I am certain you have had a time when the Lord has brought you to a sudden, unexpected point of repentance or resolution. Perhaps you’ve been fostering a sin, and while you may have known it was sin, you haven’t been willing to deal with it—to put it to death and come alive to righteousness. Or perhaps it wasn’t sin as much as lethargy or ambivalence—you had been convicted that you ought to take some good action or embrace some helpful habit, but you had repeatedly put it off. And then one day you suddenly found the resolve or gained the conviction, and you did what you ought to have done long ago.
I’m sure you were thankful in that moment. “God, thank you for enabling this obedience. Thank you for allowing me to take this step. Thank you for helping me to put one foot ahead of the other and do what I know I ought to have done long ago.” But I wonder if you considered that maybe, just maybe, this was actually the answer to other people’s prayers. I wonder if you considered that you were actually responding to prayers someone had prayed on your behalf.
Haven’t you ever determined that you will pray for another person, but not tell them what you are praying? It could be that you have spoken to your child about a particularly poor habit or a concerning lack of motivation. They have remained unmoved and apparently unmovable. So you have decided to leave it between them and the Lord and make it a matter of concerted prayer. Then one day you see your child doing the very thing you prayed about—perhaps finally taking his devotions seriously or dedicating herself to her studies in a whole new way—and you simply smile and whisper thanks to God. They may have no idea that their resolve is the answer to your prayer. And it may be best if it stays that way.
Don’t most spouses at one time or another have a matter they wish their spouse would address, but know that nagging or even explicitly addressing it would be ineffective? Don’t most pastors have longings for their parishioners that they simply take to the Lord rather than make a matter of outright confrontation? And haven’t we all seen God answer these prayers?
What you think is your own resolve is actually the result of their resolve and their labor in prayer.
This is what you ought to consider. In those times when you feel the burden to address a long-standing area of weakness, in those moments when you feel the Spirit letting you know that today is the day to begin the battle against that sin, in those days when you know the right thing to do and decide this is the day to do it, you may well be experiencing the answer to somebody else’s prayer. What you think is your own resolve is actually the result of their resolve and their labor in prayer. The idea you may think originated in your heart actually originated on their knees, and they have been faithfully interceding on your behalf. We are connected that way—from one to God to another in a chain of prayers offered, prayers received, and prayers answered.
And so at different times in life, you have the privilege and responsibility to be the answer to another person’s prayers, to take your part in this sacred chain. How can you know when it’s your time? By simply responding to the inner work of the Spirit as through Word, conscience, and providence, he makes it clear that today is the day to heed him, to obey him, to respond to what may well be the prayers of another saint.
