Pray ever, cease never

There are two rules in prayer. Rule one: pray unceasingly. Rule two: never forget rule one. Rewards are certain for those who never give up prayer.

Constancy in prayer is sure to be fruitful as much as persistence and perseverance was the secret behind the achievements of the world's greatest explorers, scientists, inventors, leaders, music composers, architects, businessmen, sportsmen and many others. Christopher Columbus, for example, would enter each day in his log abode the 'Santa Maria', "this day we sailed on".

A young man responded to an advert in a small Massachusetts newspaper to 'Post Box-1720' for the post of manager for a brokerage firm in Boston. The young man never received a single reply to several of his mails though he rewrote and reworded his application several times. He never gave up. He took a train to Boston. Traced the post office that led to the 'post-box 1720'. When the officer refused to give details of the person on the grounds of confidentiality, the young man waited many hours till he saw the man who came to collect his mail.

He followed him closely and surprisingly reached Boston's largest brokerage house. When he related his whole story to the man, the gentleman excitingly replied, "My young man, you are exactly the type of person we are looking for". Thus began the splendid career of Roger Babson, who came to be known as America's most illustrious statistician.

Jesus never taught his disciples to preach. He taught them to pray. In fact, the disciples who saw Him perform miracles did not seek better boats and fishing nets, better farm yields, better business prospects and better houses. They instead asked, "Teach us to pray" (Luke 11:1) for they saw closely how Jesus drew strength from this persistence in prayer.

Jesus impressed upon His disciples through a parable that if even the hardest hearts can melt with mercy with repeated pleading, how much more will a loving God respond to one who persists in prayer. He speaks of a judge in a certain city who "neither feared God nor regarded man". But a widow in that city came repeatedly pleading with him for justice against her adversary. For a while, the judge refused, but afterward he said to himself, "Though I neither fear God nor regard man, yet, because of this unceasing cry and pleading of this widow, I will vindicate her or she will wear me out by her constant coming," (Luke 18:1-6).

Jesus taught his followers to trust in God to ensure a response. He said, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you; for everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened (Mathew 7:7-8).

The asking, seeking and knocking must be constant. Saint Paul urges us to "pray without ceasing," (I Thessalonians 5:17).