Chapter 18
In this chapter, Jesus
tells his Disciples again that they are moving towards Jerusalem and He
describes what will happen to him. He
knows the cross is in his future.
He tells his followers
that they should always pray … always be in the spirit of prayer. He tells them not to get frustrated and
become discouraged and stop praying. I
have to say that until we learn that prayer is answered, just not always what
we are expecting, it is easy to give up on praying. I’m a firm believer in the
power of prayer and I am certain that the more of us who join in prayer, the
better. At one point in our family, my
mother was ill and her mother was ill.
She had asked for prayers for her mother. Grandmother improved and so did Mother. I asked her if she realized that she had
gotten better, too … and she told me that she did realize that and that she
was certain that her own improvement was also a result of the prayers. She said, “people are praying for our family.” She was right.
Jesus tells a story about
a woman who continued to ask a judge to avenge her. The judge was no good, but finally helped the
woman because he got tired of having to deal with her. He warns us not to pray constantly because we
think God is reluctant to help us. In
fact, it is just the opposite. As I said earlier, God may have answered our
prayer and we just don’t know it. We
might need to change the way we feel about something … and that sometimes comes
with continued prayers.
Jesus also tells a story
about people who are self-righteous.
They pray and tell God how important they are! The suggestion is that God isn’t listening to
folks who talk about themselves in their prayers. Those prayers are my will be done and
not Thy will be done … kinds of prayers!
It doesn’t work that way!
Humility is required.
People had started taking
their children to see Jesus and listen to his teaching. Some of his followers didn’t like this, but
He made it clear that the children should be allowed. He warned that we should never block the way of
a child.
“It is easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter Heaven.” This phrase is a favorite of mine! Jesus tells of a rich man who asked Him how
to enter the Kingdom of God. The rich
man says that he follows all the commandments and is faithful. Jesus reminds him of his wealth and tells him
to share it with the poor.
The last part of this
chapter is the story of Bartimaeus, the blind man. He asked Jesus to restore his sight and Jesus
did so … telling him that his faith had made him see.
My take-away from this
chapter is all about prayer. My belief
in the power of prayer was multiplied a hundred times when I was diagnosed with
cancer. I couldn’t imagine leaving this
earth and leaving behind my husband and daughter. I knew what losing me would do to my parents,
because they had already lost one adult child.
There were just a couple weeks between the time of my diagnosis and my
surgery, but during that time one of my friends told me he was spending a lot of
time on his knees for me! That meant he
was kneeling and praying for me! I was
humbled by that. My cancer was gone with
surgery. I was one of the lucky folks
who didn’t require any post-operative treatments. No chemotherapy, no radiation.
After a few weeks, I came
to realize exactly why that happened. Young
advertising reps that I worked with had a prayer chain going the morning of my
surgery. People from television, radio
and newspapers in multiple states were in communication and praying for
me. A group of Methodist men had a
prayer breakfast especially to remember me.
Friends from a Pentecostal church in a little town where I had worked
met together to pray for me. Of course,
my own family and closest friends were remembering me that morning of the
surgery. Oh, the power of prayer.
Let’s Cook!
