Luke 18:1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
I’ve read the parable of the persistent widow many times, but a few mornings ago the words seemed to jump off the page. I embraced Jesus’ words—to always pray and never give up—like fresh manna. Yet I couldn’t help but wonder, Why are you speaking this to me, Lord? Why now? Within 24 hours I knew.
Our small church had just commissioned five members to go on a missions trip to Prague for a week’s outreach to school children. To say we were pumped about sending them would be an understatement. Within three weeks, we had raised enough money to cover a substantial part of their costs. The Lord had directed us to hold an Auction Bake Sale. When banana bread went for $130 and gluten-free muffins sold for over $100, all we could do was stand in awe. And that was just the beginning.
The day before our team was to leave, the leader received the troubling news that their connecting flight from Germany to Czech had been cancelled. With Luke 18:1 fresh on my mind, I knew it was not the time to throw in the towel and stop believing. So we prayed.
It doesn’t matter that flights all over the world are facing unprecedented numbers of cancellations. We serve a sovereign God who reigns supreme over the airlines, over the air itself! He called our team to go and assigned us to help them get there. So we prayed more.
And guess what happened. A travel agent was able to find a direct flight to Prague with enough seats for each of them! If we needed more evidence of God’s desire to answer our prayers, we experienced it that day. When I heard the news, I coined a new word: Hahahahallelujah!
I don’t know what you might be praying for right now. What miracle you need. Please don’t give up. Jesus showed us obstacles would come to hinder our prayers. So let the persistent widow encourage you today. And keep praying, praying, praying.