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Text of the page (random words):
bilize our times of bible reading prayer and reflection begin to lurch pastoral time guilt our greatest problem is not that we lack time but that we often fail to steward it according to god s purposes my post at gospel for life spiritual organization most of us blame our lack of spiritual consistency on weak discipline but the real problem is that our lives aren t intentionally organized with rhythms of communion rest and refreshment that make faithfulness sustainable https www dashhouse com the most meaningful work 6a71382ac9649100015b50de tue 04 aug 2026 05 00 46 gmt ironically the older i get the more i m focusing on long term plans take my big idea bible project i started in 2021 and thought it would take seven years now i think it s going to take me ten years until the end of 2031 until i finish the first phase even then i won t be done i want to refine my work and fill my paper bible the one i use all the time with the best of my notes from each of my scripture journals i have other plans too i ve never embarked on such a long term reading plan before and i m loving it i have another smaller project in 2014 2015 and then again in 2018 i ran a lot of races then i got injured and stopped last year i started running again last year running felt mostly painful i struggled through my half marathon in october and didn t feel good about it this year i ran an 10k in april and for the first time in years running felt good i just completed another 10k have another one soon and another half marathon in october i ve already signed up for another race next year running is more personal and these goals are more short term but it s helping me learn to sacrifice for goals that are months or more away then there are the books i want to write i have ideas i am working hard at moving those ideas from ideas in my head to actual projects that will result in something on the page only god knows if i will complete any of these projects sometimes i feel a bit foolish for taking on long projects like these especially a ten year project to work through the bible but if god wills i want to do more hard things that take long periods of work but that will pay off more in the end in his book how to begin michael bungay stainer argues that we get to complete one big project every five years for most of us even if we re young that means we don t have very many big projects left rather than shrinking back and attempting only small plans i think that means we should pick the projects that really matter and invest in them start now because these projects will take a long time and you have less time left than you think i thought about this the other day when i received a new biography of spurgeon by ray rhodes it s almost 700 pages long and i can t wait to read it i don t know how long it took rhodes to write it but i know that it took far more research and time than many would be willing to give the results i believe will bless more people than we could guess both now and in generations to come the book cost rhodes a lot to write the payoff will be even greater for all of us when you re young you might think you have time for the quick and cheap things like social media posts and ai generated content stuff that really doesn t matter but even then you have less time than you think a lot of things can be done quickly and cheaply but they re not the things that will last think about the big projects you want to complete the big books you want to read there s not much time left devote yourself to what s costly and what lasts a society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit plant those trees some projects will only get done with a long timeline and lots of effort before the results are ever seen the less time i have the more i want to spend that time on the things that will last https www dashhouse com keep praying and dont lose heart luke 181 8 6a68f5a46cb9dc0001a25873 sun 02 aug 2026 17 00 16 gmt big idea because we re needy and god is ready to help keep praying and don t lose heart even if the answers take time i want you to imagine for a minute having a problem with a huge company air canada gm or visa you need to get this problem solved you have two options you can call the free customer service number they say your call is important but it takes a long time and makes you more frustrated or because you happen to be friends you can call the ceo s personal cell phone number and ask them to handle it which one will you choose i m going with the ceo every single time you probably don t have the personal cell number of any ceo but here s the better news right now you have immediate access to the god of the universe let that settle for a moment as isaiah 40 says this is the god who held the waters in his hand measured the skies with his fingers collected the dust of the earth easily and weighed mountains and hills like they were tiny things on a scale he sits above the circle of the earth and we impressive as we may feel are like grasshoppers by comparison to him all the nations are like a drop in a bucket like a speck of dust on the scales he stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent to dwell in he reduces princes to nothing and brings the rulers of the earth to emptiness and you have access to him this god the one with limitless power and unmatched understanding knows you cares for you and invites you to come to him any time day or night you have access to him 24 7 if this is true and it is why do we struggle so much with prayer why wouldn t we constantly be asking god for help with everything we need that is the question that the parable that we just read forces us to ask and answer praying while we wait we re in a series on the parables and unlike some of the other ones we don t have to guess what the point of this parable is luke tells us in verse 1 and he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart here s one of the struggles we all face we find it hard to pray when we pray god often seems quiet and we start to lose heart discouragement creeps in and over time that discouragement causes us to simply stop praying that s a real spiritual danger even dedicated believers can find it hard to keep a regular prayer life especially when doubts about god answering grow bigger than our faith that he will it s easy to get discouraged in prayer and we eventually just give up but i want you to notice the context of this story while we all face the danger of giving up when it comes to prayer there s a particular danger that we face at the end of luke 17 jesus taught that he will one day come back to this world and set things right in revelation 22 20 jesus said surely i am coming soon in revelation john responds amen come lord jesus that was almost two thousand years ago since then generation after generation has prayed this prayer but jesus has still not returned and the world continues to get worse and worse we continue to experience suffering rejection and injustice it s easy to lose heart as we continue to wait for christ to return especially when life gets hard in that context jesus tells a story the story here s the story you have two characters a problem and a surprising solution first the characters a judge and a widow take a look at the judge community courts were staffed by local well respected citizens this was a man who would have been respected in his community part of the