Who in your life that doesn't know God do your pray for regularly? Are there people that seem far from God or seem so opposed to Jesus that you're certain they'll never have a relationship with Christ? It can be tempting to give up on these people after months and even years of praying for them, loosing any faith or hope you have that they would one day know Christ.
Today I want to encourage you to keep hoping and believing in faith. All it takes is a single word or encounter with Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God to change a person's life forever.
I read today about Saul. If there was anyone in the Bible that seemed so opposed to the early church, such an enemy of the followers of Christ, such a lost cause then it was Saul. We are first introduced to him Acts 8:1 where he is watching and approving the stoning and death of a man named Stephen. Then a few sentences later it says Saul began to destroy the church. To remind us that this wasn't just a short lived hobby of his, in Acts 9:1 it tells us that Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. If there was ever a person that one would loose hope for ever knowing Christ, then Saul was that person.
As Acts 9 continues though we see a beautiful sequence of events. Saul has a powerful encounter with Jesus Christ and his life is changed forever. In Acts 9:19 we see him being baptized, and then in verse 20 it says that at once he began to preach that Jesus is the Son of God.
Saul goes from an enemy of the church, to it's strongest supporter. From persecutor to proclaimer of the resurrected Jesus Christ. From murder to a man who one day will be a martyr for his faith.
If it's possible for Saul to have his life radically changed and to become a follower of Christ, then it's also possible for the person you're praying for. Don't give up. Keep hoping, believing and standing in faith. All it takes is one encounter with Christ... maybe today will be the day!
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