老婦人說：「五十年來，我一直為你禱告。」小陸聽了滿懷感恩。當時，我的朋友小陸到了保加利亞的一個村莊，他的父親在這村莊長大，十幾歲時就離開了。這位老婦人是基督徒，住在小陸祖父母家的隔壁。在五十年前，當她聽說小陸在遠方出生了，就開始為小陸禱告。現在，超過半世紀之後，小陸因公務去到那座村莊，並在那裡向一群人講述他的信仰，提到自己年近三十才成為基督徒。在他結束談話後，這位老姐妹近前告訴他，自己多年來持續為他禱告。這使他不禁想到，這位老姐妹堅持不懈的代禱，對他的信主必定帶來了影響。

我們可能永遠都不會知道，你我在這世上的祈禱會帶來什麼樣的影響。但我們從聖經中看到這樣的勸勉：「你們要恆切禱告，在此警醒感恩」（歌羅西書4章2節）。這是使徒保羅寫信給歌羅西信徒時所說的話，保羅也請求他們為他禱告，讓他無論去到哪裡，上帝都為他「開傳道的門」，使他能夠傳講福音信息（3節）。

有時候，我們可能會認為：我沒有禱告的恩賜。但在聖經羅列的各種屬靈恩賜中，並沒有包括禱告。也許這是因為上帝盼望我們每個人都能恆切地禱告，這樣你我才能看到只有上帝才能做成的事。

“I’ve been praying for you for fifty years,” said the elderly woman. My friend Lou looked into her eyes with profound gratitude. He was visiting the Bulgarian village that his father grew up in and left as a teenager. The woman, a believer in Jesus, lived next to his grandparents. She began to pray for Lou as soon as she heard about his birth a continent away. Now, over half a century later, he was visiting the village on a business trip, and while there he spoke to a group about his faith. Lou hadn’t become a believer in Jesus until he was almost thirty, and when this woman approached him after he spoke, he wondered about the impact her persistent prayers had made on his coming to faith.

We’ll never know the full effect of our prayers this side of heaven. But Scripture gives us this counsel: “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful” (Colossians 4:2). When Paul penned those words to believers in the small city of Colossae, he also asked for prayer himself so that God would “open a door” for his message wherever he went (v. 3).

Sometimes we may think, I don’t have the spiritual gift of prayer. But of all the spiritual gifts listed in the Bible, prayer isn’t among them. Perhaps this is because God longs for each of us to pray faithfully, so that we may see what only He can do.