Regarding prayer, particularly the prayers of those who have not yet accepted Jesus as their Savior, the Apostle Paul seems to tell us that God is always listening for prayers from those who may be seeking to come into a relationship with Him and His Son. Speaking to non-Christians at Athens, Greece, he says, “From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.” (Acts 17:26-27)
God answers prayers in three ways: 1) Yes, I will grant what you ask or make it happen, 2) No, you cannot have what you want, and 3) Maybe later. The object of prayer is to bring the heart and mind of the child of God into contact with the heart of God, that the child may be enabled to realize the fatherhood of God, his love and his deep interest in every item of our welfare. While there are many scriptures that tell us if we ask God for something, he will give it to us (Matthew 21:22, Matthew 7:7, John 11:22, Zechariah 10:1), there is also the scripture in James 4:3 which says, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.”
There are two really beautiful things about God’s Plan for mankind. First of all, the Bible teaches that ALL PEOPLE ARE SAVED through the sacrifice that Jesus gave by dying on the cross. 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, “For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ ALL shall be made alive.” 1 Timothy 2:3-6 states, “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires ALL men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for ALL, the testimony borne at the proper time.” Ephesians 2:4-5, 8 says, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ… For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”
The second beautiful thing about God’s Plan is that there will be a future kingdom on earth “in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13-14) and every man, woman, and child (as well as the earth) will be restored (Isaiah 35:5-10) and will be taught to live righteously (Isaiah 26:9).
