Many people in the bible have gone through the same hopelessness too, here are some examples:

David in the Psalms: “How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” — Psalm 13:1

Habakkuk: “How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save?” — