Always Pray, Never Lose Heart!

Discover how to maintain hope and perseverance in prayer, even when faced with delays. Learn from the heroes of faith who trusted God's promises.

Transcript

Hi, I'm Brad Fiddler [music] with the National House of Prayer and I just want to share with you an encouragement today uh related to endurance and perseverance in prayer. on one of our national prayer calls the other day on Zoom, uh, someone on the call prayed from Proverbs 13:12 or she cited Proverbs 13:12, the verse that that talks about how hope deferred makes the heart sick. And she was just praying almost a prayer of repentance of how we get discouraged and we we stop pressing in on certain things because of that discouraged heart from hope deferred. and got me thinking of that. And you know, scripture calls us to wait for the Lord. Many times in the Psalms,

we're told to wait on the Lord. Wait for the Lord. Isaiah 40, they that wait on the Lord will renew their strength. Uh even in Luke 18:1, Jesus taught his disciples they should always pray and never lose heart. So how do we always pray and never lose heart when hope deferred makes the heart sick? And it got me thinking about Hebrews 11, which is, you know, the chapter dealing with all the heroes of the faith from the Old Testament. And the author says a couple interesting things in there in verse 13. He says, "All these heroes had something in common. They didn't see the fulfillment of the things they had been promised. And yet they were faithful to the end."

That what that's what made them heroes of the faith is they endured. They persevered to the end. They finished well. They didn't give up. And so, how did they do that? That's kind of the question. And another thing it tells us in verse 13 is that they all confessed themselves to be strangers and [clears throat] exiles in the world. And in verse 16, it said their hope was in a better country. And then he says that is a heavenly one. Their hope was not in this age. Their hope was in the age to come. Their mind was set on eternity. And this may not be something we want to hear, but the fact of the matter is this age is not when we will receive the fullness of our reward, the fullness

[snorts] of our inheritance. That is for the age to come after we die, after the Lord has returned, bringing his reward with him. That's when we'll enter into the fullness of our rest, the fullness of our of our inheritance as children and co-airs with Christ. Um but in the here and now we work. It also reminded me of Jesus' words in John nine where he said we have to work the works of him who sent me while it's still day. Night is coming when no one can work. But then he said this as long as I am in the world I am the light of the world. That's John 9:es 4 and 5. And first John tells us that as he is in the world so are we. We are supposed to be like him in the world

doing the works he did. And in the same way Jesus told us in Matthew 5, you are the light of the world. You are the salt of the earth. This age is when we work. It's not when we rest. We'd like to rest. Um and there is a taste, a foretaste of rest in walking in the spirit. Um walking with the Holy Spirit in the here and now. But the fullness of our rest is in the age to come. Today we work. This is a season where we work. We labor for the kingdom trusting that he will bring the fullness of his kingdom when it's time. And in the meantime, that means I may not see the fulfillment of what we're pressing in for. But that's okay because my hope doesn't rest in that. My hope is beyond the horizon

in a better heavenly country. My treasure is in heaven where moths and rust don't destroy and thieves don't break in and steal. And so that reality of of having our hope set on what Jesus is going to bring with him when he comes gives us encouragement, gives us strength to persevere and endure. gives us grace to endure because all my hope isn't set on something that needs to happen in this age. I'm committed to taking up my cross and following him. That's not rest, that's work. And so I just want to finish with two passages here. Isaiah 42, one of my favorite messianic prophecies talking about the suffering servant. And it's the passage where it talks about he

won't lift up his voice in the streets. He won't cry aloud. He won't break a bruised reed. he won't won't quench a smoking flax. It's is talking about the humility and meekness and tenderness that Jesus would would walk in in his in his earthly ministry. But then it says this verse four, he will not grow faint or be discouraged until he has established justice in the earth. I think we can all agree that has not happened yet. And yet for 2,000 years, he will not grow faint or be discouraged. That's the one we follow. That's the one who's called us to himself. That's the one that the Holy Spirit is is building us to look more and more like. And so I want to encourage us that with our hope

in the age to come, with our hope being tied up in him and his return and his kingdom, we don't we can walk and not be discouraged in this age. We lean into the spirit. When we wait on the Lord, we renew our strength. We rise up on wings like eagles. We run and knock or weary. We will walk and not faint because of his work in us. But uh we don't have to pin our hopes on rest in this age because that's coming. Um this is the age when we work. And if our hope is behind beyond the horizon, we will not be discouraged if we don't see things exactly the way they think they we think they should be today. And I'll just finish with this. Psalm 37 starting in verse 7. Be still before the Lord and

wait patiently for him. Don't fret over the one who prospers in his way. Don't fret over the man who carries out evil schemes. Refrain from anger and forsake wrath. Don't fret yourself. It only leads to evil. Evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. This is a promise and our part is to refrain from anger, to forsake wrath, to not give in to despair and hopelessness which leads to anger and wrath. But uh be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. And [clears throat] just like the heroes of the Old Testament listed for us in Hebrews 11, even if we don't see the fulfillment, in taking that posture, there's still

grace to endure and finish well, and we will receive the reward at the end of the race. So, be encouraged, always pray, never lose heart. I'm Brad Fedler with the National House of Prayer. See you next time.