People need to be ready to receive the good news of the Gospel. Sometimes we get impatient with God because He doesn’t answer our prayers immediately. We ask God for many things and for many people. Today I want to focus on our prayers involving others receiving Jesus in their heart. We often pray for loved ones who don’t know Jesus, people who have walked away from God, or friends and family who, in our opinion, and are not living their lives according to the Bible. But who are we to judge them? No one truly knows another person’s heart and their personal relationship with Jesus.
Some people are vocal about their relationship with God and others like to keep it to themselves. Over the years, I have changed my approach to praying for my loved ones. I now pray for my friends and family members to get closer to God. That way, regardless of how close or how far they may be in their walk with God, my prayer is valid. I personally want to get closer to God in my own faith journey.
Sometimes we pray for the same person for many years, and we don’t see results. We talk to those people and try to convince them to follow Christ. We read Bible passages and send them texts, and nothing happens. It’s like we’re sending messages to a wrong phone number or like our emails got stuck in spam… never answered. But today I want to encourage you to never stop sharing the Gospel with all the people that God puts in your path during your life. Each person matures spiritually in their own time. Every person is unique and the timing when their heart is ready to receive the message is God’s timing, not ours.
Therefore, don’t get discouraged when the person you’re praying for does not respond to you. Often, God sends a different person at just the right time, who tells them something that opens up their heart to receive salvation. Other times, an event happens in their life that breaks them down to the point of repentance or desperation where they cry out to God to help them. They receive the gift of salvation then. But all the seeds that you and others planted in this person’s heart over the years allows this person to be ready at the right time in their lives.
All in God’s timing. Are you ready to receive the gift of salvation? If you already have it, are you ready it to share it with others? I leave you with this scripture to encourage you:
1 Corinthians 3:6 (NLT) “I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.”