Out of Faith We Pray

Reflection for the 19th Week after Pentecost, 2022

Scriptures: 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5; Luke 18:1-8

Key Verse: “Pray always and not to lose heart.” (Luke 18:1b)

Have you ever prayed earnestly day and night as if it was your last resort? It was so urgent and necessary for you to pray, as if praying was your life support system.

When do we pray ceaselessly, fearlessly, and shamelessly day and night? For most of us, it happens when suffering becomes personal, unbearable, and painful. We pray ceaselessly to God because we want to cease all the suffering from injustice. We pray fearlessly to God because we fear that increased suffering will continue overtaking vulnerable lives. And we pray shamelessly to God because we are tired of the rise of being shamed. , Out of faith, we pray.

Whoever talks to God through prayers about their suffering for days, weeks, months, or even years, are the first to notice progress and improvement in their lives. Why? The conversation with God might gradually get less intense. In their prayers, anger, frustration, and sorrow might be replaced with more of their gratitude to God. All they can think of each day is God. And the consistent conversation partner is also God. That could be one of the reasons why the foreigner, one out of the ten lepers, came back to Jesus and gave his thanks to God in the story from Luke 17:11-19. Right after he noticed the healing, the first person he wanted to talk to was Jesus who had healed him. And he knew it was God’s doing, God’s wonder. Out of faith, he said his thanksgiving prayer.

When we pray ceaselessly, fearlessly, and shamelessly day and night, our prayer life shapes our faith, and our faith also continues shaping our prayer life. Praying isn’t just a part of liturgy that we follow in worship. It isn’t just a ritual or routine that we do before each meal. It isn’t just one of our habits before going to bed or after getting up to begin our day. Praying is also about setting the time apart intentionally to have a serious conversation with God about our suffering and the unjust world that we see and live in. It is personal. It is urgent. It is necessary. Out of faith, we pray.

The scripture in Luke 18:1 says that Jesus told ‘them’ a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. Who are ‘they’ in this verse? From Luke 17:22, we know it’s referring to disciples that Jesus is talking to. If we finish reading chapter 17 and connect it with what Jesus said in chapter 18, then we understand the connection of our faith and our prayer life.

Jesus urged his disciples to pray after mentioning about his suffering from being rejected as the Son of Man and the generations of Noah and Lot who prioritized not just securing their own good lives but also accumulating wealth and neglecting God’s anger towards the unjust world that they took part of. For Jesus, praying is personal, urgent, and necessary because he wants to find faith on earth. And praying is the key to our faith, whether it is for nurturing or nourishing.

And what a daily joy it is for all to notice God’s wonders in our life together as our earnest prayers are answered. May your prayers be mine and my prayers be yours for the wellbeing of all. Let us pray always and not to lose heart. Amen.