God Never Forgets A Prayer

Yesterday, I visited a local church whose pastor I have known for many years. In fact, I didn’t know if he was still doing ministry there. The pastor was concluding a message series on prayer. He had read an inspiring true story in a book and related it. I was moved by his message, especially this story.

The author described his journey and how prayer had greatly impacted him. His love of prayer was rooted in the prayers of his mother, whom he could hear praying in her bedroom each night.

One time, he was talking with his mother about her prayer life. She explained to him that God had once communicated to her that He was still working on prayers that she had prayed many years ago. She went on to tell her son that God never forgets a prayer, even generations later.

God never forgets a prayer. Those words sent me into a world of wonder, and this morning I am still wondering.

How did I get to where I am? Why did God save me from myself so many years ago and is still at work doing it? What made me stop such a destructive lifestyle when I was young? Why in the world did I decide to become a pastor? How is it that I have been able to preach and teach the Gospel in so many places in the world? How did I end up with such a good marriage for thirty-eight years after failing the first time? How did I persevere through the hundreds of travails that came my way over the past seventy years? How did I raise kids who all love Jesus? Where did all these grandchildren come from?

The list could continue indefinitely. This sentence, “God never forgets a prayer,” has invited me to ask two profound questions. Perhaps these thoughts apply to you, too.

1.    Who prayed for me to get me where I am today? How far back in my family do those prayers go? Was it my Grandmother, who I remember reading her Bible and praying from her rocking chair in her tiny apartment while I mowed her yard? Was it a great-grandfather whom I never knew? Was it someone in a prayer meeting at Bethany Christian Church where I grew up attending?

My life is, in part, the result of my mother’s prayers. Maybe I am still reaping from those prayers for little Donnie by my aunt Idell. My sister and her small group prayed me back into the Kingdom when I had turned my back on God. Hundreds of people in my church and network prayed me through dozens of tough spots. Friends I’ve long forgotten requested blessings for me that I am still reaping. I’ve gone forward at altar calls several times through the years. Was it that lady who prayed for me in that church in Chicago?

All these forgotten prayers are still being fulfilled by a God who never forgets a prayer. And, how many prayers have you prayed throughout your life, ones you don’t remember praying, are still be answered?

Who prayed to get you where you are today? What forgotten prayers are still being worked out by the God who never forgets a prayer?

Whoever they are, you might want to take a few moments to thank your Maker for those faithful people who loved you enough to ask for His blessings. God never forgot their prayers.

2.    Our prayers today matter tomorrow.

For many years, I have kept a prayer journal. I started writing down parts of my prayers because writing helped me to focus. Honestly, I can be talking to God, take a quick trip to the Caribbean and back in my mind, then return to our conversation. I was regularly apologizing to the Almighty for getting distracted.

So, I started writing down the essence of the prayer, forcing me to focus on what I was saying to Him. I am delighted I started this practice. Now, I have years of requests written for posterity. I can return to old journal books and be fascinated by what concerned me in 2015 or 2010. I have forgotten many of my pleas, thanksgivings, and confessions.

But God did not forget. I am still reaping the benefits of prayers offered years ago.

Many requests we make from the Lord take years and years to fulfill. Meanwhile, we forget and then assume He said “No” to our plea.

Your child may be sixty-two before he gets his act together. You may get the job you want when you are seventy. Your marriage might take years to get right. You may finally reach your goal weight at fifty. You may enjoy time with your wife who has cancer only on the other side of this life. The money you need may elude you for seven more years. Your mental health may break a threshold five years from now. The healing you desire may have been there all along in another form you couldn’t see.

Sometimes, our prayers of several months are forgotten but fulfilled. Then it dawns on us: I prayed for this last year and figured it would never happen. Oh, that God; He never forgets. Thanks, Lord.

My advice: Keep praying. Pray more, pray harder, pray with zeal, pray quietly, pray when it hurts, watch, and pray. And don’t worry if you forget what you prayed for. God never forgets.

Live Inspired!

Don Mark