Always pray and don't be discouraged (Suck 18:1 -8)

There may be no one who has prayed and has not been discouraged. Responding to prayer is not easy. Then it becomes resentful and irritating. Today's words explain easily why Jesus gives an example of why our prayers are not answered and why we should not be discouraged. Through these words today, we need to realize why prayers are not answered and find a way to receive them.

 

1. Be clear about your goals and dreams

The lesson we must learn from this story is that we must pray with clear goals and dreams. The widow that came to the judge was not vague. Her purpose is to avenge her enemies and the content is to resent them. I am probably speaking of a specific goal, whether it was taken unfairly or falsely accused. It is a grudge against my enemy. I must pray with a clear dream in my heart that has a goal.

Abraham, whom God loved very much, left Ur at the age of 75 and came to the land of Canaan to pray for a child. But even after 10 years of prayer, there was no response. Later, he complained to God because he was so frustrated. And he tried to make his servant Eliassel his successor. Then God called Abraham in the night. He called Abraham, "Come out of the tent and look at the sky," and made him count the stars. And he said, "Now when your son is born, there will be many descendants in the sky like stars in him." It is to have a clear dream in your heart. Don't just pray for a vague wish, but to have a clear dream. These stars are not vague dreams. They are stars with a clear substance. They are to look and count in the sky. Make such a clear dream and pray. So Abraham accepted the word of God and prayed to God. Then God gave faith. If we pray with a clear dream, God will give us faith that corresponding dream. Abraham believed in God. Then God regarded it as righteousness. Since we pray with a clear goal and dream in our hearts, we have faith, and because we believe in God, God considers it righteous and eventually gave us Isaac. When we hold our son, who has shown us as the stars of the sky, in our hearts, faith is born and God recognized that it is right. We should also pray with a dream and clearly engrave the goals that God will achieve in our hearts, instead of vaguely praying. We have to pray in our hearts. God cannot respond unless it is a dream that we can see with our own mind and know for sure. We must clearly pray with dreams and goals in our hearts. At that time, God will respond.

 

2. Pray for it

 

When we pray, we must pray earnestly for a circle and a grudge. God does not ignore wishes in his heart. Therefore, we must learn the widow's prayer of 'to release my grudge against my enemy.' Luke 18:7:8 says, "Let alone, will God not release the grudge of those who choose to cry out day and night? I tell you, I will release your grudge quickly, but will you see faith in the world when the Son of Man comes?" It means that we will release our grudge.

If you have a strong grudge, don't you come to the temple to pray at dawn, pray during the day and in the evening, or go to the prayer center to pray and fast? It means to pray with a grudge like this. According to the Bible, Hannah has no children, so the husband puts a concubine called Benin and gives birth to a son. Then Beninna puts pressure on her shoulders, ignores and treats Hannah. Hannah was so frustrated that she was choked up and couldn't speak well. When she was in tears and choked up and couldn't speak, she just prayed, shaking her mouth and saying, "How can you come to the temple of God and just smile when you are drunk?" While watching her, priest Ellie thought Hannah was drunk. Then Hannah confessed her situation and wished to have a son. Then priest Ellie said, "Peace, go as you believe me." The resentment has disappeared since then. Samuel, the great prophet of Israel, was the son who gained peace in his heart, joy, and eventually received a response. Therefore, when we pray, we have to make a heart-wrenching prayer like this.

