5:17 What does it mean to pray without ceasing?
5:17 What does it mean to pray without ceasing?
To pray without ceasing does not mean that we are to abstain from everything else and be praying in unbroken continuity. It means we are to be in a constant attitude of dependence upon God and pray whenever an opportunity presents itself - do not let the opportunity go past us (cp Mt 6:7-8 with Eph 6:18 and Col 4:2-3). It also does not mean that we have to keep praying for the same thing over and over again until the answer manifests itself, as some believe that is what the scripture teaches (cp Mt 21:17-22; Mk 11:22-24; Jn 15:7; Php 4:6-7; 1Jn 5:14-15). These scriptures all teach that believers do not have to continuously pray for the same thing over and over again until the answer manifests itself. If they are abiding in Christ and His word is abiding in them, believers can confidently pray knowing that their requests will be granted (cp Lk 18:1-8).
This is the parable we know as the unjust judge and the persistent widow. This is one of the parables used to teach that when we bring a petition before God we should persist in praying for it like the widow persisted with the judge, until God answers us, like the judge answered the widow. That is not what the parable teaches at all. If it does then we are putting a just and a holy God in the same category as an unjust and an unholy judge.
The parable does not compare the two, it contrasts them. The parable does not teach about prayer in general, but prayer pertaining to the Lord's second coming - intercessory prayer. It is the concluding part of a fairly long discourse by Jesus about His second coming in Luke 17. It is a call to believers to persevere in prayer against the works of the devil until Jesus comes back (cp Lk 17:20 18:8). The widow's adversary in the lawsuit before the judge is the equivalent to our adversary the devil in the earth. The parable teaches us that we are not to be passive spectators in the kingdom of God but to persist in faith and persevere in prayer for God's will to be done on earth in spite of continued opposition and rejection, which is what the unjust judge portrays in the parable.
This is what Jesus means when He says that men ought always to pray and not faint. He wants us to keep praying the kingdom in and not give up, even though His second coming may not be immediate. That is why He questions whether the Christians then remaining when He does come back will still be faithfully pressing in for the things of the kingdom and persevering in prayer, as portrayed by the widow in the parable, or will they have given up hope and lost their faith. Jesus then contrasts the unwilling and uncaring judge's tardiness in vindicating the widow, to God's willingness and readiness to vindicate His children (cp Lk 11:1 10).
Here we have the Lord's prayer and the parable of the friend at midnight. This parable is also used to teach the necessity of persisting in prayer for a request to be granted but once again that is not what the parable teaches at all. In the Lord's prayer Jesus is teaching the disciples to pray, and He then illustrates for them by the parable of the friend at midnight that they can expect their prayers to be answered. The man in the parable got what he asked for because although it was midnight, he boldly and unashamedly went to his friend, knocked on his door and asked for it. In V9 10 Jesus promises that we can do the same with God. All we have to do is what the man in the parable did: ask, seek and knock.
The word importunity in this parable means shamelessness, boldness, impudence, audacity. It does not mean persistence, as so many teach. It might be used to mean persistence in other settings, but not here, and this is the only place in the Bible where it is used. To summarise this parable, it teaches quite simply that, as the man who shamelessly dared to ask his friend got his request, so those who through prayer shamelessly ask, seek and knock will also get their requests from God (cp Mk 11:12 14, 20 24).
Notice here that Jesus only spoke to the fig tree once and it withered up and died. Then He tells us that if we have faith in God we can do the same thing. He goes on to say that all we have to do is believe that what we say or pray will come to pass, and it will (cp Php 4:6 7). We only have to make our requests known to God once, and if we have asked in faith, doubting nothing but believing we have what we ask for then we can rest assured that God has granted our request, and from then on we just keep thanking Him until the answer manifests itself (cp 1Jn 5:14 15).
This teaches us that while we do not have to persist in praying for the same need over and over, we do have to persist in faith, and keep believing that God will meet our needs, and as they arise keep on petitioning Him for them, even though the answer may not immediately manifest itself (cp Nu 23:19; Psa 89:34; Isa 46:9 11).
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Eph 5:20