Q3, S06 Family Prayer
Quarter 3, Session 6: Family in Prayer
WILL YOU PRAY ALWAYS?
Passage
Luke 18:1–8
Concept
This session falls under Jesus’ eighth question: Can you see my kingdom as a home? In a rather unusual parable, Jesus tells the story of a woman who was seeking justice from an unjust judge. He didn’t want to give her what she asked for, but she was so persistent that he finally gave in. Jesus tells us that this is what it means to live in his kingdom, to be part of his family: we need to continually communicate with him in faith, even when it seems he is not doing anything about our requests.
Key Question
How can you build a culture and discipline of regular communication with God?
The Home & Table Tool
Do you see our Home and Table tool being played out in Luke 18:1–8? With whom? How so?
Family in Prayer
We’ve all experienced communication breakdowns. Whether with a spouse, a child, a parent, a friend, or a coworker, when communication fails, the relationship falls apart. It doesn’t matter what you’re trying to accomplish—completing a project, maintaining a friendship, navigating some type of hurt, sharing some kind of joy—without communication, there is no relationship. Once communication fades out, the relationship withers until it doesn’t even make sense to call it a relationship.
Communication is the fuel of relationship. You can do things together, but unless you are communicating, there is no substance. On the other hand, when communication is healthy, the relationship is poised to thrive.
In Luke 18, Jesus shared a parable about a woman who persistently pled her case to an unjust judge. He was not going to give her justice, but because she kept going back, because she didn’t allow herself to stop asking, he finally ruled in her favor.
Jesus tells us that this is the type of tenacity we need in prayer. Being part of God’s family means keeping the communication open. Jesus tells us this parable, of course, because we will be tempted to give up. So he encourages us to keep praying, to keep the communication flowing. Our relationship with God depends on it. It’s vital to thriving within his kingdom.
1. Read Luke 18:1–8. Right off the bat, what strikes you about this passage? What do you find interesting or challenging or confusing?
Don’t Lose Heart
Jesus states the application of the parable right away: we ought always to pray and not lose heart. Even as the disciples are learning what it means to know Jesus, to follow him, and to live in his kingdom, Jesus explains that prayer requires pushing past your natural inclinations.
One of our biggest struggles in living in God’s kingdom is that we are prone to lose heart. This could mean giving in or giving up. When we feel the pull toward sin, we try for a while—maybe even for a long time—but we often “lose heart” and give in to temptation. Other times, we try to continue seeking God, enjoying him, trusting him, etc., but we often eventually “lose heart” and give up or dial it back.
Why is this call to persistence necessary? Because it’s hard to continue on with almost anything. And faith calls for a special kind of persistence. We all know what it’s like to ask God to do something or to provide something or to answer something and in return to receive only silence. This can go on for years. Decades. It can be devastating. So Jesus calls us to persist. Because we won’t have a relationship with God if we’re not speaking to him. Because he wants us to have confidence that God cares, that he is listening, that he wants to hear from us—even when it doesn’t feel that way.
The call is to have persistence when all we feel is frustration. Prayer works, just not always in the way we want it to, and not typically on our timelines.
2. Share a time when you prayed for something and God was not quick in answering (perhaps this is a request that remains unanswered). What was that like?
3. For you personally, what does it look like to give in or give up? Can you share an example?
How Do You See God?
It’s one thing to lose heart and to then give in or give up. But the biggest problems come when we lose heart with regard to our theology. It’s one thing to have a prayer or two go unanswered. But what happens when this starts to feel like a pattern? What happens when we begin to view God as distant or uncaring? It can be devastating to lose heart in the way we view and relate to God. “Maybe God doesn’t really see me. Maybe he doesn’t really hear me. Maybe he doesn’t really care.”
These questions are more common than we may like to admit. But Jesus anticipates this. So he calls us onward, inviting us to press on, as if to say, “Don’t worry if it doesn’t seem like you’re getting an answer: keep asking.”
4. Have you ever experienced God’s silence in a way that changed your view of him? How so? What was this like?
5. Have you ever found yourself able to hold onto the truth of who God is, even feeling close to him, during a season when he wasn’t answering your prayers in the way you wanted? What was this like?
Keeping Communication Open
Jesus gives us this parable in hopes that we will be among the faithful who press on. You can get caught up in all of the stress and confusion of daily events and struggles. But here’s the real question: In the end, will you be one of those who are found faithful?
In this parable, faithfulness means being persistent in prayer. It means continually coming back to him. If we’re going to keep coming back to God even when he feels distant, this will mean repeated disappointment. You only keep coming back because you’re not getting the thing you’re asking for. But faithfulness means that we continue to see God as the one we keep coming back to.
As we saw in the parable of the prodigal son, the father was doing everything in his power to get the family to sit down together to a shared meal. The parable of the persistent widow gives a call for us to fight for the family meal as well. It’s not just about passively being pursued by God—though that is everything! We are called to fight for the relationship as well. To pursue God. To do everything we can to continually seek him out and draw near to him.
6. Why is constant communication with God so important? What was the time in your life when you experienced this the most? What was/is it like?
7. How can you build a culture and discipline of regular communication with God?
8. Spend some time in prayer. Ask God to be near to you and to allow you to experience his nearness. But also pray that when he feels distant, that he would give you the grace to continue seeking him. Confess your feelings of separation and ask for the power to persist.
Key Question
How can you build a culture and discipline of regular communication with God?