Many of you may remember Gone with the Wind, a famous American novel. Margaret Mitchell, the author of the novel, started writing after she became limp and went to various publishers with her manuscript for the novel, which she had written for seven years, but she was repeatedly ticketed and had to turn around. So, she was disappointed. The publisher didn't accept it. However, she didn't give up and one day she went to the train station when she heard that the CEO of MacMillan was going on a business trip by train. Then, she handed over a bundle of manuscripts to the president and begged him to read them for once! Even though she was bothered to ask, the president picked up the manuscript and put it in a bag. Inside, she left by a train saying, "Would I read such a manuscript written by an unknown author?" To our surprise, the telegram was from Margaret Mitchell, who asked, "Please read my manuscript." So, the president laughed and tore the telegram apart. Then, the next day, she came again. Also, "Please read my manuscript." The same telegram continued on the following day and the following day. I received a telegram every day throughout the week I was going on a business trip. The boss eventually thought of this. "If you don't read this manuscript, I will follow you for a lifetime. Let's read it." I took time to read it in the evening. But it was so fun and touching that I read it without sleeping until dawn. The publication of the manuscript was the novel "Gone with the Wind." Eventually, the novel became a movie and became a world-famous novel. The important thing here is that the boss read the manuscript because he was moved by her tenacity. We were touched by that tenacity because we made the request without being discouraged. This is what our prayers are also supposed to do. We have to send a telegram in prayer to God. Margaret Mitchell telegraphed once a day, but we have to keep in touch with God in the morning, afternoon, and evening. If you pray a little bit and give up because there is no response, you will never get a response. Just as Esther decided to die or live and hung on to fast, if we pray so desperately that we want and resent God, the prayer will be hurt and God will be moved.

 

3. Pray, concentrate on your goals

We should pray simply by focusing on our goals. When we pray, there is an enemy that interferes with our prayers. The devil doesn't turn his back on us to get easily answered. It is the devil's job to obstruct our prayers and prevent them from answering in any way. Therefore, it is easy to be disturbed by the devil if you say something and say something complicatedly.

While Daniel is being held captive by Persia, he spends 20 days focused on praying to God for what will happen to his country. For 20 days, there was no response to his prayer. On the 21st, however, an angel appeared and said, "Daniel, when you pray, the first day your prayer was delivered. God heard your prayer and asked me to give you a response on the first day, and as I came, the demons surrounding Persia camped and blocked me. I couldn't penetrate it on my own, so I confronted for 20 days, but for 21 days, the Minister of Heaven, Michael, came and helped, so I came out of their opposition and brought a response." On top of that, Danielle answered because he had the patience to continue praying for 20 days and wait until the 21st. If he had given up in the middle, the angel would have also returned to heaven. You have to know that when the response of prayer comes down from heaven, the devil is blocking his path. Therefore, we must not give up easily. Our wrestling is not about blood and flesh. It is about the affairs, the authorities, the dark world, and fighting against the evil spirits in heaven. Prayer is a war. It is a fight. However, since the Holy Spirit must help us, we must rely on and be patient with the Holy Spirit when we pray. In Rome 8:26, he writes, "The Holy Spirit also helps us with our weakness, so we do not know what to pray for, but only he pleads for us in unspeakable sighs." When we pray, we should pray in dialect and then in words. The power of prayer is unimaginable.



There is an old saying that goes, "When you gather your mind in one place, nothing will be accomplished." Prayer is also answered when you gather your mind in one place. There is a book written by Yoo Mi-hyun, an incumbent teacher, called "Are you studying to die? I study with concentration!" The main point of this book is that studying is not about dying but studying well no matter what you do. There are many people who pray without clear goals. There are many people who pray without clear goals. However, praying without a goal does not work. Just as setting a goal and focusing on it to achieve effectiveness, we can never be discouraged and answered when we ask for a goal to achieve it with earnestness. We must remember that and pray like that.

 

4. Don't be discouraged if your response is late

 

Many people are often discouraged from waiting for a response after praying and pleading. God is not in a hurry. Psalm 40 verse 1 states, "I waited and waited for Yahweh, and he listened and heard my cry." Many people are discouraged and resentful that God does not respond quickly. But we should not. According to the Bible, God is training us for many years and responding without haste.

There is a Korean word that even foreigners know, which means "quickly, quickly." It is a shameful example of the impatience of Korean people. When you actually see Koreans overseas, the locals say "quickly, quickly" very easily. He must be so, when Koreans order food, they say "quickly, please" and "eat quickly" when they eat anything. This is because they say "quickly, hurry up and work" when they are working. However, the most scary disease for modern people today is 'emergency illness'. 'Quickly, hurry.' An impatient disease is a very bad disease.



