Ought

“Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart.”  Luke 18:1

Ought – By now you should have guessed what we find in the Greek?  God’s divine requirement.  The little word dei. 

Jesus knew what it meant to carry out God’s necessary will for his life.

The jailer knew that he had to find God’s will for his life.

And now Jesus gives us a story.  The story of the unjust judge.  What is the purpose of this story?  Luke tells us.  The purpose of this story is to show us that prayer is part of God’s divine necessity.  It is not an option for believers.  It is not for the eloquent, the educated or the erudite.  It is an absolute necessity for everyone who wants to know God.  Prayer is written into God’s view of life.  It is the DNA code of relationship.

Consider the role of prayer in the life of Jesus.  Essential.  Continuous.  Effectual.  Instantaneous.  Uninhibited.  First.  Last.  The breathing of the Spirit.

Is that your life with God, hidden in prayer?  Jesus allows no exemptions.  “They must of divine necessity pray and not lose heart.”  It is God’s way.  It is the only way. 

If I told you that prayer held the sub-atomic structure of the universe together, would it suddenly become an essential?  If you knew that prayer was the basis of every achievement in God’s kingdom, that prayer brought with it the power of the Creator, that prayer alters every event – past, present and future – would it rise above the need to answer the phone? 

Dei says prayer is on God’s top priority list.  If you are going to live the life governed by His divine necessity, His priorities must (there it is again) become yours.