Today I would like to share the grace of God under the title, “A Widow and a Judge.” As we live our lives in this world, we face various hardships. However, we should not be discouraged or fall in despair no matter what kind of hardships we face. If we go before God and ask for His help, He will hear His children’s prayers and answer them. Jesus told a parable that “we should always pray and not give up.” There are two people in Jesus’ parable: an unjust judge and a helpless widow. At that time a widow was an absolute disadvantaged. In the first century, there was no chance for a woman to do in the society. If her husband had died, she would not have anything to live on and many times she would have social discrimination. Thus the Bible emphasizes that we must take care of orphans and widows. A widow in today’s Scripture also suffered an unfair thing. She had no one to help her. How depressed if there is no one to turn to when we face an unfair event! So she went to a judge to gain justice. The judge had responsibility to help the wrongfully accused and resentful and to bring order to society. However, it was the unjust judge that the poor widow visited. God commands that we should love Him and our neighbors, but he was the worst judge who didn’t fear God or cared about men. There was no possibility that the unjust judge would help this helpless and poor widow. He had no interest toward her plea. However, the widow persistently visited the judge every day! Day and night she so bothered him by frequent visits that the judge couldn’t endure it any more. One day the judge finally he said to himself, “I should care about her problem quickly. Otherwise she will eventually wear me out with her coming.” So he decided to grant the widow justice not because he took a pity on her but because she kept bothering him so much. What Jesus wants to teach us through this parable is “ Pray always and do not give up.” Whatever problem we may face, we must commit all our problems to God and not be discouraged. 2 Corinthians 4:8 says, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair.” In 1 Samuel, there was a woman named Hanna. She was barren so she was greatly despised by Peninnah who was her husband’s another wife. Then Hanna did not struggle against Peninnah but prayed to God only. If she had fought against Peninnah, there would be no difference at all. Hanna definitely knew well who would solve her problem. Therefore, she earnestly prayed to God and gave birth to Samuel, a great prophet, as an answer to her prayer from God. It is natural that God answers to our prayer. David also prayed to God only without fighting against King Saul. He suffered much from Saul’s many attempts to kill him. Even though David had many opportunities to kill Saul, but he didn’t do that. Rather David prayed to God whenever he faced depressed situations and crises. As a result, God lifted him up and David confessed his impression as follows, “David sang to the LORD the words of this song when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said: ‘The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior-- from violent men you save me.’”(2 Samuel 1-3) David was impressed with God’s mighty salvation. We must pray with a clear goal to receive an answer from God. In order not to be discouraged, we’d better a clear goal in our prayer. The widow who kept coming to the unjust judge had a definite goal saying, “Grant me justice against my adversary.” Philippians 2:13 says, “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” When we cherish God-given dream and desire in our hearts, we can pray to the end without being discouraged. We must look to that dream and desire and pray eagerly. We all know well about the fable of the tortoise and the hare. The tortoise kept going slowly but steadily, focusing on the flag at the mountain top while the Hare lay down beside the course to take a nap and fell asleep. Even if you may run hard, but quit in the middle of the race, you can’t achieve anything. We must focus on our goal and pray to the end steadily. In our prayer with a clear goal we must pray to the end. And people are apt to give up if their prayer is not answered soon. You know what? There is Moso bamboo. It hasn’t grown at all 5 years after being planted. However, after five years passed, it begins to grow about 30 cm a day and finally reaches to 16 meter within 6 weeks. It is the same with our prayer. We shouldn’t give up even if nothing changes after one or two days of prayer. If we pray to the end, God will make it come to pass. God’s works are always invisible. In wintertime, all the trees seem to be dead and there is nothing alive in the field. However, something still works even if our physical eyes can’t catch anything alive or visible. Even in invisible branches and soil life still grows. Then when springtime comes, green shoots will bud and life shows up. It is the same with our prayer. Even if nothing changes immediately, there is something going on. Even if nothing is visible, God listens to our prayer and