Without Ceasing

 May we shout for joy over your salvation, and in the name of our God set up our banners! May the LORD fulfill all your petitions!

Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand.

Psalm 20:5 -7

 

Today I am shouting for joy over the salvation of someone I don’t get to see to often. But, in God’s grace, today I got to hear about what God has been doing in his life!

This young man was a good friend of my son’s when they were young. He moved into our neighborhood when he was seven and my son was about five. He had spent his first seven years in another country. He and my son were pretty much inseparable until their early teens. Age and grade differences put some distance between them as they grew up.

Today he is the friend of a friend. She “facebooked” me to tell me to call her – she had a great story. So, when I got the message I called. My son’s old friend is getting married, to a Christian! This is great news! I am thrilled that he has found a woman with whom to share his life. I am even more thrilled with “the rest of the story.”

They are both Christians. I haven’t heard the salvation story I have just heard that he has received Christ as his personal Savior. He is saved from an eternity in hell and to eternal life in heaven with God.

I have learned from the Bible that God has chosen His people before the foundation of the world. I had absolutely nothing to do with this young man’s salvation. And yet…I have been praying for over twelve years that he would come to know Christ. Even though he was no longer a part of our day to day lives God would remind me to pray for him and his mother. His salvation is an answer to my prayers.

I can take no credit for his salvation but I can take great joy in God’s answer to my own prayers. It reminds me of His faithfulness and tells me that I should keep praying for others.

James 5:16b says, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”

I can’t explain how God uses our prayers to accomplish His own purposes but I can tell you that when we pray for someone else to come to know the Lord and they do – it is a joyous occasion!

When Jesus was instructing His disciples about prayer He said, “When you pray” several times. He expects us to pray. Paul tells us that we are to pray without ceasing, so we need to keep that running communication with the Lord open.

Have you been praying for someone to know the Lord for a long time? Does it seem that God is not answering your prayer? He is patient. Peter in 2 Peter 3:15 tells us to count the patience of our Lord as salvation. He is waiting for a response from those He is calling.

Pray without ceasing and rejoice in God’s answers.