A Powerful Prayer
By Rev. Heidi L. Barham | October 19, 2025
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Read Luke 18:1 – 8 (NIV)
Today’s New Testament lesson comes from the Gospel of Luke and depending on which version of the Bible you are using, it may come under the heading, “The Parable of the Persistent Widow.”
Now, this reading from Luke’s Gospel is one of the recommended passages in the Lectionary for this week. And as I generally do, I went back through my notes to see when, and if, I had used this passage previously as the sermon text.
As it turns out, this was the passage I preached from in 2019 in a sermon entitled, “Persistent in Prayer” and also back in 2016 in a sermon entitled “Prayer Changes Things.” I also noted that over the past eleven years, I have preached at least 13 sermons that have the word “pray” or “prayer” in the title.
Let me suggest that being persistent in prayer is important because the fact of the matter is that prayer changes things... and it is with that thought in mind this morning that I want to invite our attention to the subject A POWERFUL PRAYER.
As most of you know, for the past eleven years we have been sharing the Joys and Concerns that are lifted up during service via our weekly “Thankful Tuesday” email blast. This allows all of us to pray with and for one another... regarding the things that are weighing on our hearts and minds... and it also allows us to celebrate the precious moments in our lives... like birthdays and anniversaries as well as the praise reports that remind us just how effective A POWERFUL PRAYER can be.
Now, the Ohio Council of Churches has asked congregations and other faith communities around the state to recognize today as Anti-Racism Sunday. As some of you may know, my husband’s cousin, Rev. Dr. Jack Sullivan, Jr. has been serving as the Executive Director of the Ohio Council of Churches for the past six years; however, he will be retiring at the end of this year.
In a recent press release about Anti-Racism Sunday, Dr. Sullivan stated:
In an era where hard-fought racial justice and diversity firewalls have been attacked and voided, and as faith is being weaponized to give the scandalous appearance of divine endorsement of racialized hate, Anti-Racism Sunday is an opportunity for Christians and their neighbors of different faiths to clearly and publicly set the record straight: God does not support racism, and neither do we!Let me just say... my hope and my prayer is that as a congregation and as neighbors and friends... we can all agree that we do not and will not support racism... and that we will use our collective voices to continually offer A POWERFUL PRAYER for a future without racism.
As I was thinking about what a future without racism would look like, I came across a story that was included in the book I mentioned a couple of weeks ago entitled, “Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations.”
The author, New York Time columnist, Thomas L. Friedman, recounted this story that his rabbi told in a sermon at the Jewish New Year. The story goes something like this...
A rabbi once asked his students, “How do we know when the night has ended, and the day has begun?” The students thought they grasped the importance of this question. There are prayers and rites and rituals that can only be done at nighttime. And there are prayers and rites and rituals that belong only to the day. So, it is important to know how we can tell when night has ended, and the day has begun.Whether it is in our private moments or in corporate settings... may we always be willing to offer A POWERFUL PRAYER for the night to end and the day to begin when we will finally see each other simply as brothers and sisters... without dividing, separating, and splitting one another into groups based on artificial distinctions... and may we make it our mission to bless as we have been blessed and to love as we have been loved... That would indeed be A POWERFUL PRAYER... May it be so.
So, the first and brightest of the students offered an answer, “Rabbi, when I look out at the fields and I can distinguish between my field and the field of my neighbor, that’s when the night has ended, and the day has begun.”
A second student offered his answer, “Rabbi, when I look from the fields and I see a house and I can tell that it’s my house and not the house of my neighbor, that’s when the night has ended, and the day has begun.”
A third student offered another answer, “Rabbi, when I see an animal in the distance and I can tell what kind of an animal it is... whether a cow or a horse or a sheep, that’s when the night has ended, and the day has begun.”
Then a fourth student offered yet another answer, “Rabbi, when I see a flower and I can make out the colors of the flower... whether they are red or yellow or blue, that’s when the night has ended, and day has begun.”
