Do You Want To Quit Praying For Others?

With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints. - Ephesians 6:18 With sadness in her voice she opened up about her 23-year-old son and his girlfriend problems. He had been in a rotten relationship with a young lady for years. There was no doubt, after listening to his mother, that they were toxic for each other. Despite the pain, her son could not let her go—even though they hurt each other often. Everyone saw the relationship was doomed to failure. He would call his mother and pour out his broken heart to her and ask for her advice. Sadly, nothing ever changed. His girlfriend was like having a bad cold that would never go away. She even followed him out to California from Atlanta. My friend was at the end of her rope. She wanted to give up on her son. I encouraged her with the truth above from Ephesians and this truth from Hebrews: “And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end” (6:11). I admonished her not to quit with this promise, “And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). Who do you know who hasn’t changed and shows no signs of repentance, much less understands that he or she has a problem? Who are you tempted to quit praying for? What you are feeling is normal, but don’t quit trusting God to change them, ever! It seems like a paradox. They may never change, but we must never stop believing they can. Instead, “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary” (Galatians 6:9).