“The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance.”
– 2 Peter 3:9
2 Peter 3:9 is one of those verses that I just want to encourage you to memorize, to lodge away in your mind and your heart, and pray according to often, to call God to be faithful to this Word often. The Bible is talking here in 2 Peter chapter 3 about when Jesus will return and some people saying that He’s not coming back, He’s not coming back anytime soon, and the Bible saying the Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but He is patient.
Lord we pray that you will bring many to repentance, that they may know You and realize Your patience and kindness to sinners.
He is patient why? Because He is not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. God desires all people to reach repentance. God loves the world, John 3:16, so much that he gave His Son so that whosoever anywhere might believe in Him and have eternal life. He does not want the people He has created to perish. God desires the people He has created to reach repentance, and so when we pray we pray in light of this desire. Right now let’s pray for the people around us.
2 Peter 3:9 Wants Us To Pray For People In Our Lives
God, we pray, even as people are coming to my mind right now who I exercise with, who I am coaching on ball teams with my kids, and parents, and people in the community around me, people I’ve met over the last week in this city, people who are coming to gathering with our church this Sunday who don’t know you, God, others that other people are thinking of. Just think of people right now who you know don’t know Christ, who are separated from God by their sin, just friends, family members, neighbors, coworkers, people in your community, city. God, we just read in your word that you do not wish that any should perish but that all should reach repentance and so we are praying that you would bring many of these people, bring them, we pray to repentance.
This Verse Prays For Repentance For The People Around Us
God, please bring people to repentance. Please bring these friends of mine to repentance, I pray. These people in my city to repentance, people who are coming to our church this Sunday, or don’t know you. God, please bring them to repentance. Please, oh God, I’m pleading for you to show your love. You have been patient. You have given them another day. And you have prolonged the coming of your Son that they might reach repentance. Please, oh God, may it be so.
I pray this for people around me. I pray this for others who are coming into people’s minds. God, please, please, please save family members we have been praying for years. You have been patient with them. You have prolonged their lives. Please bring them to Christ, we pray. God, we pray for friends we’ve been praying for for so long. Please bring them to Christ. Please bring them to repentance. God, we know you love them. You desire their repentance, so bring them to it, we Pray.
2 Peter 3:9 Prays For The Chechens In The North Caucuses Of Russia
We pray this for people groups around the world. We’re praying, God, constantly for unreached people groups, God, for the Chechens in the North caucuses of Russia. God, please, 1.5 million of them. They have little to no knowledge of Jesus. They’re resistant to Jesus, yet you desire their repentance, that you have sent Jesus to save them from their sins. God, please save Chechens in the North caucuses of Russia, please, oh God. Please show yourself. God, please be faithful to 2 Peter 3:9, and with the patience you have shown draw many people to repentance. These that we’ve prayed for, please, oh God, draw them to repentance. We pray these things according to your Word, with gratitude for your patience with us. Please use your patience with them to bring them to repentance. in Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
