Satuday, September 4, 2010

Pray For The Lost

"If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." -- Matthew 21:22

I received a prayer request the other day. There's nothing unusual about that. I believe deeply in the power of prayer. Everyone knows that. I consider praying for others both a privilege and an obligation. So, of course, I was happy to pray. I doubt my prayer was what the person had in mind.

The request came from a wife seeking prayer for her husband. These two very nice people don't know Jesus at all. They don't want to know Him. The man especially can get really belligerent and ugly about Jesus. It's sad, really, because they are nice people. They are also lost in a maze of hardness that, so far, no one has been able to penetrate.

So, I was pretty amazed to hear the woman request prayer for her sick husband. Of course, I want him to be healthy. But then what? He goes along until his body fails again. And it will fail him. Our bodies aren't meant to last forever. Remember, we'll get a new body one day. But what about this man? So, yeah, I pray for healing -- that his hard heart will soften and open to the love Jesus longs to give him. See, I want him to come to know Jesus -- even if he has to suffer to get to that point.

I did wonder if his wife really wanted prayer or if it was just a phrase so people would think about him and know he was ill. Does she even understand what prayer is? Does she understand that prayer is basically talking with a God she really doesn't accept? Does she realize that He created the universe -- including both she and her husband?

Still, I am hopeful. Always. God wants all His children -- including those who deny Him -- to come and accept His gift of salvation and eternal life.

"This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth." -- 1 Timothy 2:4

So I'll pray for this couple in a way that don't expect and certainly wouldn't welcome. I believe Jesus died for them just as He died for me. I want them to one day know that. To understand it. To feel it in their hearts as He fills them with His love.