Luke 18:1-8 - "Pray Without Ceasing"

1Thessalonians 5:17 - “Pray without ceasing”.  Ifwe don't pray, we will faint; it's as simple as that! The word faint describesa believer who loses heart and gets so discouraged that he or she wants toquit. There is a connection between what our Lord said in Luke 18:1 and Hisstatement in Luke 17:37. If society is like a rotting corpse, then the"atmosphere" in which we live is being slowly polluted, and this isbound to affect our spiritual lives. But when we pray, we draw on the"pure air" of heaven, and this keeps us from fainting.  Inother words, we're living in a polluted, ungodly, wicked world, it appears tobe controlled by Satan, and if we're not careful we will faint. On severaloccasions, I have fainted. It is usually when a doctor or nurse sticks a needlein my arm to draw blood or put something inside me. It causes me to start goingout, and I'll say to the people around me, "I'll see you later." Myblood pressure drops, my pulse drops, and I faint. Have you ever notice that onething they always do when someone faints is give them air or some good oxygen. Inthis passage in Luke 18, Jesus said men ought always to pray and not to faint.Then he tells the story of the widow and the unjust judge and talks about theadversary that's out to overcome this woman. My friend, we live in a pollutedworld, breathing its air, and if we're not careful, we won't get enoughspiritual oxygen, the pure atmosphere of heaven in our spiritual life. We willthrow in the towel and quit, looking at the circumstances rather than the greatGod who is in charge and has already defeated Satan on the cross. We need to breathethe spiritual air of heaven.  That'swhat praying is all about. Men ought always to pray, as the scripture teachesus. We are to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Thisdoesn't mean repeating the same prayer over and over, but that praying should becomeas natural as breathing. We don't think about breathing until we can't breathe,until we need oxygen in our body. That's when we learn to pray always, withoutceasing, because prayer becomes as natural as breathing. We're always thinking,"God, you're right here with me, you're going to answer our prayers,you're a Father who cares about me." Prayeris much more than the words on our lips; it's the desires of our heart. Ourhearts are constantly desiring Him. If you're desiring the things of the worldand the flesh, looking at circumstances, problems, and difficulties, you'll beoverwhelmed and faint. You won't have enough spiritual oxygen. That's when ourheart cries out to God, "Oh God, help me, meet my needs, speak to me,strengthen me, give me the grace I need to face this situation." Prayingwithout ceasing means that we have holy desires, we want to do the will of God,we're constantly loving Him and in communion with our Father in heaven,desiring His blessings. That's what real prayer is. Myfriend, we're either going to choose to pray or we're going to faint, throw inthe towel, and quit. We'll lose heart in the battle. But we need to rememberthat the battle's already won through Jesus Christ and His cross. Yesterday, Isaid we're kind of like the woman, hopeless and helpless, with no standingbefore the court. But in another way, it's just the opposite. We're not likethis woman; we are children of God. We have access to the Father. (We will talkmore about that tomorrow). Today,remember you're a child of God. God delights for you to be in His presence. Hewants you to have Him on your heart continually. When you do that, you'repraying without ceasing, breathing the spiritual air of heaven. You'restrengthened, encouraged, you sense His presence, and everything's okay. “Iwill not fear, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,for Thou art with me” (Psalm 23:4). Itrust you will have a wonderful day thinking about these things.