1 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,
There are so many set backs and trials in life. Little children play and dream of the future. Very few find life like the fairly tales. Real life drama often tests a person in ways they never imagined when they were younger. Things like cancer, divorce, unemployment, chronic health deterioration, relational troubles and death.
The pain of life can hit so forcefully the temptation is to throw in the towel and not the answer the bell for the next round. Giving up is easier than fighting.
For the Christian there is prayer. Calling out to God for help. Beseeching Him for wisdom, strength and miraculous intervention. Only some times those prayers do not get answered. At least not in the way we wanted. We pray some more. Sometimes the burdens are so heavy and the pain so unrelenting we don't even know how to pray. Maybe those prayers are just tears and groaning. No words can be managed.
Even then it is possible for situations to take turns for the worse. It is possible to lose faith and lose heart. Everybody reading this could testify about unanswered prayers. Some of those prayers may have been lifted for a short season before you gave up. Some have prayed for years. You are desperate. You have nowhere else to turn. God is your only hope. No help came.
When those repeated prayers get denied over and over again it can wear on you psychologically. Doubts creep in. You start to wonder what difference all the praying makes. You can even rationalize that God is going to do what He is going to do and your prayers make little difference. In essence you lose heart.
It's a terrible thing when a person loses heart. When they give up. When courage collapses and faith is fumbled. You can see it often in the countenance of people. They look worn down. Wearied. Filled with anxiety. Heavy laden with sorrow. They view life through sad eyes. That sadness tints and distorts everything. You can hear it their voice. They lost heart. They have abandoned all hope. They are imprisoned in a dungeon of depression.
When people lose heart one of the possible outcomes is to also lose heart in God. Thoughts are entertained such as, "God, why don't you help? Why have You let me down? What am I doing wrong that You will not come to my aid? Do You even care?" Thoughts planted by the enemy to get us to lose all hope.
The temptation to quit praying all together abounds. If a person loses heart they will also most likely lose faith and lose hope. Jesus knew this temptation. That is why He spoke the parable in Luke 18. While I will not address the actual parable all we need to know is found in Luke 18:1.
We ought to always pray. If you have already lost heart that is one of the last things you want to hear. You may think you already tried God and prayer and they didn't work. For all the petitions you offered you can't identify any answers to those prayers. Hundreds and possibly thousands of hours of prayer and if you don't see any results, losing heart seems a logical outcome.
Why would Jesus want us to always pray and not lose heart? You may have prayed for a loved one to be healed but, they died. You may have soaked the carpet with your tears to preserve a marriage but, the divorce still happened. You may have supplicated hours on end for financial relief but, it never came. You could have prayed for success but, you failed instead. You may have prayed, sought, and knocked but the doors still remained close. Why would Jesus want you to keep praying when your praying produced no results. There is a point where the thing you prayed would not happen happens anyway and it is too late.
While our prayers may not bring the loved one back there is still life to live for those left behind. There are still things to believe God for. There are other battles to fight and win. Even in grief. There are still souls to be won, the kingdom of God to expand, ministry to be done to others grieving and God to know and to make known.
I am thinking of two widows. Both lost their husbands way too early. Both attended the same church. One lived in grief. Visiting in her home one day she wept and wept. She confessed she just could not get over his death. She loved her husband very deeply and they were very close. Grief gripped her like a vice. She could not move forward. She even dreamed about him at nights. She lived in sadness. She also became bitter. Negative. Sour.
There was another widow. She actually lost her husband much earlier than the first widow I mentioned above. She led an active life. She served faithfully at her church. She taught Sunday school. She led several other vital ministries not only in the church but in the community as well. She laughed. She had joy. I am convinced she lived with just as much grief as the first widow. She loved her husband just as much. She lived with the same sense of loss.
What made the difference? One lost heart and one didn't. One kept her eyes on the life in front of her. She continued to pray and trust God. The other could only look at life in the past. She could not move forward. One kept praying and seeking to build the kingdom of God. One eventually left that church and community and went back to where she came from with lost hope.
Keep praying. Pray through disappointments. Pray through adversity. Pray through grief. Pray through doubts. Pray through a broken heart. Pray through quitting. Pray through disappointment. Pray until victory. Pray until God calls you home. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, EVER GIVE UP ON GOD. DON'T LOSE HEART. KEEP TRUSTING HIM. KEEP BELIEVING HIM. And whatever else you do, keep on praying.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NKJV)
17 pray without ceasing,
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