Daily Affirmations - Day 2 - If We Faint Not - Never Give Up
Day 2: Never give up
Jesus told His disciples a parable about their need to pray all the time and never give up (Luke 18:1 – International Standard Version – ISV).
God of mercy and compassion, Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, Your justice like the great deep (Psalm 36:5-6).
You ultimately showed the measureless nature of Your love by dying a cruel death on a cross for our sake— to pay the staggering debt of sin we could never pay. But all along, from the dawn of time, Your priceless, unfailing love (Psalm 36:7) has been with us.
Lord Jesus, in all Your interactions with individuals, small groups, and large crowds, You were careful to show us the Father (John 14:8-9)— to demonstrate His great care to a broken humanity marred by sin's distrust. Over and over again, You assured us of our value in His eyes and invited us to come to Him in prayer as a child comes naturally to a loving father.
As a father has compassion has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him (Psalm 103:13) was the message You reiterated when You told us to ask seek, and knock as regards our needs (Matthew 7:7-8). You showed us how our requests are received by the heart of a loving Father:
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7:9-11).
But You do not want us to be deterred by "obstacles" in asking, seeking, and knocking. You desire that we continue in faith, persistent in prayer. You urge us to remain confident that Your perfect purpose and unfailing love will grant us far greater good than can ever come from fallible human parents or warped human justice that serves its own motives (Matthew 7:11; Luke 18:1-6).
Father, You know how bound, how hemmed in we are by our human constraints— transient time, human vision, human scope, human understanding. But You are infinite, omnipotent, omniscient, everlasting. With You there are no limits, no constraints.
Teach us patience, teach us unwavering faith. Teach us to trust that God will bring about justice for His chosen ones who cry out to Him day and night (Luke 18:7-8). You know the cries of our heart.
Lord, the injustices and evils of this world are many. All around us are snares, terrors, pestilence, flying arrows, destructive plagues (Psalm 91:3-6). They threaten Your church, our families, our communities, our world. All around are the forces, human and supernatural that sustain these evils.
Give us the strength and the endurance to cry out for Your promised shelter and covering. Help us not to lose heart as we wait for Your release, Your justice. And when our Lord returns, may He find us still praying in faith.
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