01/31/2026
What is the state of your faith today? Is it strong, well trained, and ready to run a race; or does it become easily winded and lose stamina during the long marathon of life? Do you tell yourself that your faith is able to withstand anything, but lose hope at the least of life’s difficulties? If you find your faithfulness lacking, let’s talk about selecting a conditioning coach, and enrolling ourselves in his spiritual training program.
“And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.”
Luke 18:1 ESV
Jesus tells us the parable of the persistent widow. This story is the tale of a woman who goes before a judge looking for justice against an adversary. She would ask, and the judge would refuse, yet she persisted in her request by returning over and over again to make her plea. Then finally, after many audiences, the judge finally gives her the Justice she has been seeking. Listen to his words...
“For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.'"”
Luke 18:4-5 ESV
So why did Jesus tell this parable? What was the point of it that he was trying to drive home? Was it that God can be worn down by our constant badgering, and persistent petitioning? We tend to accept this reasoning when we read verse seven...
“And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?”
Luke 18:7 ESV
Yet, this is not the point of the parable. Persistence is certainly recommended, but why? Why would God want us to come to Him over and over again with the same request? Couldn’t He easily grant our petition the first time we make it? The answer is yes, so why the repetition? Let’s read the final verse of the story...
“I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"”
Luke 18:8 ESV
Do you see it? He is building our faith. He is treating each repetition of prayer as if it were a practice race, as he trains and strengthens us in our faith. The final question that Jesus asks leads us to the point of the entire story; “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" So, as we pray time and time again it isn’t because God refused us, but more as a means of increasing our faith, and preparing us for the coming of Christ.
I loved to run when I was in college. I ran long distances several times a week, and could do so easily, and with great speed. Many afternoons I would put on my running attire and take to the roads surrounding the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) campus where a ten-mile jaunt through the mountains was child’s play. Running was a pleasure for me and a time when I could get away and clear my mind.
Then college ended, and my life of marriage, responsibility, and work began... my running took a back seat to other life events. One day, after Ann and I had been married for about a year, I decided to go down to the local high school for a run on the track there. I put on my once familiar running clothes, stretched and went through my pre-run ritual, and then set off as I was accustomed to. I quickly found my old familiar pace and settled into it, but within half a lap around the track I was feeling an unfamiliar sensation... I was panting and becoming winded. By the time I had finished the first lap I was out of breath, and my side was hurting... so I walked a lap, then I ran a lap, then walked a lap, and ran a lap. Finally, panting and soaked in sweat, I had to stop. What had once been so natural and easy for me had, in a short few months, become hard. I am telling you the story of a runner, but this also happens to the faithful. Is your prayer closet gathering dust? Do you only go there when you are in dire need... when you have a spiritual race to run? I ask you; what is the effect this has on your overall faith? If Jesus were to come right now would He find your faith ready to mount up on eagle wings with Him?
We ask God for many things. We ask Him for healing, for provision, for prosperity, for someone to love, and to provide for many other needs, but when the answer doesn’t come on our first lap before Him, or on the second, do we give up hope? Do we convince ourselves that His answer must be no? Is our faith in Him great enough to return time, and time, and time again to our prayer closet, to kneel in His presence? Are we up to the everyday strengthening of our faith that persistent prayer brings? Do we find ourselves out of breath after a single visit? How about a week? A month? A year?
Years ago, I knew a man who came to my Monday night intercessory prayer time looking for a better job that wouldn’t require travel, and would allow him to spend more time with his wife while supporting them in the fashion they were accustomed to. When he came we would pray for many things, and some were answered right away, others required more time in prayer, but the request for a better job went unanswered for years... even as he faithfully, every Monday night, asked that we pray again for the job he knew the Lord would provide him. Finally, after many would have long since given up, God answered him, and the job we had been persistently praying for arrived. His strength of faith had been amazingly perfected in the process, and then the answer came. This man of great faith who received God’s answer was not the same man who first prayed for that job those many years before.
So how strong is your faith? Are you prepared to be trained in it? Are you ready for Jesus to coach you through the hard times of preparation in which your faith is multiplied? How many times will you pant and be out of breath as you run in practice before at last you are running easily on the day of the big race? Are you strong? Are you conditioned in prayer and faith for the arrival of Jesus?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for my faith, and thank you for helping me strengthen it as I come to you time and time again in prayer. You hear my desires Lord, and you see my suffering, yet you tell me to take one more lap around the track of prayer... endure one more day of pain, one more week of hunger, one more month of homelessness, one more year of longing. You know me Father, and you understand my faith better than I do myself. Never let me doubt you, but strengthen my faithfulness with each trip to my prayer closet, and each time I bend my knees and raise my face to you. If I should spend my entire life asking, and finally come before you, still asking, I know that your will for me will be satisfied... my faith will have reached perfection, and on that day you will say "This is my beloved child, with whom I am well pleased." On that day Father my prayers will have all been answered, and my love for you complete.
Praised be your name Father! I praise you in the answers to my prayers, and in those times when I remain on my knees asking. I praise you for your provision, and I praise you for my pain, suffering, persistence and time spent waiting. I praise your goodness, and your will for me, because they are perfect! You are Holy, and my faith finds its strength in you. I trust in you who knows the beginning from the end and as your Holy Spirit guides me in my prayers. I thank you for the trust I have in you and for the confidence I have that in the fullness of time you will satisfy my longing and desire to perfection. I long for that day Father knowing that on it I will give you all the glory and honor for not only my answered prayer but also for my radiantly perfected faith.
“for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
James 1:3-4 ESV
Rich Forbes