ALWAYS PRAY
05th Jul 2017
Luke 18:1 says, “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” He then told the story of the widow whose persistence got past the miserable judge and achieved a result. The message that is being communicated is that God is not miserable or unwilling, but that He looks for those who will pray and not give up. The final punch line is in verse 8, “I tell you he will see they get justice and quickly.”
It does not quite end there, but the verse finishes with, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” There are two key principles here, first is to “always pray and not give up.” the second to consistently live a life of “faith” where we constantly look to God who is able to answer our prayers.
We personally are surrounded by many prayer battles, both in our family and among friends. It is a challenge to always be praying and not to get weary when things don’t change immediately. Jesus told the parable because He knew how easily we can get get tired, discouraged and give up.
He also spoke about faith, because when things don’t work out the way we are expecting, we can be tempted to get angry and start blaming God for what is happening, and to turn our eyes away from Him. It says of the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11:13 “And these people were still living by faith when they died.”
I want to encourage all those of you who are in the middle of prayer battles. It is not easy and we can all be on the brink of giving up. It does not need to become a burden or a chore, but as these people are on our hearts we can lift them to God, even as we are involved in the tasks of day to day living.
Always pray and don’t give up - and never leave your ground of faith.
by Charles Sibthorpe
