Not to faint.
To faint in scripture is not to fall down unconscious, as we think of it today……
….but to give up,….feeling everything is lost,….and for a Christian, this is an act of our will….
….though it maybe began in our emotions or reasons.
Luke 18:1 “And He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;”
There is a definite choice here…..A choice, the Lord says, there is God’s help for.
(My husband and I knew a man once…..
He was a good man, went to our church….and knew many sound doctrines. He was always overflowing with good words about the Lord,….and if you were not around him much….he seemed so genuine.
But he never finished anything. He would begin with a rallying cry,….and struggle through for a while….and then just sit down, with the urging, “you go on, I’ll be there shortly”….but he wasn’t.
I believe that many, respect God….that do not love Him. And love, in scripture…..which is the willed tendency of our hearts….is a powerful and strengthening grace.
If we are Christians, Love is first put into our hearts by God, the Holy Spirit….it is “shed abroad in our hearts” (Romans 5:5)…
…and it changes us. It gives us a “soft” heart….one easily moved by the Holy Spirit…toward God.
Without love, we may be obedient, enthusiastic, knowledgeable…..but not devoted…to Christ, Himself.
Where there is no love, there is no worship….for worship is counting Him worthy of all of us.
Habakkuk 2:20 “But the Lord is in His Holy Temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him.”
….it seems that many people want to “give up the fight”.
…I, too, have felt like giving up….
…there was a time….when I was a teenager, after some bad experiences, that I thought of committing suicide for a time.
Yet, the Lord has always come to me….
…..not necessarily encouraging me, for sometimes we need a jolt back into the reality of life, rather than a hug….
…..but His Presence has always made the difference….always got me up out of myself….
(I want to talk just for a moment of suicide. It is self-murder. Some may give a complicated answer why people kill themselves…and I do think that there are about as many “reasons”…as people.
But they all come down to not believing God,….and trying to destroy their biggest problem….themselves, or their circumstances.
Some are looking for a way out of problems…..
……But please, seek first the great problem Solver….Christ.
Some are looking for a way out of themselves….they are not happy with who they are, so they will destroy their “enemy”.
But God says, I have seen you in the womb….I have formed you for My sake. Again, do you believe God, or others?
Suicide is self-murder….you are not just killing your bodies, but your life as well. You are saying, “I will not live the life You, God, have given me.”
But our lives are more than this moment of pain, hurt, trial,….or worse.
They are beyond that….and Christ Jesus can be our Helper, now.
Please come to Christ Jesus. Receive Him into your heart and life.
Christ Jesus came to save you…..
….you, who He loved so much, that He bore all your sins on the cross, for you.)
Luke 18:1-8 is the parable of a widow who was being harassed by her adversary.
She had no one to speak for her….so she did what she could, and came before a Roman Judge….and cried for help.
But he paid no attention to her or her need….he did not care about a silly widow….she could do him no damage….at least this is what he thought at first.
(And how many people pay no attention to others…..even those close to us. But God sees…..and God hears.)
Now here, she could have given up…..but…
…..she kept coming to his court, and crying for help! “Avenge me of mine adversary!”
So, “though he feared not God, nor regarded man”…..he decided that she was getting too much attention in his court,….and she might ruin his reputation….others might start doing the same thing.
So, he would avenge her….give her a restraining order against her adversary….just to get rid of her, out of his court!
Luke 18:6-8 “And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
And shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them?
I tell you that He will avenge them speedily….”
“I tell you….”. This is the Lord saying this…..”God will avenge them speedily”
This is an amazing promise.
We should ask for a “restraining order” against our Adversary….when he is harassing us in our prayers, direction, or speaking to someone….
…God will avenge us speedily, when we do.
This widow came to a unjust Judge….
…but we come to our Heavenly Father…and will we not receive that which He has for His own child.
The Judge wanted to get rid of her…..
….but we are bidden by God to…
…”come boldly to the Throne of grace, that we might obtain mercy, and find grace to help…”(Hebrews 4:16)
…”ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you.” (Luke 11:9)
This widow had no advocate to help her before the Judge….
….but Christ is our Mediator, our “Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:” (1 John 2:1)
As we are confronted by our Adversary, we may also cry unto our Heavenly Father…as the widow did to an unjust judge….”Avenge me of mine Adversary; and give me freedom and liberty to do Thy Will.”
Jesus has said, “I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.”
Let us believe the Lord….cry unto Him, day and night…….and receive the love which the Holy Spirit will shed abroad in our hearts….
…..that we may be blessed….
…in our prayer times, in our work….in our lives….
….and not faint.
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 