“And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.”
– Luke 18:1
Oh, what a verse. Memorize this verse and hide it away in your heart, how Jesus specifically taught a parable in Luke 18 with one purpose, encouraging his followers to always pray and never lose heart.
Luke 18:1 Teaches us to Trust in the Power of God
And I just emphasize those words because I need them in my own heart as I pray for a son who I’ve been praying for for years, along with my family and so many others who’ve joined us in praying for him, who’s overseas, and we’ve just been waiting to go pick him up and bring him into our home, and day after day after day, we plead and nothing has happened, and I need Luke 18:1 in this matter and so many others.
I think about things we have been praying for in our church family this week as we gathered every night, and I think about one testimony of a mom. Her daughter had prayed for years for her, and she’s 92 years old and she has come to faith in Jesus. She’s about to be baptized at 92. Don’t give up. Always pray and never lose heart, trusting, as we’ve talked about on different podcast episodes, trusting the power of God, the wisdom of God, and the love of God as we pray, but never losing heart.
Luke 18:1 Reminds us we need to Pray Boldly
And then specifically, I would just add the context here in Luke 18, when you get to the end of this parable, Jesus says, “Will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” So to pray for justice and not lose heart in a world of injustice, and to trust.
Oh, I love that phrase. “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” To pray and not lose heart in such a way that whenever Jesus comes back, if he were to come back today, or next week, or next year, or 10, 20 years from now, that he would find us trusting him, not with having lost heart, but with a full heart trusting in him. God, teach us to pray like this. Teach us to pray and not lose heart.
Praying for Godly Motivation
God, I pray for every single person right now who has things on their heart and their mind that they’ve been praying for for a long time, or even for a short time, but they’re tempted already not to lose heart. It just seems like it’s impossible, like it could never happen. And God, to the extent that it is possible under your sovereignty, we pray that you would help us not to lose heart. Help us to pray today with faith.
Find us today with faith on the earth, with trust in you, with glad submissive trust in you, in your power to do the unthinkable and the impossible, with trust in your wisdom that you will act in ways that are best ultimately for our good and for your glory, for the accomplishment of your good purposes, with trust, with faith in your love. Oh, God, in light of your love for us, in light of who you are as perfectly loving, we trust in you with all our hearts. We don’t lose heart when our eyes are on you.
So I’ll just pray this over every single person who’s prone to lose heart, including myself, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
