Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved – Rom. 10:1 NIV
During the moments I spent with my wife just before her death, the Lord taught me many great things. But one thing I was shown that really hit me hard.
“I spent a great deal of my time praying to keep Christians out of heaven, while also hardly spending any time praying to keep sinners out of hell.”
Here is what I know to be true:
200 million Christians in at least 60 countries are denied fundamental human rights solely because of their faith.
176,000 Christians are martyred each year. If the trend continues, 210,000 Christians will be martyred in 2025.
Abel was the first Christian martyr in the Bible (Gen. 4:8).
James was the last Christian martyr in the Bible (Acts 12:2).
The divorce rate among Christians and non-Christians is about the same.
The percentage of Christian who get cancer is the same as the percentage of non-Christians
The death rate of Christians and non-Christians is the same:
1/1 Christians who tithe die
1/1 Christians who pray regularly die
1/1 Christians who go to church regularly die
1/1 Christians with orthodox theology die
1/1 Christians die
1/1 non-Christians die
The main point: Christians should not expect to be delivered from the problems of this life. Therefore, how is it that I am spending so much of my time praying fervently for Christians to be healed from their diseases and sicknesses in order to be kept from going to heaven prematurely (in my thinking), and so much lesser time praying for sinners to be kept out of hell which is far worse?
When I get word that someone has cancer or some other debilitating disease, I rush into intercession. I pray and if led to, I fast. I go the whole nine yards to keep that believer from entering early into heaven, but I can’t remember the last time I gave my all in prayer for my unsaved neighbor in order to keep him out of hell!
What is the answer? I should not stop praying for my brothers and sisters who are in need of healing, but I must also with the same intense desire and passion add to my prayers those who are lost and without Christ, so that unless God intervenes, will enter into a Christless eternity.
My prayers have been lopsided! This is another great lesson my late wife has left with me to think about.
