Sunday October 16, 2022 –
Jesus’ words produce the faith He seeks at His return. Kind words produce smiles. Encouraging words produce courage. Promises produce hope. These truths are even more true when the words are the almighty Word of our almighty Savior—and He promises to hear all our prayers!
In our Gospel Lesson Jesus tells a parable about a woman who keeps bothering a judge who is not too interested in helping people and defending justice. But because she keeps bothering him, he finally gives her justice. In the same way, Jesus says, we should keep praying, expecting our just and merciful Judge, God, to hear and answer our petitions.
Our Epistle Lesson is the concluding words of 1 John. John explains the purpose of his epistle, namely that his readers be absolutely confident that they have eternal life, and since that is true, Christians can also be confident God hears all our prayers while we’re still on earth. “I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence that we have before him: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we also know that we receive the things we have asked from him.”
Our Old Testament Lesson is the unusual account of Jacob literally wrestling with God. Here he confidently insisted, “I will not let go of you unless and until you bless me!” Now that’s confident and persistent prayer! And we can learn from Jacob, as we will in our sermon this week: “Wrestling with God.”
This Week’s Lessons:
Genesis 32:22–30
1 John 5:13–15
Luke 18:1–8
Psalm 121