Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,

Luke 18:1 NKJV

Jesus in His earthly ministry showed us an example and a need to consistently pray. In this portion of the scriptures Jesus taught that men should learn to pray until we see result.

The challenge is that most us don’t persist in the place of prayer. We see prayer as an option. If you read our text to verse 8, the widow had no alternative, she considered no other option.

Notice the following; the object of her request was the judge, her request was clear, ‘avenge me’. She knew no other person could grant her request so she kept going to the only person that could grant her request and she never stopped presenting her request until she got an answer.

Many people would have given up, lost hope, thrown in the towel, accepted defeat or developed theological philosophies that have no scriptural basis – “It is not the will of God,” “It is not God’s timing,” or “when you pray God will say Yes, No or Wait.” Jesus never taught such things, on the contrary the scriptures says “All the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ Jesus” (2 Corinthians 1:20). Jesus taught “It is your Father’s good will to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). Jesus taught that “everyone that asks receives” (Matthew 7: 8). “Ask and you shall receive that your joy might be full” (John 16:24).

These are the things Jesus taught, not that God will say yes, no or wait. People came up with such philosophies as an escape route for their failures in prayer which is as a result of their inability to persist in the place of prayer. The problem is that people waver and then blame God. Abraham did not waver at the promise.

Jesus used this parable to teach the mindset, attitude and approach we should adopt towards prayer. Stay with it until you get results. Don’t quit until your request becomes a reality. God is a prayer answering God, not a prayer denying God (Psalm 65:2).

Daniel and Elijah are two bible characters that demonstrated this attitude. Elijah prayed for rain, first time no result, but he kept at it till he got the result on the seventh time. Daniel prayed on day one and God heard him but he didn’t see result on the day one, so he kept praying until he got result on the 21st day. It was neither the 7th or 21st day that is anything, what matters is that these men were willing to continue until they got results.

Jesus said we should develop such attitude. Pray until something happens. Never give up, don’t take no for an answer. Don’t give a reason for failure in prayer. If you’re not willing to yield, give up, throw in the towel, you can be sure the situation will yield.

Pray until something happens. PUSH.