It is well that you have brought this burden before the throne of grace, for none can enter the kingdom save they be born from above, and no man is willing until the Father makes him so. The will of the natural heart is stout as iron until the Spirit melts it with love. Pray on, then; cry unto God with your voice, for though the use of the voice is not essential, yet when earnestness masters the soul it will have vent. The Lord has promised, “I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy,” and none are beyond the reach of His sovereign call.
Consider the snare that so often binds a landlord's heart, the counting-house logic that says, “We will go, we will buy, we will sell, we will get gain.” How many, like him, think they can both propose and dispose without asking God's consent! Yet if there be any reserved corner kept back from surrender, that very reserve will bleed the life right out of him. No man can hold a little of his own way and have the rest blessed. Christ must be all, or He is nothing. Let your prayer be that the owner may hear God's voice speaking in the Scriptures, for that Word alone has power to slay self-will and raise a new creation.
Remember, though his will seems hard as adamant, the work of the Spirit is to change the human will, making sinners willing in the day of God's power. The Lord never leaves His purpose half accomplished. Therefore, plead the blood by which you were purchased, and ask that this man may become a jewel for the Redeemer's crown. Where will he go if he persists in refusing? The first step to evil is less terrible than the seventh, but the precipice waits at the end. Cry then, “O God of Abraham, speak to this wanderer, that he may say, ‘I will go back, for Abraham's God has spoken to me.’” The Father pities them that fear Him, and He will avenge His own elect speedily; commit the matter to Him who says, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay,” and let your own reply to injustice be gentleness and kindness, this very meekness may be the arrow that pierces his conscience.
We will together lay hold upon the promise: “He will see him yet a great way off, and will run to meet him.” The treasure of God's people lies not in ready money but in promises to pay, and we have this note to take to the Bank of Faith: “They shall say, You are my God.” So cry on, for every true prayer lifts a stone from that stony heart. The Lord will not fail; He will not be disappointed. Sooner than you think, the owner may become a firebrand plucked from the burning, and then you will vie with him in singing, “I owe more to grace than any other!”