"Men always ought to pray and not lose heart." (Luke 18:1)
Anybody need those words today? I sure did. I sure do...everyday, every hour. We've been praying for some needs for a number of very dear friends, and the last couple of days, well, I started to grow a bit fainthearted. A bit weary and wondering and discouraged.
And then I read those words in yesterday's "Daily Light," and the Holy Spirit gently but clearly convicted, encouraged, and exhorted my often weak and vacillating heart. "Pray always, Emily. Don't lose heart. Don't quit. Don't forget. Don't flag. Don't give in. Just pray always, keep praying...and Do. Not. Lose. Heart."
Why? Because of Who we're praying to! The Almighty, all-glorious, all-powerful, all-loving, all-gracious, all-wise Lord of heaven and earth. The One who never makes a mistake...not ever. The One who loves us extravagantly beyond all reason and explanation (and for proof of that, look at the cross!). The One who has infinite power and can do all things. And the One who knows all things and whose plans and ways are always good, pleasing and perfect.
That's the Awesome and Glorious One to Whom we pray.
What's causing you to lose heart today? Keep praying and keep praising by "looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted." (Heb.12:2-3)
That's how we keep from losing heart--we keep looking and gazing at Jesus. We keep our noses in His Word. We keep talking to Him in prayer. We keep meeting with His body--our fellow believers. We keep reading and meditating and memorizing His life-giving, supernatural words that will change us and shape us and mould us and give us the mind of Christ and the power that raised Him from the dead.
In short, we keep on keeping on in faithfully following and trusting and walking with Jesus. And we can keep on, we can persevere and not lose heart, because He never did. Not for a moment. And because our risen Savior's Spirit lives within us, then if He can, we can too. If He loves, we can too. If He prays, we can too. If He gives, we can too. If He perseveres no matter what, well, then we can too.
But just in case we didn't get the message (because if you're anything like me--slow learner, quick forgetter, stubborn as all get out--I need to hear it again and again), there was this: "Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving." (Col.4:2) Continue in prayer. Pray earnestly. And be vigilant to pray with thanksgiving. Even when we're waiting and waiting and waiting. Even when the answers aren't what we want and desperately desire. We're still to be vigilant to keep on praying and to pray with thanksgiving. Whew, that's not easy...but oh how I've seen and experienced the supernatural power of thanksgiving. Praise--especially praise in the dark, hard corners of life--has an atomic, attitude-changing, life-altering power like nothing else.
Oh Father, help us to continue to pray for our friends and family. Help us never to lose heart but to continue to vigilantly, consistently, perseveringly pray with thanksgiving and praise as we look to You, depend upon You, follow You, obey You, enjoy You, trust You, call upon You, and walk with You. We know You are "able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us" (Eph.3:20), so we ask that You do it, Lord!
Help us to "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer." (Rom.12:12) And we wait and watch in eager expectation to see the great things which You, Almighty Lord, will do.
To God be the glory.
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