Each answer brought a sadder, more severe frown to the Rabbi’s face... until finally he shouted, “No, none of you understands. You only divide. You divide your house from the house of your neighbor... your field from your neighbor’s field... you distinguish one kind of animal from another... you separate one color from all the others. Is that all we can do? Dividing, separating, splitting the world into pieces? Isn’t the world broken enough? Isn’t the world split into enough fragments? Is that Torah is for? No, my dear students, it’s not that way... not that way at all.”
The shocked students looked into the sad face of their Rabbi. “Then, Rabbi tell us. How do when night has ended, and day has begun?”
The Rabbi stared back into the faces of his students and with a voice suddenly gentle and imploring, he responded, “When you look into the face of the person who is beside you and you can see that person is your brother or your sister... then finally the night has ended, and the day has begun.” (T. L. Friedman, 2016)
And so, with that as our backdrop... I want to call our attention back to our New Testament lesson for the morning... it is there that we find Jesus talking to His disciples about why they should always pray and never give up.
Jesus uses the illustration of a widow who brought her case to a judge... time after time... seeking justice against an adversary. The text does not tell us what the disagreement was between the widow and the other party... but the widow was clearly standing firm in her conviction that she had been wronged and she demanded justice. So, she continued to bring the matter before the judge... again and again and again... until she finally wore him down.
Perhaps we should pause here for a moment and take note that in this text... Jesus describes this judge as being unjust... not exactly the type of judge that any of us would want to find ourselves standing before, I’m sure... particularly since the text says that the judge admitted that he neither feared God nor cared about what other people thought.
And yet, this unjust judge understood that this widow was serious... and clearly, she was not about to back down. He also understood that if he wasn’t careful... this woman might eventually set her sights on getting even with him as well.
Simply put... for this judge, it was self-preservation... not justice... that was the motivating factor behind him granting the woman what she requested.
Now, this example that Jesus used offers a stark contrast to how just and merciful our God is in comparison to that unjust judge. God is certainly not motivated by self-preservation... after all, it’s not like anyone could ever do anything to try to get even with God, right?
But God’s motivation for granting justice and mercy to His children is simple... He loves and cares for us... and He also cares about the things that are important to us. That is why we read in 1 Peter 5:7, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” Words that echo what we find in Psalm 55:22, “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.”
And in the text, we find Jesus encouraging the disciples and, by extension us, to be persistent and intentional... continually offering up A POWERFUL PRAYER... and never giving up... because unlike that unjust judge... Jesus wants us to understand how much our God truly does care for us.
God’s loving care is something that is evident throughout the scriptures. One of my favorites Psalms is Psalm 121, which reminds us that our help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth... and that the Lord watches over us day and night... watching over our coming and going... both from this time forward and forever more.... why? Because God loves and cares for us.
But God not only watches out for us individually... He watches over us collectively as a family... as the body of believers. And so, we should make it a priority to lift up A POWERFUL PRAYER on behalf of others as well as for ourselves.
That is why over in the book of James, in chapter 5 (16), we read, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
And we have definitely seen just how powerful and effective the prayers of the church have been, time and time again... all we have to do is take a quick glance around this sanctuary to see evidence of that fact.
And that ought to give us encouragement to keep praying with and for one another. Because when we think about all that God has done for us in the past... it gives us a blessed assurance about what God can and will do for us now and in the future.
Now, as we pray for ourselves and for one another, we must also make it a point to lift A POWERFUL PRAYER for our communities, our country and this world as a whole... and let me just say this... if we ever needed prayer before, we sure do need it now!
If we take a quick look back at the Old Testament, in 2 Chronicles 7:14-15, we read these words that may be somewhat familiar to us:
...if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.Beyond a shadow of a doubt... this land is truly in need of a healing.
Each time we look at the headlines in the newspapers or on the Internet or turn on our radios and TVs... we can find ample confirmation that this land is in need of a healing.
And this passage from 2 Chronicles gives us the standard operating procedure we can follow to help bring about that healing...
First, as a people, we need to humble ourselves. Simply put, we need to stop thinking that we can do anything in and of ourselves. We need to acknowledge that we can do nothing without God.
It is important to note, that humbling ourselves, also means confessing that we have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. And as hard as it may be to admit... we miss the mark far more often than we realize.
