Praying Beyond Our Limitations – Sermon 3 (August 23, 2026)

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SLBC SERMON NOTES  ·  SERMON THREE

Help My Unbelief

Praying Beyond Our Limits

August 23, 2026

 

I Refuse To Give Up On My Prayer Because I Refuse To Give Up On God.

 

Luke 18:1  KJV And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

 

Shining Light Baptist Church has set aside the month of August to focus on prayer. The glass bowl remains on the pulpit as a reminder of the big prayers we have committed to pray together — needs that require God to do what we cannot do.

The first sermon established the confidence behind those prayers:

God’s power gives believers confidence to pray beyond human limitations.

 

Ephesians 3:20  KJV Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

 

The previous sermon showed us what to do when we face a need beyond our strength and do not know what to do:

When I don’t know what to do, I know exactly what to do!

 

Some of the prayers represented in this bowl are needs we have prayed about for a long time. When we pray without seeing the situation change, it can become difficult to keep praying with faith.

In Luke 18, Jesus gave His disciples a parable about continuing to pray when they were tempted to give up.

Luke 18:1  KJV And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

 

Luke gives the purpose of the parable before giving the story. Jesus wanted His followers to pray and “not to faint.” The word “faint” means to lose heart — to become discouraged to the point of giving up. Jesus knew His followers would face circumstances in which continuing to pray would become difficult. His instruction was to keep praying.

 

I Refuse To Give Up On My Prayer Because I Refuse To Give Up On God.

 

When I Feel Like Giving Up On My Prayer

 

Jesus placed His instruction inside a story about a widow who needed justice. She had an adversary, but she did not have the authority to settle the matter herself. The judge had that authority, so she kept taking her request to him.

Luke 18:2–5  KJV There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.

 

The judge refused her “for a while.” She did not know when he would act, but his refusal did not end her request. She kept coming because he was the one who could give the judgment she needed.

The judge did not finally help because he feared God or cared for the widow. He helped because her continual coming would not let him dismiss her. Jesus then turned from the unjust judge to the character of God.

Luke 18:6–8  KJV And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

 

God is not an unjust judge who must be worn down before He cares. He hears His own people, whom Jesus describes as crying to Him day and night. If the widow kept returning to an uncaring judge, believers have greater reason to keep praying to the just God who hears His people.

Jesus ends the parable by asking whether the Son of man will find faith when He comes. In this parable, faith keeps crying to God while it waits for Him to act. Giving up on prayer is not the only possible response to waiting. Faith keeps praying.

Earlier in Luke, Jesus taught the same persistence after His disciples asked Him to teach them to pray. He told them about a man who went to a friend at midnight because a guest had arrived and he had nothing to set before him. The friend first refused to get up, but the man continued asking.

Luke 11:8  KJV I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

 

His “importunity” was his shameless persistence. He kept bringing the need. Jesus followed the story with three commands that all teach us to continue coming to God.

Luke 11:9–10  KJV And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

 

Ask. Seek. Knock. Jesus did not teach us to abandon prayer because we have prayed before. He taught us to keep bringing our needs to God.

Jesus then moved from the reluctant friend to a father who knows how to give what his child needs. An earthly father does not answer a request for bread with a stone or a request for a fish with a serpent.

Luke 11:13  KJV If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

 

We keep praying because we are not coming to an indifferent judge or an unwilling stranger. We are coming to our heavenly Father. He is wise, He is good, and He knows what to give. Persistent prayer trusts Him enough to keep asking, seeking, and knocking.

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I Refuse To Give Up On My Prayer Because I Refuse To Give Up On God.

 

When My Faith Has Been Weakened

 

Luke 18 and Luke 11 teach us to continue praying. Mark 9 shows why that can be hard when a need has lasted for years and another attempt to find help has ended in disappointment.

Jesus had taken Peter, James, and John up a mountain, where they saw His glory in the transfiguration. When Jesus and the three disciples returned to the others, they found a crowd gathered around them and the scribes questioning them. A father had brought his son, who was tormented by an unclean spirit, but the disciples had not been able to cast it out.

Mark 9:17–18  KJV Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.

 

The father had come looking for help. The disciples had received authority from Jesus over unclean spirits, but this time they failed. That failure became one more disappointment in a painful history.

When the boy was brought to Jesus, the spirit threw him down. Jesus then asked the father how long this had been happening.

Mark 9:21–22  KJV And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.

 

The father had watched his son suffer since childhood. He had seen the spirit try to destroy him in fire and water. Now the disciples had failed to help. The years of suffering and the latest disappointment appear in the way he speaks to Jesus: “if thou canst do any thing.”

