Yesterday morning our prayer pastor Geannine LeBude was our speaker, below is the introduction to her sermon:
Today I want to discuss the way we approach our Father in prayer. I am referencing to how we see Him in relationship to how we see ourselves. And the way we approach our Father is determined by what we believe about Him and what we believe about our relationship to Him. When Jesus approached our Father in prayer He came from a position of only begotten Son. He knew the Father’s love for Him and was convinced his Father heard Him. Jesus’ prayers were succinct often just a few words, and they were not filled with a sense of anxiety or struggle. He approached the Father as one who is loved and accepted.
I want to use Luke 18: 1-8, the parable of the persistent widow to explore one example of how we often approach the Father in prayer. We can learn a great deal about our position in prayer through Jesus’ use of the parable of the widow. He used this parable to draw the disciples further in prayer. And He also sets up an emotional and tension filled picture of how the widow approaches the judge in order to get her request filled. Who the widow is in the story matters, because her position in the culture dictated her actions. The widow is desperate and without hope and she is begging for her rights to be restored from a unjust judge. As we look at this parable I want you to ask yourself have you ever approached our Father from a position of a widow, desperate, abandoned and without hope; believing that He is distant and not concerned about your needs.