<p>18:1 <i>And he spoke a parable to them, that they should always pray and not lose heart, saying</i>- This comes straight after the teaching in chapter 17 about readiness for the Lord's coming; and continued, intense prayer is part of that preparedness. There are so many allusions by Paul to this verse and the ensuing parable. This shows just how like us Paul was; he had his favourite parables, one or two that really stuck in his mind, just as we do. And he alluded to them They were in his heart, to inspire and motivate him, just as the Lord intended. Paul picks up the idea of not fainting in 2 Thess. 3:13: &quot;Brethren, be not weary (s.w. &quot;not to faint&quot;) in well doing&rdquo;. What well-doing did Paul have in mind? Attending the Sunday meetings? Being patient with some difficult sister in the ecclesia? The connection with Lk. 18:1 tells us what he had in mind: keep on praying intensely. It's no co-incidence that Paul started that section of 2 Thess. 3 (in v.1) with the exhortation: &quot;Brethren, pray for us&quot;. And he concludes it with the same rubric: &quot;Brethren, be not weary&quot; (faint not), in your prayers. He knew from the parable that repeated prayer was powerful. And so he asks them to keep at it for him, because he needed it. Perhaps Paul had the same thing in mind when he wrote to the Ephesians (3:13): &quot;In (Christ) we have boldness and access with confidence (to God, in prayer, cp. Heb. 4:16)... <i>wherefore</i> I desire that you faint not (s.w. Lk. 18:1) at my tribulations&quot;; is he not implying 'You know how powerful prayer is, so don't faint in it, you know what struggles I'm having, <i>please</i> keep on praying for me, like that persistent widow in the parable'. This fits in with a number of other passages in which Paul unashamedly begs his brethren to pray for him. In this we see his humility, his high regard for other brethren who were almost certainly weaker than him, and also the physical desperation of his daily life.&nbsp;</p>