He came to Jesus, but he was struggling to believe what Jesus could do for his son. A need that continues for a long time can affect the way we pray. We may believe that God answers prayer while struggling to believe that anything will change in the need we have dealt with for years.

 

I Refuse To Give Up On My Prayer Because I Refuse To Give Up On God.

 

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When My Faith Needs Help

 

The father had asked, “If thou canst do any thing.” Jesus answered the doubt contained in that request by turning the “if” back toward the father.

Mark 9:23  KJV Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

 

The question was not whether Jesus had the power to help the boy. The father needed help believing. Jesus’ words do not make faith a power by which we control the outcome. Faith looks away from our inability and trusts the One to whom all things are possible.

The father did not argue with Jesus or pretend that his faith was stronger than it was. He admitted both the faith that brought him to Jesus and the unbelief that remained.

Mark 9:24  KJV And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

 

“Lord, I believe” explains why he was still standing before Jesus with his son. “Help thou mine unbelief” admits that years of suffering and the disciples’ failure had weakened his confidence. He did not allow struggling faith to stop his prayer. He made his struggling faith part of his prayer.

His prayer now contained two needs: help my son, and help my unbelief. When disappointment has weakened our faith, we do not have to pretend. We can bring the need to God and ask Him to help the faith with which we are praying.

Jesus then commanded the spirit to leave the boy and never enter him again. The spirit came out, and Jesus took the boy by the hand and lifted him up. After they entered the house, the disciples asked why they had failed.

Mark 9:28–29  KJV And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

 

The disciples’ failure did not prove that Jesus was unable. It exposed their need for dependence upon God. Jesus’ answer brings the event back to prayer. Human inability is not a reason to quit praying; it is a reason to depend upon God in prayer.

 

I Refuse To Give Up On My Prayer Because I Refuse To Give Up On God.

Why I Keep Bringing My Prayer To Jesus

 

The father in Mark 9 shows us how to pray when disappointment has weakened our faith. An earlier event in Mark’s Gospel shows that years of disappointment do not have to convince us to give up on Jesus.

In Mark 5, Jesus was on His way to the home of Jairus, whose daughter was dying. A crowd pressed around Him. Within that crowd was a woman who had suffered with bleeding for twelve years.

Mark 5:25–26  KJV And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,

 

She had lived with the condition for twelve years. She had sought help, suffered through many treatments, spent everything she had, and grown worse. Her past efforts had exhausted her resources without healing her.

When she heard about Jesus, that history did not keep her away. She came through the crowd with a settled confidence about what Jesus could do.

Mark 5:27–28  KJV When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.

 

Twelve years had changed her health and consumed her money, but twelve years had not changed Christ’s ability. She came to Jesus believing, “I shall be whole.”

When she touched His garment, the bleeding stopped. Jesus asked who had touched Him, and the woman came before Him and told Him the truth.

Mark 5:34  KJV And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.

 

The woman in Mark 5 and the father in Mark 9 had both suffered for years, but their faith was not in the same condition when they came. She said, “I shall be whole.” He said, “if thou canst do any thing.” Both came to Jesus.

The woman encourages us that years of disappointment do not have to keep us from coming with faith. The father shows us what to do when those years have discouraged our faith: “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”

Mark 5 is not a promise that every long illness will be healed in this life. Mark records what Jesus did for this woman and shows us that no length of time had diminished His power. We keep bringing our prayers to Him because the passing of time does not make Him less able.

 

I Refuse To Give Up On My Prayer Because I Refuse To Give Up On God.

Why I Keep Praying

 

Jesus began the parable in Luke 18 with the instruction that governs this sermon:

Luke 18:1  KJV And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

 

Some of the prayers represented in this bowl may concern needs that have lasted for years. Continued waiting may have weakened your confidence and affected your enthusiasm to pray, but Jesus has told us what to do: pray and do not give up.

Keep asking, seeking, and knocking because you are coming to your heavenly Father. When your faith struggles, bring that struggle to Him: “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” When human help fails, remember that the failure of people has not diminished the power of God.

We do not know when or how God will answer every prayer in this bowl. Persistent prayer does not demand that God follow our timetable or give the answer we have chosen. It keeps bringing the need to God because we trust His power, wisdom, and goodness.

If your faith is strong, keep praying. If your faith needs help, ask God to help your unbelief and keep praying.

 

I Refuse To Give Up On My Prayer Because I Refuse To Give Up On God.