You may be going through a time when every attempt to resolve a problem is met with a new level of difficulty. You are praying, fasting, believing God for breakthrough. You are hoping and expecting your miracle. But nothing seems to be happening, not even a cloud as big as a man’s hand when you are expecting abundance of rain!

You are thanking the Lord for one thing that is taken care of only to realise that something else has gone wrong! What do you do?

Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.

We read the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18:1-8 and often focus on the persistence and miss the opening words of the story, “pray and not lose heart.”

Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’”

Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”

Prayer is not a means of coercing God to do what we want. It is a process of recognizing His power and plan for our lives. In prayer we yield our lives and circumstances to the Lord and trust Him to act in His time and in His way.

As we rely on God’s grace not only for the outcome of our requests but for the process as well, we can keep coming to the Lord in prayer, trusting His wisdom and care for us.
Our Lord’s encouragement to us is clear: Always pray and don’t give up!

Let us pray, “Lord, in the difficulty I face today, I choose to rejoice in You and thank You that you are with me and sustaining me. I pray that You guard my heart, guide my words, and show Your grace. May Your will be done in my life according to Your plan and purpose for my life, in Your time. Amen”