I will never forget watching Reggie Miller score eight points in the last thirty-two seconds of a 1995 Eastern Conference NBA playoff game in Madison Square Garden. Miller’s “never say die” heroics in the closing seconds gave the Indiana Pacers a thrilling two-point victory over the New York Knicks. Throughout his eighteen-year career with the Pacers, Miller was the picture of persistence. He didn’t make every clutch shot he took, but he never stopped shooting them. In an interview following his final NBA game, he summed up his career by saying, “I tried. I showed up for every game and I tried.”

Just as Miller modeled persistence, so do good coaches. Would a good coach ever tell her team to “give up” just because they were down at halftime? Never! She would encourage her players to fight to the end, no matter how inevitable a loss might seem during the game. Athletes and coaches understand, perhaps better than most, the need for persistence when it comes to competition.

Can the same be said of us concerning prayer? Have we talked with God regularly and honestly? Have we persisted in prayer even during times when God seems far off? Jesus said, “Keep searching, and you will find.” We are to continue to come to God with our requests even when it feels like nothing is happening.

I’ve seen popular bracelets with the acronym P.U.S.H. stitched on them: Pray Until Something Happens. It’s a great reminder that we should never give up when it comes to making our requests known to a God who loves us and gave His Son to reconcile us to Himself.