「常常禱告，不可灰心」－路加福音 18:1
帖木兒曾向他的朋友提起一段故事，他說：
「有一次為了逃避敵人的追逼，我好幾個鐘頭獨自藏身在一個破舊的房屋中。
為了轉移我絕望的情緒，我的眼睛緊盯著一隻螞蟻，看著牠如何背著比牠大數倍的玉米粒爬上高牆。我數算牠為了爬上牆去所努力的次數，才發現玉米粒竟然掉落了69次，但小小的螞蟻仍堅持不歇，到了第70次，總算爬上了牆頂。螞蟻的奮力堅持令當時的我信心大增，我也從來沒有忘記過這幅景象。」－王的事務若因過去的禱告尚未得著答應，而在禱告上懈怠，那就不是信心的禱告了。信心的禱告是將還未蒙神答應的禱告視為一種鼓勵和證據，暗示我們神的應允已臨近了。從始至終，主都以祂自己為榜樣，告訴我們禱告必須堅定持續，迫切地向祂直求，且需一再更新我們的禱告，並從過去一切的代禱中重新得力。這才是一個真正得勝的禱告。
偉大的鋼琴家魯賓斯坦曾說：
「若我一天不練琴，我自己會覺得；兩天不練，我的朋友會知道；三天不練，人人都會曉得。」這就是所謂的「熟能生巧」。我們也需要持續地相信、持續地禱告、持續地遵行祂的旨意。倘若在藝術的領域尚且如此，我們就更該將生活的常識更多應用在信仰上，使我們能達到完全。
"Men ought always to pray and not to faint" (Luke18:1).
"Go to the ant." Tammerlane used to relate to his friends an anecdote of his early life. "I once" he said, "was forced to take shelter from my enemies in a ruined building, where I sat alone many hours. Desiring to divert my mind from my hopeless condition, I fixed my eyes on an ant that was carrying a grain of corn larger than itself up a high wall. I numbered the efforts it made to accomplish this object. The grain fell sixty-nine times to the ground; but the insect persevered, and the seventieth time it reached the top. This sight gave me courage at the moment, and I never forgot the lesson." --The King's Business
Prayer which takes the fact that past prayers have not been answered as a reason for languor, has already ceased to be the prayer of faith. To the prayer of faith the fact that prayers remain unanswered is only evidence that the moment of the answer is so much nearer. From first to last, the lessons and examples of our Lord all tell us that prayer which cannot persevere and urge its plea importunately, and renew, and renew itself again, and gather strength from every past petition, is not the prayer that will prevail. --William Arthur
Rubenstein, the great musician, once said, "If I omit practice one day, I notice it; if two days, my friends notice it; if three days, the public notice it." It is the old doctrine, "Practice makes perfect." We must continue believing, continue praying, continue doing His will. Suppose along any line of art, one should cease practicing, we know what the result would be. If we would only use the same quality of common sense in our religion that we use in our everyday life, we should go on to perfection.
The motto of David Livingstone was in these words, "I determined never to stop until I had come to the end and achieved my purpose." By unfaltering persistence and faith in God he conquered.
