Today I’d like to draw attention to something Jesus spoke in Luke 18:1-8, which seems to many to be contradictory in its nature:
1  And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
2  Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:
3  And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
4  And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
5  Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
6  And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
7  And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
8  I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

On the surface it would look like we are to keep praying the same prayer over and over until we “wear God out and He gives us what we want”.  After all, Luke was alluding in verse 1 that “men ought always to pray, and not to faint”.  Then reading again verses 2 through 7, Jesus seemed to encourage nagging and nagging God.  But was He?  First off, this parable was clearly spoken about an “unjust judge”.  Is God an unjust judge?  Well, NO!  Jesus said HEAR what the unjust judge said, because that was the decision the unjust judge made, not God.  Now  referring to God, Jesus said, And shall not God avenge His own elect which cry day and night unto Him, THOUGH HE BEAR LONG WITH THEM?  In the Greek “bear long” means to be patient, longsuffering, to have long patience, to patiently endure, to be slow to anger, slow to punish.  I see it to also mean “to put up with” their constant nagging.

Verse 8 , says God will avenge them speedily.  Now keep in mind, “SPEEDILY” is according to GOD’S time, not ours.  But here’s the meat of the matter: Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

When Jesus comes back, will He find those who have faith to believe that they have asked, were heard, and have received that for which they asked?  It is written in 1 John 5:14-15,
14  And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
15  And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

Do you see anywhere in that where you must “keep asking over and over”?  You see, that absolutely contradicts the “ask, seek and knock” doctrine of continually asking again and again for the same thing. Notice the part, “If we ask any thing according to His will”:  that says, if it isn’t His will, then why are you even asking for it?

But to be fair, let’s look at the other side of the coin: we also know that God planned to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, and Abraham pleaded to God to spare them, and God said He would spare them if He found fifty righteous therein.  Abraham talked him all the way down to ten righteous.  Well, there weren’t ten righteous, so He destroyed them.  Would that fall under “continually asking, seeking, knocking”?  That appears to be an isolated case, such as when Moses interceded for Israel to keep God from destroying them.

We try to use the above two examples of intercession as an excuse to keep badgering God for what we want “until we get it”.  Yes, we should always pray and faint not.  But that doesn’t mean that we should be as the widow in Luke 18.  First off, you aren’t going to “wear God out”.  He will be around LONG after you are dust.  You would do better to use your prayers to help others.  We spend way too much of our prayer time trying to benefit our fleshly desires.

The apostle Paul said several times “you are continually in my prayers”, and that is fine asking God to strengthen your brethren, as Paul did, to help them be formed into the image of Christ Jesus.

Let’s look at the “ask, seek and knock” in Matthew 7:7-11:
7  Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8  For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
9  Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
10  Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11  If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

It is necessary for YOU to do some research of your own on these verses out of the Greek dictionary, as I did, so you will be satisfied. The Greek definition in Strong’s and Thayer’s DOES NOT SUPPORT  “KEEP ON ASKING, KEEP ON SEEKING, KEEP ON KNOCKING.”  Verse 8 says every one that asks, receives, and he that seeks, finds, and to him that knocks, it shall be opened.  And you cannot read anything else into that.  It goes on to say, if we being evil know how to give good things to our children, how much MORE shall your Father in heaven give good things to them that ask.  BUT, don’t stop reading just yet: read verse 12,

12  Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

SO, that means if you’re not doing verse 12, you won’t be getting verses 7-11.  Think about that one today…..