When I was out yesterday running a few errands, I heard this great song playing on the Christian radio station (the song was released in 2021), and I’ve heard it before but this time I made a mental note of the title. You can listen to the song on the YouTube link at the bottom of this post (it’s titled “Gospel Song” by Rhett Walker).
Here are the opening lyrics to the song (from azlyrics.com):
I could listen to my heart
I could listen to the world
I could listen to my problems
But what I think I need to hear
Nice and loud and crystal clear
Is about the One who’s gonna solve them
Isn’t that the truth? Too often we listen to everyone and everything going on around us or inside of us (our own thinking, feelings, emotions) when we just really need to put our focus where it belong–on “the One who’s gonna solve them.” And that would be Jesus.
Another section in the song states:
Let me stop and testify
I was dead and brought to life
By the power of my Savior
But if I’m being real with you
Sometimes I forget it’s true
I could use a reminder
How often in any given day could we use a reminder? I can’t speak for you, but I know enough about myself to know that I need daily reminders. And the song ends with this reminder:
Ain’t nothing like a gospel song
Makes me want to sing it all day long
Something ’bout that amazing grace sound of praise
Makes my troubles not seem so strong
Let me hear a heart set free
Holy Bible to a melody
Turn it up and then play it again, play it again, play it
On and on and on
Ain’t nothing like a gospel song (x2)
Like a gospel song…
A month ago I came across a book at Walmart published in 2019 titled, “Everything You Need: 8 Essential Steps to a Life of Confidence in the Promises of God,” by Dr. David Jeremiah, founder of Turning Point Radio and Television Ministries and senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in San Diego, CA. In his opening paragraphs in the Prologue to the book, he writes:
People often ask me, “Pastor, what’s going on in the world today? What’s the biggest issue we face? I have many answers, and each contains the same overarching work–pressure.
Family pressure. Time pressure. Financial pressure. Unprecedented pressure to compete and succeed by society’s standards–at work, in school, in our communities, and maybe even in our churches. As Christians, we’re encountering pressures in our society we’ve never faced before. We’re living in unprecedented times, which brings unparalleled tension…. (Quote source and the rest of the prologue is available at this link. The quote source is also found on page IX in the hardcover copy of the book.)
“Everything You Need” was published in 2019 which was right before the Covid-19 pandemic rocked the entire world starting in March 2020, and it changed the way everyone lives with challenges that are still very much ongoing and not likely to disappear any time soon. It’s a storm unparalleled in it’s reach including worldwide supply chain disruptions and supply shortages taking place today, and adding in Russia’s war in the Ukraine that started in February 2022, we now have the highest rates of inflation since 1981. It brings to mind the story about Jesus calming the storm (one of his many miracles) reported in Matthew 8:23–27, Mark 4:35–41, and Luke 8:22–25. Here is the account from Luke 8:22-25:
One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.
The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!”
He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples.
In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”
Jesus has the power to calm us during the storms as we are going through them, and the power to stop the storm in it’s tracks if that is what he chooses to do. Either way, the “calming” comes from him and it is not something we can fabricate on our own. When he asked his disciples “Where is your faith?” after he rebuked the wind and the raging waters and the storm subsided, he asks us this very same question in the midst of the storms of life that assail us. We need to turn to him and commit the storm to him, whether it ends right away or whether we have to keep going through it. It is his calm that he extends to us when we turn to him for help. It is that “peace that passes all understanding” that he gives us that Paul describes in Philipians 4:6-7:
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Back to Dr. David Jeremiah’s book, “Everything You Need”–the scripture text that the book chapters cover are based on 2 Peter 3-11 which states:
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
If you read the prologue to Dr. Jeremiah’s book (available at this link), it will give you an idea of the topics you will find in each chapter of the book which covers each of the qualities listed above in 2 Peter 1:3-11. For the purposes of this blog post, the focus is on “perseverance,” which is covered in Chapter 6 titled, “Relentless Determination,” in Dr. Jeremiah’s book. He describes perseverance as “a never-give-up attitude, a commitment to move forward when everything is conspiring to hold you back. No matter what happens, you finish the job… [it’s] the ability to go through a severe time” (quote source is found on page 96 of the hardcover edition of “Everything You Need”). If you want to read more, you can order the book at this link and at other online bookstores.
Several of Jesus’ parables involve the topic of perseverance, and one of the best known parables on perseverance is found in Luke 18:1-8 titled, “The Parable of the Persistent Widow”:
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
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?”
GotQuestions.org explains the meaning of this parable:
The parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge (Luke 18:1–8) is part of a series of illustrative lessons Jesus Christ used to teach His disciples about prayer. Luke introduces this lesson as a parable meant to show the disciples “that they should always pray and never give up” (verse 1, NLT).
The parable of the widow and the judge is set in an unnamed town. Over that town presides an unjust judge who has no fear of God and no compassion for the people under his jurisdiction. In the Jewish community, a judge was expected to be impartial, to judge righteously, and to recognize that judgment ultimately belongs to God (Deuteronomy 1:16–17). Thus, the judge in this story is incompetent and unqualified for the job. Justice was not being served.
A needy widow repeatedly comes before the judge to plead her case. According to Jewish law, widows deserve special protection under the justice system (Deuteronomy 10:18; 24:17–21; James 1:27). But this unjust judge ignores her. Nevertheless, she refuses to give up.
Eventually, the judge says to himself, “I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!” (Luke 18:4–5, NLT). The widow gets the justice she was seeking. Then Jesus explains His point: if an uncaring, unfit, ungodly judge answers with justice in the end, how much more will a loving and holy Father give what is right to His children?
We do not always get immediate results when we pray. Our definition of swift justice is not the same as the Lord’s definition. The parable of the persistent widow demonstrates that effective prayer requires tenacity and faithfulness. A genuine disciple must learn that prayer never gives up and is based on absolute trust and faith in God. We can fully count on the Lord to answer when, where, and how He chooses. God expects us to keep on asking, seeking, knocking, and praying until the answers come (Matthew 7:7–8). Disciples of Jesus are people of persistent faith.
The parable of the persistent widow and unjust judge is similar to the parable of the persistent neighbor (Luke 11:5–10), another lesson in Jesus’ teachings on prayer. While both parables teach the importance of persistence in prayer, the story of the widow and the judge adds the message of continued faithfulness in prayer.
Jesus presents a final quiz on the matter at the end of the parable of the persistent widow and unjust judge. He asks, “But when the Son of Man returns, how many will He find on the earth who have faith?” (Luke 18:8, NLT). Just as Paul stresses in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, continual devotion to prayer should be a way of life. The Lord wants to know if He will find any faithful prayer warriors left on the earth when He returns. Will we be among God’s people still praying at Christ’s second coming, “Your Kingdom come, your will be done” (Matthew 6:10)?
Faithful, never-ceasing, persistent prayer is the permanent calling of every true disciple of Christ who is dedicated to living for the Kingdom of God. Like the persistent widow, we are needy, dependent sinners who trust in our gracious, loving, and merciful God alone to supply what we need. (Quote source here.)
Faithful, never-ceasing, persistent prayer…. Let it rise up from us daily in the middle of the storms in life. And as Rhett Walker’s song reminds us–I could listen to my heart, I could listen to the world, I could listen to my problems. But what I think I need to hear nice and loud and crystal clear…
Is about the One . . .
Who’s gonna . . .
Solve them . . . .
YouTube Video: “Gospel Song” by Rhett Walker:
Sara's Musings 
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