Jesus taught us we should always pray and not lose heart (Luke 18:1).

I have a friend, Yvonne, who recently told me how her father became a Christian. While Yvonne was growing up, she knew there were periods of time when her dad was under profound conviction, but he adamantly resisted the Gospel. Once, for example, when evangelist B. Jackson was conducting a revival in a nearby church, he visited Yvonne’s dad and witnessed to him. Her father reacted with hostility, but for two weeks afterward he was sullen and disturbed. ++ “Yet he never yielded his life to Christ,” said Yvonne, “and that just broke our hearts. But we continued praying.”

Some years later, Yvonne’s mother became ill and lapsed into a coma. She was so bad off that, to everyone’s surprise, her husband actually said a prayer, something like this: “Lord, I just can’t bear to lose Ruth right now. If you’ll spare her life, I’ll give you my heart.” Ruth did recover. And Yvonne recalls, “On the first Sunday my mother was able to return to church, my dad went with her and stepped out and gave his heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ.”

How long had Yvonne and others been praying for him? ++ Twenty-five years. “As soon as I accepted the Lord as a child,” she said, “I started praying for him. And we prayed twenty-five years.”

The famous 19th century philanthropist and evangelist, George Müller, was a prayer warrior who began praying earnestly for a group of five personal friends who were antagonistic toward the gospel. After five years, one of the men came to Christ.

Muller continued praying for the other four, and in ten years, two more were saved. He prayed on for twenty-five years, and the fourth man was converted. For the rest of his life, Muller continued praying for the remaining man, but when he died in 1898, the man was still unsaved. He had prayed for him for fifty-two years.

A few months after Muller’s death, the fifth man also found Jesus Christ as his Savior. D. L. Moody once wrote, "Though we may not live to see the answer to our prayers, if we cry mightily to God, the answer will come."

Or, as E. M. Bounds, minister and chaplain during the Civil War who wrote eight classic books on prayer, put it: "Prayers are deathless. The lips that uttered them may be closed in death, the heart that felt them may have ceased to beat, but the prayers live before God, and God’s heart is set on them and prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them; outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world…"

++ Fortunate are they whose fathers and mother, families and friends have left them a wealthy patrimony of prayer."

-- Real stories for the soul

DID YOU THINK TO PRAY?

1. Ere you left your room this morning,
Did you think to pray?
In the name of Christ our Savior,
Did you sue for loving favor,
As a shield today?

++ Refrain:
O how praying rests the weary!
Prayer will change the night to day;
So when life seems dark and dreary,
Don’t forget to pray.

2. When you met with great temptation,
Did you think to pray?
By His dying love and merit,
Did you claim the Holy Spirit
As your guide and stay?

(Refrain)

3. When your heart was filled with anger,
Did you think to pray?
Did you plead for grace, my brother,
That you might forgive another
Who had crossed your way?

(Refrain)

4. When sore trials came upon you,
Did you think to pray?
When your soul was bowed in sorrow,
Balm of Gilead did you borrow
At the gates of day?

(Refrain)

-- Mary A. Kid­der



-- Matthew 7:7
Ask, and it will be given you; 
Seek, and you will find; 
Knock, and it will be opened to you.

-- Matthew 21:22
And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.

-- Ephesians 6:18-19
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. 19 Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the Gospel,

-- Jude 1:20-23
20 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. 21 Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. + 22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear -- hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

-- 2 Peter 3:8-9
8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. + 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

-- Colossians 4:2-4
2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.

-- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

-- Galatians 6:9-10
9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

-- Philippians 4:6-7
+ 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
+ 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

-- James 5:13-18
13 Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.
++ 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
17 Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

-- Psalms 55:16-17
16 But I call to God, and the LORD saves me. 17 Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and He hears my voice.

-- Psalms 65:2
O You who hear prayer, To You all flesh will come.

-- Jeremiah 29:11-13
11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart."

-- Jeremiah 33:3
'Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'

-- Zechariah 4:6
So he (angel) said to me, "This is the Word of the LORD to Zerubbabel:
'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.
(Read more: 1 Corinthians 2 - By God Spirit's power and wisdom)

-- Luke 18:1, 26-27
1 Then Jesus told His disciples a parable
to show them that they should always pray and not give up. ...
+ 26 Those who heard this asked, "Who then can be saved?"
27 Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."

-- Acts 1:8
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

-- Romans 8:24-28
24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
+ 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.
++ 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

-- 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

-- Matthew 28:18-20
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

-- Matthew 9:37-38
37 Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field."

-- Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.