Pray Always!

Written By Adam Markley
Markley Bible Teaching Blog Photo_Pray Always.png

Be sure to spend time in extended prayer this National Day of Prayer. Jesus frequently taught and modeled the importance of prayer to His disciples. It was an essential part of His life and ministry on earth. Prayer should be essential in our lives as followers of Christ as well.

In Luke 18:1, Jesus told his disciples a parable about a widow who kept persisting that she receive justice. She continued to plead her case with the judge. Even though the judge first refused her demand for justice, he eventually decided to give her justice because of her persistence. Jesus told this parable so that all believers would be encouraged to continue in prayer.

In fact, Luke recorded the parable and gave a preface. He stated the reason for the parable. He said that Jesus “told them [the disciples] a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.”

If you look up the word “always” in the original languages, you’ll find the true meaning of what Jesus meant when he made this statement. The word “always” in Greek means…(drumroll please)…”always.” Yes, “always” really does mean “always.” This means that we should be praying continually. We should be persisting in prayer. We should be coming to the Lord in heartfelt prayer on a continual basis.

God does not want us to lose heart. He does not want us to get discouraged. It’s very easy to get discouraged when you’ve been praying passionately about a request for a long time and don’t seem to see any answer to that prayer. God knows that discouragement may often come when you’re praying your heart out. That’s why Jesus told this parable. And that’s why He told many other parables about the necessity of continuing in prayer. God will always hear and answer the prayers of His people that are submitted to His will. The answers may not always come in the timing that we like. The answers may not always be the answers that we like. But we can be confident that requests for righteousness will always be heard and answered by our Heavenly Father.

George Muller, a missionary that God used mightily, was quoted as saying the following about prayer. He said, " “The great fail of the children of God is that they do not continue in prayer; they do not go on praying; they do not persevere. If they desire anything for God’s glory, they should pray until they get it.”

So, we must pray always. We must not lose heart. We must not get so discouraged that we stop praying for our requests. We must keep praying and keep petitioning God.

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