God told Cornelius, ‘Your prayers…have gone up as a memorial before [Me].’ Memorials are usually built for people who are dead and gone. What a great promise this is. Even after you have gone to heaven, the prayers you pray on behalf of your loved ones become a memorial before God, getting His attention and moving Him to action. So, don’t stop praying. Saint Augustine is considered to be one of the most influential figures in the history of Christianity, but he didn’t start out well. Young Aurelius Augustinus lived for three decades in utter immorality. And for each of those decades, his mother, Monica, prayed for him, following him to Carthage, to Rome, and on to Milan, weeping, pleading, and assaulting heaven in prayer on his behalf. Monica lived to see her son become a mighty man of God. You may or may not live to see your loved one turn to Christ, but know this: God says, ‘Your prayers…have gone up as a memorial before [Me].’ We’re talking about the posthumous power of prayer. John the Revelator caught a glimpse of it when he visited heaven and described what he saw in these words: ‘Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand’ (Revelation 8:3-4 NKJV). So, the word for today is – keep praying, and God will answer your prayers.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.