In yesterday’s devotion, I shared with you the qualities resident in the DNA of “faith’s seed.”  They were the qualities of “determination, persistence and the ability to overcome.”  As we focused on the first aspect of “determination” we read the story of the widow woman and the unjust judge in Luke 18:1-8.  Today, let’s look at the second quality, the quality of persistence. We’ll begin by reviewing the first verse of this parable:

One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.

Luke 18:1

This story revealed not only the determination of the widow woman to receive what she desired, but it also reveals what God says about prayer.  God is looking for us to be a persistent in our prayers.

To be persistent means: to continue despite interference; to continue without change of function or structure, to press beyond the normal period of time.

In the book of Ephesians we see the Apostle Paul encouraging us to do the same.

Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.

Ephesians 6:18

Faith grows in an environment of prayer.  Faith matures through determination and persistence.  Because faith is not moved by the obstacles or circumstances around oneself; it is only moved by the Word of God and one’s desire to see the kingdom manifested on earth as it is in heaven.

People who exhibit the quality of “persistence” are a people who are focused.  Isaiah the prophet gives us a good visual of what persistence looks like.

 ⁷For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.

Isaiah 50:7

Persistent people set their face like flint.  They focus on the goal, confident in the God they serve.  Confident, that as they pursue the will of God, they will not be put to shame, but will succeed in their mission.

Persistent people are willing to endure and fight to receive the prize. Paul encourages us in I Tim 6:12 “to fight the good fight of faith.”  Faith possesses the quality that persists and fights to remain focused on its goal until it is reached.  

The kind of faith that brings heaven on earth is a faith that forges ahead, focused, willing to lay aside anything that could keep it from its desired goal and purpose.

We have around us many people whose lives tell us what faith means. So let us run the race that is before us and never give up. We should remove from our lives anything that would get in the way and the sin that so easily holds us back.

Hebrews 12:1

Today, as we “Forge Ahead In Trustful Hope” let us be a people of persistence.  A people willing to maintain our focus, while casting off those things that would keep us from our God-given destiny.  A people who fight the good fight in persistent prayer never giving up!