That is partially because we live in a world that makes a habit of minimizing sin while rationalizing, and even glorifying, wrong behavior. Just look at the story lines of any TV show or movie and you will see people saying and doing things that would never have been acceptable twenty or thirty years ago.
How many of you remember the comedy routine that George Carlin did back in the 1970s about the seven dirty words that could not be said on prime-time television? Believe it or not, many of those same seven words can be heard at any given time on any given day on any given channel... and most people won’t even blink an eye.
And don’t get me started talking about what happens on what they call “reality TV.” Suffice it to say, those shows represent a reality that I hope we never find ourselves living in.
Now, not only are we called to humble ourselves... acknowledging our need for God... this passage from 2 Chronicles calls for us to pray and seek God’s face. And that should not just be when we need or want God to do something for us. No, we need to consistently offer up A POWERFUL PRAYER and intentionally seek God’s face.
Because the truth of the matter is that prayer is really just a means of communication between us and God. It is meant to be a dialogue, a two-way conversation... meaning we talk to God... but more importantly, we should be listening to hear from God.
That’s why we have two ears and only one mouth, so we can listen more than we talk... and listening for God is something we should do on a regular basis. As 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (KJV) says, we ought to, “pray without ceasing.”
And when we do our part... when we humble ourselves, confess our sins, pray and seek God’s face... 2 Chronicles offers us assurance that God will hear our prayers... and He will forgive our sins... and He will heal our land... but just like that widow... we must be persistent in lifting A POWERFUL PRAYER and we must never give up.
But let me say this... not only should we pray for ourselves, our brothers and sisters in Christ, our communities, our country and our world... we also need to pray for our leaders... especially because they are the people who are in positions of power to make decisions that have the ability to impact our lives.
And it does not matter if they are our chosen candidate or not... we still need to pray for them... pray for them to do the right thing... for the right reason... in the best interest of all the people... so that we can all have a better future.
The Apostle Paul wrote to his young protégé, Timothy, and said, “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness” (1 Timothy 2:1 – 2)
It does not mean that we agree with those leaders. It does not mean that we like what they are doing... but we still have to pray... even for those who we may see as our enemies.
In Matthew 5 (44-45), we find these words of Jesus:
You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.We need to pray that our elected officials will learn to work together for the betterment of this world and for all humankind... setting aside personal and political agendas to show kindness and compassion instead of contempt and disrespect.
And most importantly... we need to pray that if they do not truly know the Lord, that they will come to know Him and accept Him as their Savior. And that is A POWERFUL PRAYER that we ought to be lifting for everyone.
That regardless of political affiliation, age, race, gender, socio-economic status or anything else that people use to separate and segregate... we should be praying for everyone to know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
Because at the end of the day, when Jesus comes back, He will be looking for people of faith... people who remained intentional and persistent in prayer... like that widow in the parable... people who have not given up or grown weary while waiting to see God’s grace and mercy at work... people who know that no matter what things may look like now, there are better days ahead...
People who know how much better it is to lift A POWERFUL PRAYER and call on the name of the Lord than it is to phone a friend or to call on Alexa, Siri, Gemini or any of those other AI gadgets that people have come to rely on.
We have been given the perfect model to follow... for even Jesus, Himself, took time away to pray... going into that Garden at Gethsemane... praying A POWERFUL PRAYER that God’s will be done...
In spite of what it meant for Him and all that it would cost Him... Jesus prayed that POWERFUL PRAYER so that we would have the gift of eternal life with Him... and Jesus knew that God was listening and would answer His prayer.
It was the Psalmist David who wrote, “In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly” (Psalm 5:3).
Now, I don’t know about you... but knowing that God is always ready, willing, and able to hear and answer our prayers... that gives me hope. Even in the midst of chaos and uncertainty... we can hold onto hope as long as we hold onto Jesus.
So, let’s make it a point to spend time with the Lord... lifting our own POWERFUL PRAYERS to God... because no matter what time of day it may be or where we are... we can trust that God will hear and answer our prayers... in ways that will never cease to amaze us.
And with that thought in mind, I want to invite us to stand and join in singing our Hymn of Discipleship: In the Garden #227.
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