Don’t faint in prayer
Prayer is one of the last-resort tools we have that works. It is a last resort because most of us will pray when things get tough. Prayer is more than words that proceed out of our mouths; it is the thoughts and words that proceed out of our hearts. Jesus said that out of the abundance of the heart our mouth speaks (Mt12:34). Life’s trials and tribulations push man to pray. When the situations in our lives do not improve the tendency to stop praying becomes evident and we faint. Now Jesus said that men ought always to pray and not to faint. The word faint is ek-kak-eh’-o and it means to be utterly spiritless, to be wearied out, to be exhausted. But how do we do that, not faint in prayer? Because if we only pray when the situations are difficult, how can we build the stamina to continue in prayer? We learn a secret for prayer from the prophet Jeremiah in Lamentations 3, where he said that while he was remembering the essence of his afflictions, he made a recall memory of the mercies of God (La3:19-22). God does answer our prayers (Ps91:15).
Luke 18:1-5
And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; 2 Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: 3 And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. 4 And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; 5 Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
The judge in this parable had characteristics similar to many today. He did not fear God nor respect his fellow man. We have witnessed this with the church shootings and sinful practices that have been accepted in them. And all the senseless killings that have occurred describe how many people feel about their neighbors. This judge intentionally refused to do justice to this poor widow and she knew it. But because this widow understood that he was her last resort or a glimpse of hope, she persisted insisting. It is the concept James wrote about the fervent prayer avails much (Jm5:16). The judge knew how far his resistances would last. His disregard for God who he could not see and his fellow man who he could ignore, was not strenuous to him. But this man’s internal state of being that he could not ignore.
Our internal resistance only lasts for a while. The judge was going to become weary of the widow’s persistence. God’s continual persistence for us to change will wear us down unless we give in, as the judge did. The apostle Paul warns the believer not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God (Ep4:30).
Matthew 12:34
O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
Lamentations 3:19-22
19 Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. 20 My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. 21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. 22 It is of the Lord‘s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
Psalms 91:15
15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
James 5:16
16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
Ephesians 4:30
30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.