Keep on Praying and Don't Give Up

Sometimes we look at all the problems of this world and we can feel ever so discouraged.  It seems like everything is just spiraling downward towards a deep dark abyss.  There is almost a sense of impending doom in the air.

I live in an area that is under the threat of a major snow storm and people have been coming to the grocery store where I work to buy supplies.  People panic when there is a big snow storm predicted.  Sometimes we panic when we feel unprepared and worried about things that are going on in our world around us.

Sometimes we have no idea what to do and we may even feel like giving up when the challenges and troubles we face seem so very overwhelming.  When troubles come we must not give into the temptation to give up.  Instead of giving up we should pray.

Prayer is often times seen by people as something to do as a last resort when all our other options have failed.  May that not be so for the believer in Jesus Christ.  We are to be a people of prayer.  Prayer is a vital part of the Christian's life.  We get to talk to God and we also get to listen to Him as well.  The Lord speaks to us through His Word, the Bible, He speaks to us through promptings of the Holy Spirit, and He also speaks to us through fellow believers in Jesus Christ.

Jesus was teaching His disciples one time and He was telling them that they should always pray and never give up.  He told them a parable of a Widow and a unjust judge which is found in Luke 18:1-8 which says,

"One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.

² “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. ³

 A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’

⁴ The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people,

⁵ 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!’”

⁶ Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. ⁷ Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?

⁸ I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man^[a] returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?”

The window was persistent with her wanting justice.  She kept at the unjust judge until finally he gave in to her request.  Jesus was teaching His followers to be persistent in prayers.

God is nothing like the unjust judge who needed to be bothered time and time again in order to him to grant justice.  God is the just judge and He wants to hear from His children.  We whom have trusted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior are God's children.  

The Lord wants to hear our request and we can be assured that He will listen and He will indeed answer all of our prayers.  Sometimes we only think of an answered prayer as getting what we want.  The Lord may answer our prayers with a yes and we do get what we asked for in prayer.  The Lord may answer no or not right now and those are also possible answers to our prayers.

We may not always get what we ask for in prayer in the way we want.  The Lord knows the full picture and the Lord's timing is always perfect.  The Lord will answer our prayers in His timing and in accordance to His will.

We must never give up in coming boldly to the throne of grace with all of our prayers and concerns.   We can go to the Lord in prayer at anytime and there is not limit to the number of times we can talk to Him.  We are never a bother to the Lord.  He wants us to call out Him and have faith that He will answer.

Let's lift up holy hands in prayer to the Lord and trust Him to answer our calls of pray to Him.  May we pray in faith and trust in Him to answer in His timing and according to His will.  God is good and He loves us.  We must keep praying and calling out to the Lord.  We must never give up.

Lord,

Life is hard and sometimes we feel like giving up.

Help us to be strong and courageous. 

Holy Spirit help us to pray in accordance to the will of God.

Lord Jesus we praise Your Holy Name.

Father God, than You for loving us so dearly and providing for all of our genuine needs.

Come Soon Lord Jesus.

Lord, I pray for those who don't know You.

In Jesus Name we pray,

Amen.