elite the problem he lacked the two essential qualities for administering justice he neither feared god nor respected man according to jesus in verse 4 he even bragged about it this was especially dangerous because those seeking legal remedies typically had to offer substantial bribes to get their way this judge doesn t care what god says and he doesn t care about what people think he s only in it for himself and isn t bound by normal social pressures then you have the widow in the first century when a husband died his widow often lost the male protection and legal standing that had shaped her place in society that made her exposed and easier to ignore money was a major problem widows did not automatically inherit their husband s property they might get their dowry back but many still ended up poor with few acceptable ways to earn income they were often left with no steady support their options were limited some could remarry return to their father s home or marry a brother in law but many had no good option and had to depend on charity often distributed through the synagogue that s why the widow in luke 18 is so vulnerable she has no power no influence and no backup plan the judge lacks fear of god or concern for people and likely anticipates an unpayable bribe leaving her without leverage or hope for justice so what does she do she keeps coming back verse 3 says she went to him again and again and this wasn t a quiet courtroom like we picture today in that setting justice was often sought in a noisy crowded public space full of shouting jostling and competing voices if she was going to be noticed she had to be relentless she doesn t flatter the judge or pad her words with polite titles she simply pleads her case repeatedly loudly and without backing down until he s had enough in the end he gives her what she wants not because he cares about what s right but because he wants her gone she wears him down and he does whatever it takes to make her go away that s the story a powerless vulnerable widow who can t buy justice faces off against a corrupt self serving judge with no leverage but persistence she keeps pressing him until he grants her request simply to make her go away the point so what s the point here three things like the widow we re in need we are like the widow in at least two ways we are genuinely needy and there is often no immediate solution we are in need we re like the widow no resources no leverage no backup plan our strength and stability are thinner than we admit one phone call one diagnosis one loss can change everything we face problems we can t fix burdens we can t carry alone and injustices we can t set right by sheer effort in a world that is under the influence of evil 1 john 5 19 jesus tells us that a true christian attitude is not to be self reliant but to rely on him when we stop feeling needy we haven t outgrown our need we ve just lost touch with reality there is another way we are like the widow there is rarely an instant answer sometimes we pray and pray and god does not respond on our timetable in that delay we are tempted to quit to conclude that persistence is pointless that hope is naive that faith is only for easier seasons that is why jesus asks in verse 8 when the son of man comes will he find faith on earth god s faithfulness is certain ours is not when the pressure mounts and the waiting stretches on will we keep coming to him or will we slowly drift away so in one sense we really are like the widow needy and often waiting and that need will do one of two things it will either drive us toward god or cause us to walk away but here s the second thing unlike the judge god is just and ready to hear us here s the most important thing to see in this story god is nothing like the judge in this story the point of jesus parable is not that we should think of god like this judge that s actually the very opposite of the point of this story the point of this story is that we should understand that god is nothing like the unjust judge in verses 7 and 8 jesus says and will not god give justice to his elect who cry to him day and night will he delay long over them i tell you he will give justice to them speedily luke 18 7 8 friends your heavenly father is nothing like the unjust judge you don t ever have to wonder whether god cares about you and your predicament he knows and he cares you don t have to wonder about whether god hears you or not god does hear you he s eager to hear from you he loves to hear from you you don t ever have to wonder what god thinks of you you are the center of your heavenly father s affection paul miller he cares for you he is for you you don t ever have to wonder if god will give you justice and do right you may need to be patient but you can be confident that god hears you and that god cares for you god s readiness to hear us is grounded in what jesus has done for us we don t come to him because we re worthy persuasive or persistent enough we come because jesus christ has reconciled us to god jesus was treated with injustice so that we could receive mercy he was shut out so that we could be welcomed in he bore our guilt so that we could be called god s beloved because of christ we don t approach god as strangers begging for a hearing we approach him as children coming to a father who has already proven his love i want you to hear this today if you have turned to christ in repentance and faith god is for you god isn t like the unjust judge at all it s true that sometimes you can get justice even from an unjust judge how much more will a loving gracious god hear us and answer us with lovingkindness take heart god is for you his judgments towards you are based on his goodness and his love for you so come to him believing that he s for you and believing that he cares and that changes things for us the widow was helpless with no one to defend her those in the kingdom of god have a helper god himself has promised to defend us the widow has no husband she is alone those in the kingdom of god are married to god himself he loves us his heart is for us we will never be alone the widow faces insurmountable odds she isn t sure that the judge will give her justice those of us in the kingdom of god never have to wonder if god will give us justice we know that god will do right in the end like the widow we come to god needy and often without an immediate solution in sight praying through problems we can t fix but unlike the judge god is just attentive and eager to hear us so we re never truly alone but here s the main point that jesus makes in this passage because of our need and god s willingness to help we should pray luke tells us the point of the parable up front jesus told this story so that they ought always to pray and not lose heart here s what happens to us when we feel our need and don t get an immediate answer we re tempted to quit our need no answer yet we lose heart and stop praying but jesus wants us to see something else our need isn t the problem forgetting who god is is the problem when we remember that god is good just and ready to hear his people need doesn t lead to prayerlessness it leads to persistence our need god s willingness persistent prayer here is what this story tells us because we re needy and god is ready to help keep praying and don t lose heart even if the answers take time we began with an example you can wait on the phone with customer service or if you know someone you can call the ceo directly t...