works invisibly. Therefore, we should pray earnestly. Matthew 7:7-8 says, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:11 says, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” We should earnestly cry out and it means that we must pray desperately. When we Koreans gather together to pray, we usually cry out saying, “Lord! Lord! Lord!” three times. At first, the westerners thought it weird and judged us. Nowadays when I cry out “Lord!” three times in my prayer, they ask me, “Why are you crying out so loud?” I answer them, “When we pray loudly, the gate of heaven will be opened!” In my 60 years’ ministry I didn’t cry out “Lord” three times in my prayer. I imitated it and learned it from Dr. Younghoon Lee. Now only after crying out “Lord!” three times then I feel better to pray. When we are comfortable and relaxed, it is very hard for us to pray earnestly. Nevertheless, in crisis we automatically begin to pray desperately. Look at Esther. When her entire nation was on the verge of annihilation, she fasted for three days and risked her life and stood in front of King. God says, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”(Jeremiah 33:3) If we keep praying without being discouraged no matter what kind of problem we face, God will work a mighty miracle for us. The strongest enemy in our prayer is discouragement. If we are discouraged, we are already defeated even before the war. The Israelites were totally discouraged when they heard the negative report of 10 spies. Numbers 32:9 says, “After they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and viewed the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land the LORD had given them.” The Israelites could not enter the promised land due to their discouragement. If we are discouraged, we are already defeated. Likewise a boxer goes up on the ring but gives up even before fighting the first round. Then our enemy is not people around us but evil spirits. Today’s parable shows “justice against enemy.” Our enemy is Satan who robs us of life and kills us. Therefore, when we pray, we shouldn’t give up or step back. As long as our enemy is Satan, we must not step back. God willingly listens to our prayer. Luke 18:6-8 says, “And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" Our God is quite different from the unjust judge. Deuteronomy 10:17-18 says, “For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.” God is a righteous and good God who loves orphans and widows and the alien and provides everything they need. Therefore, we must have faith that God hears us when we pray. Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” What we must do when we face small and big problems in life is to believe in God and earnestly pray. God is the only one who can solve problems in life. Because our good Father God is always with us, we do not need to be afraid or be discouraged no matter what kind of difficulties we face. If we go before God and ask for things with faith, God will work big and amazing things. We must pray with our whole hearts and spirits. I have prayed for many things and when will God’s answer to our prayer come? When we feel peace of mind and our hearts are burning, we can realize that God enters into our souls and spirits. Psalm 81:10 says, “Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.” We can feel the presence of God as peace of mind in our hearts. We become peaceful and joyful. Then God really enters into our hearts. When we do not know what to pray, we’d better pray in speaking in tongues for an hour or two hours. When we pray in speaking in tongues, something good is going to happen through our prayer. When I ministered at the Seodaemun Church, one of my cell group leader ran to me with a pale face and asked me to pray for her. I asked her, “What kind of prayer do you need?” She said, “My husband is a driver of the country bus. As he didn’t come home, I tried to know what happened to him and found out that his bus was dangling on the cliff now! If it moves a little, it will fall with many people in it to the bottom of the cliff. Now it dangles on the cliff. Please save him!” At this I felt absurd to pray, “Oh, God, please save this dangling bus!” It was very hard to pray in that situation. However, I asked God, “Oh, God! I will pray in speaking in tongues for this desperate situation. Please listen to my prayer.” And I prayed hard in speaking in tongues with her. One hour and two hours passed while we prayed loudly in speaking in tongues. Then our hearts became lightened and peaceful. Right away we received a phone call! They said that they had never seen this kind of miracle in their region. Two front tires of the bus were dangling on the cliff so it didn’t fall to the bottom of the cliff. They all survived! God changed the direction of our prayer for them to make it. Whether we are joyful and good or painful and suffering or fearful and harassed, we’d better pray in speaking in tongues. Pray much to God. It will be helpful! When big waves are churning at sea, we can overcome through prayer!