Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not become discouraged, now, will God not bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night, and will He delay long for them? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?……” I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other one; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted……..” Those who led the way were sternly telling him to be quiet; but he kept crying out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”” Luke 18:1, 7-8, 14, 39 NASB2020. https://bible.com/bible/2692/luk.18.1-39.NASB2020

Prayer is our speaking to God imploring His favor into our lives. God wants us to pray. He tells us to address Him as Father, this is how our prayers are heard and most accepted though He hears all men and responds even to those who don’t recognize Him as their father and their God. But God delights in those who pray to Him faithfully and daily. What delights Him? First, those praying for justice in the world. God delights in the prayers of His people who see the world as He sees the world. The world is evil, it needs justice, it needs to repent, it needs the Holy Spirit transforming us into the image of Jesus so that we all live in love with one another. Second, God takes no delight in haughty prayers, the prayers of the person who sees himself addressing the problems and not part of the problem. We are all sinners, blind to the needs and cries of others, selfish and mean spirited to various degrees. We all need a Savior and when we see ourselves as desperate, dependent, and needy as a man blind needs sight, then our desperate cries, our humble prayers, will result in God’s attention toward us to do for us as we ask Him. This doesn’t mean God will do all we ask when we ask, He is all wise and all good and has a plan that is perfect, but we can know that He hears us, that He sees us, and that He will move toward us all that is possible for comforting us and assuring us that God is with us because we are with Him in humility and in our concern for the world that is His. We are to pray but we must pray about that which most concerns God in humility and desperation that only God is the solution believing that He hears and will answer working all things out for good among those who love Him.