J.C. Ryle:
“Let us take heed that we pray for others also. Let us beware of selfish prayers – the prayers which are wholly taken up with our own affairs, and in which there is no place for other souls beside our own. Let us name all whom we love before God continually. Let us pray for all – the worst, the hardest, and the most unbelieving. Let us continue praying for them year after year, in spite of their continued unbelief.
“God’s time of mercy may be a distant one. Our eyes may not see an answer to our intercession. The answer may not come for ten, fifteen, or twenty years. It may not come until we have exchanged prayer for praise, and are far away from this world. But while we live, let us pray for others. The greatest kindness we can do to anyone is to speak for them to our Lord Jesus Christ. The day of judgment will show that one of the greatest links in drawing some souls to God, has been the intercessory prayer of friends.”
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