These are notes on the sermon, Don’t Lose Heart, Keep On Praying!, preached by Pastor Lawrence Lim on Sunday, July 5, 2026 at The Star Performing Arts Centre, Singapore. We hope these sermon notes will encourage you to keep praying, keep believing, and not lose heart.
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In our journey through life, there are seasons when it is easy to believe—the answer looks within reach, faith feels strong, and the promises of the Bible seem alive. But there are also seasons when the storm rages on, the breakthrough is delayed, and the heart begins to grow tired. This sermon is for those seasons.
The vision for The Year of the Much More began with a storm, but it ended with the promised land. The storm is not the end of your story, and God’s promises still stand.
Yet, storms have a way of exposing us, of revealing how limited our wisdom is, how little control we have over situations, and how quickly our strength can run out. Our natural response is often to try harder, do more, and find a way to force the outcomes we want. But victory has never come through our own strength. It has always been a gift from God.
Jacob wrestled for the blessing, but he did not receive it through his own strength. Only after God touched his hip and his strength gave way did he receive the blessing (Gen. 32:24–31).
This is difficult for the natural mind to accept. We assume that strength qualifies us. Yet the Lord says, “My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). So the answer to weakness is not always greater strength or more effort, but greater dependence on Him.
Now, the storm may expose our weaknesses, but it will also bring us to the end of self-reliance and teach us to stop carrying what only God can carry. And the only avenue left to us is prayer.
When we pray, it is not to control the outcome but to demonstrate our reliance on the Lord. It is the posture of a heart that depends on Him.
Jesus said that “men always ought to pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1). He then shared a parable of a widow who kept appealing to an unjust judge until the judge finally acted on her behalf. The point was not that God is like the judge, but that if even an unjust judge could be moved to act, how much more will God respond to His own people who cry out to Him? Our God is infinitely good. He is compassionate, and He hears you.
Then Jesus ended the parable with a searching question: “When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8).
The problem is not only that the answer may seem delayed, but that somewhere in the waiting, we may also lose heart.
We do not always understand why some prayers seem to go unanswered or why the breakthrough does not appear in the way we had hoped. In those moments, the real danger isn’t the disappointment, but is in allowing that disappointment to change what we believe about God.
Pastor Lawrence shared honestly from his own journey to show that even a pastor can face this struggle. There was a season when he had been believing for healing with a close friend who was battling cancer. They had prayed, worshiped, and stood on the Word together, but his friend eventually went home to be with the Lord.
The loss deeply affected him until the Lord reminded him, “Your friend is healed, and he is with Me.” That truth did not erase the grief, but it set Ps Lawrence free from seeing the outcome as evidence that God had failed his friend. His friend had not received the healing they hoped to see in this life, but he did not lose. He is with Jesus, beyond sickness, suffering, and death.
The Lord also reminded Pastor Lawrence that His heart had not changed. God was still compassionate, and He was still the One who had called His people to pray for the sick.
And it was Jesus, who came to do the Father’s will, that reached out to the suffering, touched the leper, and said, “I am willing.” It was Jesus who carried the Father’s heart when He responded to the centurion’s need for healing for his servant with the words, “I will come and heal him.”
Finally, the cross is the fullest proof of that compassion. Every wound Jesus bore declared that God is not indifferent to human suffering. He did not remain distant from the pain of this world. He entered into that pain and gave Himself for us.
Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). He did not deny that tribulation would come. He declared that it would not have the final word—no painful circumstance, not even death, can overturn what Christ has accomplished at the cross for us.
This is why an unanswered prayer cannot become the final measure of God’s goodness. Circumstances change, but the Cross does not.
We may not have an explanation for everything we face, but we do have a revelation of who God is based on the Bible. Build your faith on Christ and His finished work, not on statistics, visible outcomes, or the experiences of others. When you do not understand your circumstances, let the cross settle the question of God’s heart for you.
If the cross has settled the question of God’s heart, then prayer is no longer an attempt to persuade Him. We pray because we trust in Him even when we do not understand what is happening, and we are trusting Him for the manifestation of what He has already accomplished in our situation.
When we do not know what to pray, “the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us” (Rom. 8:26). Praying in the Spirit is an act of dependence, trusting that God is working even when we do not understand what is going on.
But even good spiritual practices can become works when they flow from fear.
Pastor Lawrence shared briefly about a season when he and his wife were believing God for a child. After receiving a difficult medical report, he began praying, reading the Bible, and listening to preaching with increasing desperation. Though these (praying, reading God’s Word, and listening to anointed messages) are good practices on their own, he began to behave as if the outcome he and his wife desired depended on how much they did them.
After experiencing two miscarriages, the Lord taught them that rest did not mean giving up. It meant continuing to pray, receive the Holy Communion, and hold on to God’s Word without trying to force the promise to happen.
From then on, both Ps Lawrence and his wife no longer allowed their desire for children to determine their joy or define God’s goodness. Whether or not they saw the promise, they believed that His Word remained true and that the cross was more than enough. In time, the Lord fulfilled the desires of their hearts and blessed them with not just one but three beautiful children!
Faith does not pressure God to act. It rests in what Christ has already done and keeps believing.
Resting in the Lord does not mean letting go of His promises. It means holding on without giving in to fear and resorting to self-effort.
When Pastor Lawrence and his wife experienced their first miscarriage, Pastor Prince shared with them this word:
Some promises call for endurance, and it is often in the waiting that believers are most tempted to lose heart.
The Bible also tells us that we inherit the promises “through faith and patience” (Heb. 6:12). Faith believes what God has said. Patience keeps us believing when the answer does not appear immediately.
And how are we to have faith and patience?
Jesus spoke of seeds that sprang up quickly but withered because they had no root. They represent those who receive the Word with joy but stumble when pressure arises (Mark 4:16–17). When circumstances appear to contradict what we have heard, the Word must have enough depth in us to remain and keep us steady.
We must not let difficulty, delay, or one painful outcome uproot what God has planted in your heart. We may not have all the answers, but we are called to remain anchored in what He has said, and to continue praying for the sick and believing that “the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up” (James 5:15).
And while we wait for the full manifestation of God’s promises, we also learn to recognize the ways in which He is already working. Sometimes, the manifestation is miraculous, such as in a sudden healing. At other times, it is seen in a child making meaningful progress, a marriage growing stronger, or a weary parent receiving fresh strength. These, too, are signs that our heavenly Father is at work.
And in the area of healing, especially, holding on in faith also means walking in wisdom. Receiving treatment, taking medication, or listening to a doctor does not weaken our trust in God. Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father (James 1:17), and wise counsel, physicians, medicine, and appropriate care may all be means through which He helps us.
We can pray while seeing a doctor, stand on God’s Word while receiving treatment, and continue believing for complete healing as we follow sound medical advice. His help may come through a miracle, through treatment, or through wisdom for the next step.
Faith does not deny what has not yet changed, nor does it refuse the help God has placed within reach. It remains rooted in His Word, walks wisely, and refuses to make the present moment the final verdict.
So keep holding on to what God has said. Don’t lose heart! The delay doesn’t mean His promise has lost its power.
We hope these sermon notes blessed you! If they did, we encourage you to get the sermon and allow the Lord to speak to you personally as you watch or listen to it.
© Copyright JosephPrince.com 2026
These sermon notes were taken by volunteers during the service. They are not a verbatim representation of the sermon.
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