Never Give Up

By Richard

Winston Churchill is famous for the following words, “Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never--in nothing, great or small, large or petty--never give in!”

In Luke 18, Jesus tells the parable of the persistent widow to show us, His followers, that we should always pray and not give up. If you like, it is Jesus’ “never give in” speech to the disciples.

I don’t know about you, but I’m often “giving up” in prayer. If I don’t see a prayer answered within a reasonable time frame then it tends to fade away. Praying for my friends to find faith is one of those prayers that can come and go like the tides. I read recently that praying for people to become believers is one of those "never give up prayers" that Jesus calls His followers to be making.

Later, in Luke 18:18-30, Jesus tells us that it is hard for rich people to become His followers. God needs to do a miracle as great as squeezing a camel through the eye of a needle. But we need to trust Him because He can do the impossible. We live in one of the richest periods of the world’s history! I guess people haven’t given up on the faith, they have found it in materialism. We need some impossible miracles!

So I have started to pray for some impossible miracles, the kind that can squeeze a camel through the eye of a needle. I’ve been doing a lot of swimming and each length of the pool I try to pray for one or two people to become believers. Swimming, I imagine the waters of God baptising them. Since I swim 40-50 lengths, several times a week, I get to pray for quite a few people.

I’m praying for miracles! But I’m also trying to obey Jesus’ call to keep on praying, even if the miracles are a long time coming. So I plan to keep on swimming and keep on praying!

Never give up, keep on praying!