On Faith Pt. I

Today I've been thinking about Luke 18, which is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. I had been praying it this morning at the southside city prayer gathering.

At the end of the parable of the persistent widow, Jesus asks the question, "when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

Clearly, given the context of Jesus teaching a parable to teach that we should always pray (night and day BTW!), the question is whether there will be faith that moves people to the place of prayer.

This is a HUGE issue and one that I have felt God speaking to me about today.

In Luke 22:31, Jesus tells Peter: "Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail."

Shortly after that he says a similar statement twice to the disciples saying "Pray that you do not fall into temptation".

In my own life, as well as in the lives of many people that I know, I believe that the enemy is hard at work seeking to undermine our faith. Certainly I am aware that this is not a new work of the enemy, however I feel God speaking to me about a particular dimension of this attack.

I don't see this attack focused on faith in the person of Christ (i.e. His deity) but rather on faith about how active God is TODAY.

Our faith in the person and work of Christ may be secure, but when faith weakens in regard to God being active today, the first evidence is that we stop praying. When we don't believe that much will happen when we pray, or when we don't believe that God is doing very much around us, then prayer falls to the wayside.

Right now I sense a weariness in the arena of faith about God's activity both for today and for the future.

Today there was a strong battle in my own life over this issue and I have sensed the Lord speaking to me about it this afternoon.

This is a difficult time here in Edmonton. There seems to be little evidence of any significant activity of God these days. There are prophetic words about the future, but there is little manifest activity right now. I see (and feel) a certain degree of scorn and cynicism about the prophetic words; words that are intended to stir us to the place of prayer!

So I look at the words of Jesus to the disciples:

"Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation."