she’ll get her boxing gloves on and come at him! This judge had said he doesn’t care what people think, but he has met his match in this poor widow. She has made him care! 

So, does this mean God is like a judge who doesn’t care? No! God cares about us! Look at how Jesus provided food for 5000. How he healed the sick. How he gave his life for us. Think of how God created you and all the world. How God heard the cries and set the people of Israel free from slavery. God cares! Jesus ends the parable of the widow and the judge saying that God will give justice to his chosen ones. The unjust judge doesn’t care, still he finally responds. How much more does God care, so he will answer your prayers! 

In verse 1, at the beginning of this parable it says, “Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” He tells this parable to encourage us to persist. Jesus wants us to get our boxing gloves on, so we’ll pray and pray and keep praying until God answers! When you feel like giving up on a prayer request, God wants you to double down on prayer! 

In order to put on your boxing gloves and persist in prayer: it helps to think about three things: consider how much God loves you, consider that prayer is a part of a persistent relationship, and consider your position.  

First, remember how much God loves you. In Matthew 6, Jesus says, consider the birds of the air. They don’t plant seeds or harvest crops, but God provides food for them. And you are of much more value. Then he says, consider the lilies of the field, they don’t spin fabric, but they are so much more beautiful than wealthy King Solomon’s clothes. Jesus says, if God takes such good care of the birds and the flowers, how much more will he take care of you! The thing is, if you think God is not good, you won’t come to him in prayer and ask for his help. Consider how good God is and how God wants good things for you, and of course you will keep praying for what you need. 

Second, to keep praying, consider that prayer is part of a persistent relationship. That widow didn’t get justice on the strength of her case. The judge gave her justice because of her persistence in relationship to the judge. It’s very possible that God won’t answer your prayer after one prayer. But none of us like that person who only comes around us when they want something. Just so, God is happy to see us consistently seeking him. God values a persistent relationship with us. God will answer your prayer if you’re not persistent, too. But that persistent relationship means we learn to rely on God and wait for God’s timing, and find his peace, even before our prayer is answered. When you feel like giving up on a prayer request, God wants you to double down on prayer! A persistent relationship with God helps you persist in prayer! 

Third, to keep praying, consider your position with God! In the parable, the widow was in a very powerless position. Widows had less rights, they couldn’t own property or wealth. The judge was in a very powerful position. He had so many rights, and she had so few. 

We have a much different relationship with God! We are God’s children. We can approach God with confidence and receive his mercy and help for our need. How much more will God, our Father, help us and answer our prayers? We are in the position of being a part of God’s family. 

My homework for your this week is to think about a prayer request you have some doubts God will answer. Put it on your list for persistent prayer, tomorrow, this week, next month, all year. Actively seek God and his will in prayer. 

God doesn’t want you to passively and just wait for the world to change. God doesn’t want you to throw up your hands as if there is no hope for what you want.  Maybe Google can’t help, but God can! God not only can, but God loves you, you are his chosen. He wants to give you good things. He also wants you to have faith that persists. He loves you and wants that relationship with you where you come to Him with all your needs, confident that God, your Father, will answer your prayers. Amen.