Richard Foster, a Christian spiritualist, said, "Hardness is not the devil, it is the devil himself." The impatience itself is the devil. Most people of faith in the Bible are prepared and thoroughly trained by God for a long time. Abraham, the ancestor of the faith, left his hometown at 75 and was promised a future generation, but waited until he turned 100. After 13 years of servitude and imprisonment, Joseph was chosen as the prime minister of Egypt, and Moses trained for 40 years in the wilderness. Then he became a savior for Israel. Joshua became the leader of Israel after 40 years of training under Moses. He said that it takes six years for an oak tree to grow and as many as 100 years for timber to use. Therefore, God is not in a hurry and is slowly preparing for blessings and responses for us. Therefore, in Philip 2:13, he states, "Those who do in you are God, and for his pleasure, do you make a wish upon you?"

If you have a earnest wish in your heart, you must rely on God and endure it until the end because God is with you. God does it with a wish in us, so if we look at a clear goal, persevere, and pray to the end, God will surely fulfill it. If you give us confidence in your heart, you must never retreat and make a poet with your lips. It is really important to admit with your lips. The poet with lips is what changes our fate.

Peter, who was a fisherman, was originally named Simon. The name Peter was given to him later by Jesus. His original name, Simon, means a reed flying in the wind. He was called Simon, or the reed, because he had such an ever-changing personality. But after Jesus made him save as a disciple, he changed his name to Peter. The word "Bedro" means a rock. When people heard that, they laughed to themselves, saying, "How can Simon, who is like that reed, become a rock?" In other words, they started to call him "Bedro." In other words, he repeatedly called him "Bedro." Surprisingly, after Jesus died and revived and the Holy Spirit received only the Holy Spirit, Simon, who was like a reed, became a Christian leader and a rock, just like his new name "Bedro." Like this, if you believe anything, you have to confess with your lips. If you confess with your lips and wait patiently for your response, it will come true.

We must do three things for that. If you believed in God, you must be grateful that what you believed in is accomplished. You have to say what you don't have because you call it as if you have no faith, even though there is no evidence in your eyes, no sound in your ears, and nothing in your hands. If you are not happy yet, you should confess with your lips that you are happy after that. Even if you are not happy yet, you should confess with your lips that you are happy if you pray. You must confess with your lips that you are at peace if you have prayed even though you are not. Then, you must give yourself a firm command rather than a simple confession. With a creative heart and declaration, "Peace! Order in Jesus' name, be happy! Be happy! Be healthy!" And finally, you must trust that your response has been made and thank God. Thank God for giving you joy, for giving you peace, for giving you blessings, and for giving you health. The words of the lips, creative commands, and confessions of gratitude are that when you do these three things together all the time, you gain great power by synergizing each other.

 

Victory will surely come to us if we move forward without being discouraged and withdrawn with faith and patience. It is God's desire to receive a response to our prayers. Therefore, God tells us to always pray and not be discouraged. Disappointment is what the devil brings. If you are discouraged, you should stand back and wait without being discouraged, so our prayers will eventually be answered. Jesus asked in his words today, "How can we not respond to the prayers that the people of God have chosen call for day and night? Will you see such faith when I come?" He lamented that there is a God who wants to respond to prayers like this, and asked if anyone would say such an immortal prayer. Decide to receive a prayer response from today. When you have a clear goal and pray with it in your heart as if you are looking at the stars, faith arises. When you have faith like that, confess it with your lips. And after giving creative commands and being grateful, you must endure it with patience. If you endure a day or two, or a month, or a year or two, it will happen. God's miracle must happen. In the end, our prayers are effective. I pray in the name of the Lord that you will receive God's power and live with blessings while praying for the very few and the very big problems.


-Prayers-

Thank you for choosing our Father God in heaven, the saints of the Lord, to be God's people, to talk to God, to respond to prayers. Today we are gathered to learn about prayer before God. Please help us gain faith by praying with goals and dreams in mind, as our Lord Jesus taught us. Also, if you believed, please make sure that faith is realized through the confession of your lips. Let our saints have a good soul, everything is well done, strong, life, but abundant. God opens the door of heaven and pour in the spirit of prayer. Pour in the power of prayer. Help us lead a life of faith in traffic with God through prayer.
Bless and pray in the name of Jesus.
Aman!