devotional: praying for our unsaved family and friends:

DEVOTIONAL

Marianne sat down in Pastor Johns  office and sighed.

"What's troubling you?"  he asked her.

"Well, I'm feeling a bit discouraged"  she admitted, "For years now I've been praying   for my family to become Christians and nothing has changed. Jack still gets drunk every weekend and Mum is talking about going to visit a Clairvoyant. are my prayers doing any good at all? Are they even getting through? Mum changes the subject whenever i talk about church and Jack just tells me to shut up talking about that god stuff. I wish I knew what to do!"

"It's hard not to be discouraged sometimes,"  he replied sympathetically, "Especially when you want something so much and nothing seems to be happening, I know I've felt that way too, that's when we have to trust that god knows what he's doing and keep on praying even though we don't feel like it. You know the story of Abraham and Isaac, how god gave him a son when he was 100 years old and Sarah was 90?  If he had given up praying for a son when he was 98 do you think Abraham would have gotten his miracle?"

"Probably not,"  she admitted thoughtfully.

"Anyway Marianne, it doesn't matter how far someone may be from accepting the truth, God can take the hardest of hearts and turn them around, look at what he did with the Apostle Paul. you remember we studied his story in the book of Acts? Before he became a Christian he actually persecuted the church. He believed that Christians were telling lies about god and so he tried to stop them but Jesus appeared to him on the Damascus road and stopped him in his tracks."

"So I guess if God could get through to someone like that, he can get through to my family, right?"

"Yes. Nothing is too hard for God, so just hold onto that. Keep Praying for wisdom about how and when to witness to them, look for opportunities to do good things for them   and most of all,keep praying for them. God will reach them at just the right time."

"I will,"  she said, feeling encouraged and much more hopeful, "Thank you."

All of us want to see our family and friends coming to know Christ. the most important thing we can do for them is pray for them and not give up even when we don't see results. We also need to ask God to show us what he wants us to do or say to them. We can show them the love of Christ by our actions, by doing things to help them, just like Jesus washed the feet of his disciples.   sometimes  God might tell us to say something, share a bible verse or talk about something we learned at church, while at other times the best thing we can do is drop the subject for a  while and pray that god will send someone else to speak to them, such as  a co-worker or friend whom they respect and would listen to.   

God wants our loved ones to be saved even more than we do, so we can trust them to him. the bible says:
The Lord isn't slow to keep his promise, as some think of slowness, but he is patient toward you, not wanting anyone to perish but all to change their
hearts and lives.
[2 Peter 3:9]

Prayer:
Dear god, we all have friends and family that we love and care about and we long to see them get saved and walk with you. We ask you will give us wisdom and show us what we can do, and help us to keep praying when we feel discouraged and remember that you love them much more than we could ever do. We commit them into your hands Lord, please do your will  in their lives. In the name of Jesus we pray, amen.