Prayer Vouchers

Scripture: Luke 18.1-8; 2 Timothy 3.14-4.5; 1 Peter 4.7


Text messaging is the latest instant way to communicate with people. If email is not fast enough, and making a phone call is too much trouble; just send a text. Whom do you text and how often?

Some of you are thinking, “What is a text?” Others of you are thinking, “I have done it but its not really that important to me.” And then there are a few people here, perhaps mostly teenagers, who moments ago answered my question with, “Idk, my bff, jill, 24/7.”

If that’s you, you are really into texting. More on that in a bit.

I have a text message for all of us today. It’s found in Luke’s gospel. It’s a story that Jesus tells, a parable. When Jesus tells a parable his listeners know that this may be a made up story but it also very well could have happened. They don’t know. But they know that it’s real. It’s true.

“So, there was this crooked judge, who doesn’t believe in God and is cynical about life. . .”

Nothing far-fetched about that.

“And there is this widow who is in trouble, maybe her landlord is trying to kick her out, and she goes to the judge for help.”

Of course the judge doesn’t want to help her. What does he care about the widow? He doesn’t. And he tells her that. NO! Go away. It’s not my problem. But she won’t take no for an answer. She keeps coming back. And finally, to get rid her, the judge says, “Alright. Enough. I’ll help you. Just quit coming to me.”

Then Jesus brings it home. “If this crooked judge will answer a request, won’t God, who is good, hear the cries of his children? He won’t waste time. He will get right on it.”

I am sure his listeners got it right away. You could see the lights go on in their eyes. Aha! Yes, we get it! But Luke, I guess, wasn’t so sure about us, so he prefaced this story with these words, “He told them this parable which means we should pray and not give up.”

Luke wants to make sure we get the meaning of the story. He wants to make sure we know that God is real and God is present in this world, and is active in our lives.

And so prayer is not just wishful thinking, or some mental, psycho-social exercise. It’s not the way old women waste their time or little children get to sleep at night.
To pray is to engage the true force and power in this world on your behalf.

Look at the context of this parable. Jesus is teaching about the Kingdom. In the previous chapter it says,

“Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, he answered them, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with signs or in a particular location, look, the kingdom of God is among you and around you.”

The kingdom of God, meaning, every space and place where God is and rules, is everywhere in this world. Now, if this is true then God has some explaining to do. Or rather, God has some work to do. And He is doing it. And God invites us to participate in the work.

The Salvation Army contacted me the other day and asked if I would write vouchers for them in the Hollidaysburg/Duncansville area to help folks in need. The way it works is, they give me budget and I write the voucher to a local business on behalf of someone who needs help. I don’t have the money myself, but I have a piece of paper, the voucher, to give which the Salvation Army will translate into a reality, a good reality.

Likewise, when we pray, we’ve got nothing but air and words, at least at face value. But the One to whom we pray has the power to give reality to our prayers.

Think of it another way. I don’t know how text messaging works exactly. Yeah, I could give you some words, stuff like digital encoding that is transmitted over radio waves and picked up by another receiver and reencoded into information that someone else can read. But basically I’m just blowing smoke. I don’t really understand that. Heck, I don’t really understand how a phone call works and I’ve been doing it all my life. I feel like I’m in Willy Wonka’s television room. Transport a chocolate bar into the tv? Sure, why not.

Prayers are being sent up (or out) all the time. Probably every second a prayer is being sent by someone somewhere is this kingdom of earth. Do I understand how this all works, how God pays attention to all that and responds to it? No, I do not. But I find prayer at least as plausible as a phone call or a text message. And I find prayer eternally and infinitely more valuable than all our instant technology and communication. Because prayer changes our reality, destroying evil and bringing about God’s rule.

Also in chapter seventeen, Jesus talks about the Last Days and the coming Judgment. He makes the connection between the importance of praying continually with the reality we are living in and the times in which we live. We are in those last days, so the best response is to pray.

“The end of all things is at hand; therefore keep sane and sober for your prayers.” 1 Peter 4.7

Keep sane, or self-controlled, and pray. That’s what Peter has to say about it.
When we are facing these days we must respond by praying.

“Not fight. Not preach. Not counsel. Not organize. Not even evangelize. Just pray.”

If the world is going to come crashing down around us or erupt into a fiery ball, then we better learn how to pray now. When the sky falls, when mountains collapse, when nature’s red in tooth and claw – to pray well under such circumstances takes exceptional clearness of mind and enormous self-control.

So start now. When the worst that you have to deal with maybe is a flat tire or the flu bug or too many bills; learn to pray now. Learn that grace under pressure.

Why is Tom Brady the best quarterback in the NFL? It’s not that he has the best stats always. He has grace under pressure. In the biggest games, he plays well, like it’s any other game.

How can some people live more faithfully than others? They learn to pray every day under normal circumstances. They learn to focus and control themselves enough to pray in moments of calm. It serves them well in the days they need it most

Listen to what Mark Buchanon writes, “The habit of prayer will not magically arrive for you amid the flaming debris of the apocalypse. You’ll have to get it well in hand now, and work it into your daily rounds as patiently as petit point stitches. Then, when that day comes that you need it most, there it is.”


“The eyes of the Lord run back and forth across the whole earth, to show himself strong on behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.” 2 Chronicles 16.9

“Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Luke 18.8