Strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf. Romans 15:30 ESV

Could persistent, seemingly unanswered, prayer be a means of grace in your life? In the lives of others?

Augustine (also “Augustine of Hippo” and “Saint Augustine”) (354 – 430) was one of the most influential Christian theologians of all time. His fifth-century writings in support of biblical orthodoxy and against the prevailing heresies of his day shaped Western thought for centuries.

Augustine is best known through his Confessions, the personal account of his early years, filled with prideful pursuits in academia, wanton sexual promiscuity, and the persistent rejection of Christian truth.

In the midst of the tale of a hell-bent young man, we meet his mother, Monica – a woman who prayed fervently for her son year after year, even when there was no visible evidence that her prayers were being heard or answered.

History relates that one day she went to the local bishop, to see if he could somehow talk some sense into her prodigal child. Looking into her eyes, he assured her that God would choose His own way of getting through to her son one day. “It is not possible,” he said to her, “that the son of so many tears should perish.”

And so it was, that at the age of thirty-two, the son of Monica’s tears stopped running from God and was powerfully converted to faith in Christ.

One of the most potent means of grace in children’s lives is the gift of praying parents. And though untold weeks and years can elapse without getting the answer they hope for, this often toilsome process is part of what He uses to sanctify believing parents, draw them closer to Him, and amaze them with the lengths He is willing to travel to rescue their children.

Are you grieving over a son or daughter or another loved one who is resisting God? Don’t stop praying. Keep laying hold of God. The last chapter is not yet written. He is still weaving your faithful, earnest prayers into His story for their lives.

#identifiedwithChrist #prayer

Adapted From The Quiet Place, a devotional by Nancy Leigh DeMoss