This phrase is taken from Luke 18:1 . It was spoken by our Lord Jesus Christ to His disciples (see Luke 17:22 ). Jesus had just told them of the great turmoil and suffering that would precede the coming of the Kingdom of God (see Luke 17:20 ). The injunction to pray was the immediate instruction by our Lord to His disciples as they faced impending trials and testings in the last days. If there wes any other way to stand the test of great trials and persecutions in a time of stupendous decay and rampant open sin and immorality of the last days, our LORD would have given it to us. But He calls us to always pray and not faint. This injunction is followed by the Parable of the Unjust Judge which explains the meaning of the injunction.
The Greek word for “faint” means “to fail in the heart” or “to give up” or “lose heart.” It has become natural in our easy-come-easy-go society to lose heart when we pray. We want instant answers from God! We have instant noodles to satisfy our hunger, instant coffee to lift our tired spirits, instant marriages and just as instant divorces to bond and break relationships, instant information and news of happenings that occur half way round the world, and of course instant success and instant rewards. The list of “instants” is endless. Why can’t we apply this to our prayer requests too, so the impatient believer reasons. When we do not “get” the instant fix to our unending problems we stop praying! Such a mentality was so common in the time of Christ that He gave the disciples the parable to teach them persevering prayer. How much more in our age of super quick fix should believers urgently need to persevere in prayer!
No Patience, No Passion -- One of the most common causes of failing prayer is impatience. We want things done our way and if they are not we stop asking! Even when we pray for the right thing such as the salvation of our loved ones, we give up because God’s timing does not concur with our desire for an immediate answer. We begin to doubt God and His love and care. We feel as if He has gone to sleep and left us to fend for ourselves. This kind of deistic approach to our prayer life is deadly and far too common, to our own detriment. Another common cause is lack of fervency in prayer. We do not have the sense of urgency in our prayers to God. We “say prayers” instead of praying. We are too detached and unfeeling in what or for whom we pray for. This is often due to a lack of love for God and His people and His perfect Word. The life of faith has been replaced by a life of worldliness. Spiritual matters do not matter anymore. There is no passion in our prayers to God.
Sadly, we go through our Christian lives battling the Devil and his spiritual forces equipped with the arm of the flesh. We lose every time. Our Christian walk is pathetic and has brought shame to our Lord. The saddest part is that we do not admit that we have failed our Lord in not persevering in our prayers. This has resulted in a humanistic way of Christian living, void of an ever conscious presence of Christ. We are much like the living dead where we are bound for heaven as Christians but live the Christian life without Christ! Could this ever be possible in the believer’s life where he has God as his heavenly Father but he does not seek Him and commune with Him? What a paradox and tragedy!
The parable of the unjust judge teaches us at least two amazing truths. The first is that the penitent woman really needed help from the judge. We are told that she was a widow. As a widow she had nowhere else to go and no one to help her appeal or to appeal to for help. Her situation was extremely desperate. She had an adversary who wanted her dead and had done some evil to her and so she demanded justice from the judge. This is seen by her refusal to give up appealing to the judge for intervention no matter how long it took or how reluctant the judge was in helping her. She knew that it was within her rights to appeal to the judge. She persisted and probably resolved within her heart that her persistence must be greater and stronger than the judge’s reluctance. The second truth is that of the character and conduct of the judge. He was an unjust judge. He knew his duty was to help all who came to him without prejudice but his character was one of self-service. He did not fear God or cared about what people thought of him. He looked after his own interests only! Yet when the widow persisted, he reasoned within himself that he might be worn out by her cry for help. Therefore he relented and said in Luke 18:5 , “Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.” The word “weary” literally means “to hit under the eye (buffet or disable an antagonist as a pugilist).” It is a strong word to describe the fierce nature of the widow’s persistence and determination! She simply never gave up. She would have banged the judge’s door down if necessary! Similarly, the widower Mordecai and the Israelites were desperate, for their lives were in jeopardy, and literally they prayed as if their lives depended on their prayers. Esther 4:1-4 , “When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry; And came even before the king's gate: for none might enter into the king's gate clothed with sackcloth. And in every province, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes. So Esther's maids and her chamberlains came and told it her. Then was the queen exceedingly grieved; and she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take away his sackcloth from him: but he received it not.”
Passion and Perseverance -- The lesson for us today is found in the words of Christ in Luke 18:6-7 , “And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?” If the unjust judge would reluctantly answer the cry of a widow in dire straits because of her persistence, why would the believer’s own gracious and merciful and loving heavenly Father not answer the cry of His own children! We are not talking about a citizen-judge relationship but a son-father relationship! The problem is not that the heavenly Father will not answer His children but that the children will not ask Him with fierce determination. God will vindicate His children and deliver His justice upon the wicked but we need to realize that it is not indifference on God’s part when He is long-suffering (“bear long” is in the present tense), wishing that none should perish but that more may come to believe in Him.
As believers we must never give up on God. God never gave up on us and He never will! Trust in Him no matter how tired and discouraged we might be with people. Never be despondent with our God. He cares and will always hear our prayers. Trials and tribulations will abound in the last days as we battle for the Bible! Every means will be used by the Evil One to thwart God’s children from doing God’s will and God’s work! Remain stedfast and unmoved by these attacks. Defending God’s Word and Christ’s Name and God’s people is a passionate endeavour. The moment we stop and allow ourselves to be moved we have lost and have fainted. The only way to keep ourselves from losing heart is to keep praying with persistence and fierce determination because we know that the eternal destiny of the souls of men, women and children are at stake. They need God’s people to pray always and not faint.
Will you preserve in your prayers as you see the day of the LORD fast approaching? Jesus warns in Luke 18:8 , “I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” Jesus has promised that He will avenge in His time.
The problem is not Christ’s faithfulness but ours! Let us always pray and not faint!
May God raise up men and women of faith in Calvary Pandan who will pray always and never faint!