Commissioned: Pray First: Unlocking Hearts Through PrayerSample

Faith and Prayer

When we ask God for something that is according to God’s will, we can trust God that He will hear us and give us what we ask. This is why praying for the salvation and spiritual health of those we love brings us such joy—we know we are praying for God’s will. We know that God loves those for whom we are praying and desires that they return to him and develop a relationship with Him. We know we are working with God for their good and for their salvation.

So why aren’t all our prayers for the conversion of others answered immediately? I can think of two reasons.

The first is timing. God, who is working out all things for the good of all who love Him, often delays the answer to our prayers for reasons only He knows. This teaches us perseverance in prayer and gives us the opportunity to grow in our trust for our loving heavenly Father. As one church father has said, “Do not be troubled if you do not immediately receive from God what you ask him; for he desires to do something even greater for you, while you cling to him in prayer.” (Catechism #2737)

The second reason is more complicated: God has given every person free will. It is up to each person to decide whether or not he or she will respond to God’s promptings. It is possible for people to resist the Holy Spirit when He speaks, to fight off his conviction, and ignore His expressions of love. God will not force anyone to return to Him, and we cannot control anyone with our prayers. This means that when we pray, we are entering into a spiritual battle alongside our Savior for the salvation of precious people. We are asking God to continue His loving work in their lives, and we share in His pain when they fail to respond. We are sharing in the sufferings of Christ for the salvation of the world.

And so, we pray with faith, knowing that God hears us and will answer. And, at times, we pray with pain, waiting alongside Jesus for our dear ones to turn to Him. Sometimes we even pray with tears. But we also pray with great joy, knowing that there is great rejoicing in heaven when one person returns to the Father.

Stop, think and pray:

Let’s pray for those in our oikos, and especially the five on whom we have chosen to focus, with confidence in God’s love for them and His desire to see them turn to Him in repentance and faith. Let’s allow Jesus’s heart of love, wounded for the world, to become our heart for those for whom we are paying.

Let’s pray to the Sacred Heart of Jesus:

“O my Jesus, you have said: “Truly I say to you, ask and it will be given you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you.” Behold I knock, I seek and ask that your grace would work in the hearts of these five dear ones. Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory Be…”