When you receive no answer to prayer,
Never lose faith nor yield to despair;
Give unto Jesus your burden of care,
Keep on believing in the promises of God.

Doubt not the Lord when tempted and tried;
Worlds pass away, His Word shall abide!
He is almighty, in Him you may hide,
Keep on believing in the promises of God.

Tho’ you should walk in darkness awhile,
Over the thorns for many a mile,
Watch for the dawning, and sing with a smile,
Keep on believing in the promises of God.

Chorus
Keep on believing, keep on believing,
Keep on believing in the promises of God;
Tho’ delay may long endure,
Yet the answer will be sure:
Keep on believing in the promises of God.
                                         Mrs. Frank A. Breck


     Sometimes a Christian prays for years before seeing the desire of the heart and soul - as in the case of Hannah.  She prayed for years before her son Samuel was born (I Samuel Chapter 1).
     At other times a Christian prays and doesn’t get what is wanted but is granted something else from God - as in the case of Paul.  He prayed 3 times for his thorn in the flesh to be taken away and then God said “My grace is sufficient for thee:  for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (II Corinthians Chapter 12:7-9).
     And then there are times when a Christian desires something and God DOES grant the item but in a different and in a much larger capacity.  King David wanted to build a permanent house for the ark of the LORD, but God promised David that one of David’s sons would build Him a house - “He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever” (II Samuel Chapter 7:13).
     But when a Christian is praying for the salvation of someone, it is very hard to accept an answer of what seems to be “wait.”  During such times, however, God often brings much comfort through a single Bible verse.
     Personally speaking.....during an off-and-on period of praying/fasting for an individual’s salvation, a verse became very dear to me - “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint” - Luke 18:1.
     In fact whenever Luke 18:1 occurred in a devotional or on a calendar, my spirit seemed to revive and seemed to express many thanksgivings to God.  But what I couldn’t seem to understand was why salvation hadn’t occurred.  Wasn’t praying for someone to be saved AND their being saved of utmost importance?
     Finally on Saturday, December 13, 1994 when I WAS about to faint in prayer, God revealed Luke 18:1 to me in a great big majestic gentle way as was recorded in my diary:

     Very blue today.   And even though today’s verse in the devotional book Utmost for His Highest is Luke 18:1 and the verse tomorrow in “Our Daily Bread” is the same, at about 5:30 pm in the midst of cleaning the house, I still asked God if He would bring that verse in some way or other to me today. 
     After turning on the cassette tape player to listen to some music, I then thought God would surely use a radio sermon to bring Luke 18:1 to me.....so the cassette player was turned off and the radio was turned on.
     (And God did answer this evening’s strange petition but in a way very precious to my soul.) 
     Not long after I had prayed, my friend Amber called on the telephone.  (She had tried to call me last night, but I was at a women’s church Christmas party.)  She was perplexed about the verse for December 8 in the devotional book Whispers of His Power by Amy Carmichael.  At my request, Amber read aloud the devotional for 12/8  & 12/9.  However, nothing on 12/9 seemed to go with 12/8.
     So I asked Amber to read the verse for 12/7.  Guess what verse was used for December 7 in the devotional book and in which Amber read aloud to me?  Luke 18:1 - “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.”

     So whoever you are, praying Christian, don’t faint in your prayers, but keep yourself from known sin and allow God to majestically reveal Himself in relationship to His will towards your deepest prayer requests.
                                                                                                                                               M. Robbins