The Upper Room Daily Devotionals in Nashville, Tennessee, United States "PESTERING GOD" for Wednesday, 26 October 2016 with Scripture: Luke 18:1 Then Yeshua told his talmidim a parable, in order to impress on them that they must always keep praying and not lose heart. 2 “In a certain town, there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected other people. 3 There was also in that town a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me a judgment against the man who is trying to ruin me.’ 4 For a long time he refused; but after awhile, he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God, and I don’t respect other people; 5 but because this widow is such a nudnik, I will see to it that she gets justice — otherwise, she’ll keep coming and pestering me till she wears me out!’”6 Then the Lord commented, “Notice what this corrupt judge says. 7 Now won’t God grant justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Is he delaying long over them?
“Oh please, Mommy! Please! Oh please!” I said. When I was a child and wanted my mother to say yes, I pestered her constantly. She often told me to stop begging, that she had heard me already and was considering my request. But it was hard for me to be quiet; pleading for something I wanted seemed to be in my nature.
Some years ago, one of my children was struggling, and I was concerned. I prayed about it constantly. I couldn’t let it go. My concern was so great that I found myself thinking, I must be driving God crazy, the way I used to drive my mom crazy when I pestered her.
Then to my amazement and relief, I discovered Jesus’ parable in Luke 18:1-7. God is not bothered by our constant prayers. How reassuring to know that God wants to hear our concerns over and over again! Today the situation I was so concerned about has been resolved. But of course, I’m still pestering God. Now I smile and thank the Lord for letting me voice my concerns in prayer over and over again.
Read more from the author, here."The Greatest Privilege"
“Prayer moves the arm that moves the universe … Prayer is the greatest privilege man can have.”
This quote is cited in the book, Soldiers of the Cross by Kent D. Dollar. He writes that he found the quote in a hand-written journal from a soldier of the American Civil War by the name of Edward Owings Guerrant. I don’t know if this was Guerrant’s original thought or if he had heard someone else say it and simply recorded it in his journal.
As I read the quote, I could picture a soldier in the throes of war, sitting by himself contemplating prayer and writing about it in his journal. I can relate. I may not have ever fought in a physical war but I have been in spiritual wars contemplating and journaling about prayer too.
For four years, in fact, I did just that.
At the end of those four years I had a manuscript written on the topic of prayer. Then, it took another almost eight years before that manuscript became a book. It garnered a special recognition along the way when it was selected as a finalist in the 2011 Women of Faith unpublished manuscript competition. Imagine my excitement when finally, last spring, my book, Prayer: It’s Not About You was released by Pix-N-Pens Publishing, a small Christian publishing company. It is available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle versions.[Harriet Michael]
The Author: Harriet Michael (Kentucky, USA)
Thought for the Day: God always welcomes my prayers.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for your patience. Ease our burdens as we bring them to you in prayer. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
Prayer focus: SOMEONE I AM WORRIED ABOUT
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