One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’” Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So, don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?”
Luke 18:1‭-‬8 NLT.

A big illustration of staying focused and being determined to get an answer.
It’s the will of God that we cultivate the habit of praying. He wants us to always come to him with all our troubles.

Now, why will Jesus want us to pray? And what is prayer?
Prayer is simply talking to God. It’s all about communication with Him.
Jesus urges us to always come to him in prayers. He cares so much about us. And very much inclined to answer our prayers:
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.
Matthew 7:7‭-‬8 NKJV.

Furthermore, praying shows our dependence on God. Frankly, we cannot do without him. We need him for everything. He is our source, and we should rely on him:
“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
John 15:5 NKJV.

Sometimes, it may seem like we are wasting our time. It may even look foolish to be invoking a being we cannot see. This may expose us to ridicule. And no one wants to be made fun of.

Essentially, prayer is a spiritual activity. So don’t expect it to go the way of the natural. It’s not like going to the market to buy something. The answer to our prayers might not be instantaneous. It may not even be answered in the way we expected it. That is why it requires faith and patience to reap the benefits of prayer:
But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
James 1:6‭-‬7 NIV.

Certainly, the Lord answers us when we pray according to His will. Therefore, we should not relent. But continuously keep making our requests known to Him:
Now, this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
I John 5:14‭-‬15, NKJV.

More importantly, the above story demonstrates how the Lord Jesus Christ will avenge His saints at His second coming to the earth.
He will surely grant justice to us His people who have been dealt with by the wicked systems of this world:
In his justice, he will pay back those who persecute you. And God will provide rest for you who are being persecuted and also for us when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven. He will come with his mighty angels,
2 Thessalonians 1:6‭-‬7 NLT.

To sum it up, none of our prayers are useless. Even our lamentations over the evil and suffering in the world. They all play a tremendous role:
Then another angel with a gold incense burner came and stood at the altar. And a great amount of incense was given to him to mix with the prayers of God’s people as an offering on the gold altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, mixed with the prayers of God’s holy people, ascended to God from the altar where the angel had poured them out. Then the angel filled the incense burner with fire from the altar and threw it down upon the earth, and thunder crashed, lightning flashed, and there was a terrible earthquake.
Revelation 8:3‭-‬5 NLT.

Dare I ask?: Do you think prayer is an awkward, unrealistic activity? Are you praying just to fulfill all righteousness? Or have you been praying for so long, maybe for a particular thing, and it appears to be unanswered? Are you now discouraged that you want to give up?

I encourage you to take a cue from the woman in the story. And keep on praying until you get a response.
You can also pray this prayer with me:

Lord, I thank you for always being there for me. Your word has made clear that you always hear us when we pray. So dear Lord, I come to you today, restore my confidence to keep praying. May every doubt in my heart give way to faith. I receive strength to not give up and to continue to trust you in every situation.
Thank you my Lord and Father. In Jesus name I pray. Amen

Pst. Mike