Dear friend, if you have been praying for a long time for the salvation of one who is near and dear to you, and your prayer has not been answered, and that person has even gone from bad to worse than I want you to never give up praying. Remember that Jesus can save any man, while he is yet out of Hell. No case is absolutely hopeless, while Jesus lives.
We sometimes meet with amazing instances where prayer is answered at last. I have read of a woman who prayed long for her unsaved husband. She used to attend a certain meeting-house in the north of England, but her husband never went with her. He was a drinking, swearing man, and she had much anguish of heart about him. She never ceased to pray, and yet she never saw any result. She went to the meetinghouse alone, and her dog always went with her. This faithful animal would curl himself up under her seat and lie quiet during the service.
When she was dead, her husband was still unsaved, but doggie still went to the meetinghouse. Curiosity made him follow the dog one Sunday. The dog led him down the aisle to the seat of his dear old mistress. The man sat on that seat, and the dog curled himself up as usual. God guided the minister that day; the Word came with power, and that man wept until he found the Savior.
Never give up hope for your loved ones; for the Lord may even use a dog to bring them to Jesus, when you are dead and gone. Never give up praying, hoping, and expecting.
Others have been converted to God under very extraordinary circumstances. Two vile fellows planned to rob the house of a minister, who was accustomed on Sunday evenings to gather people together in his parlor, and preach the gospel to them. The thieves thought that if they could get into the house with the people during the evening and hide themselves away then they could rob the house easily during the night; and so, they snuck into the room next to that in which the Word was being preached. But they never robbed that house, for through the godly minister's sermon, the Lord Jesus conquered their hearts, and they came forth to confess their sin, and to become followers of the Savior!
Let the same truth be fully believed as to yourselves. O my dear reader, you may think you have gone too far into sin to be saved, but you have not. You may imagine that your case is altogether hopeless; but you are just the sort of person that Jesus saves.
[Charles H. Spurgeon]
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1 Timothy 1:15 ... This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
Luke 5:32 ... I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. ❤
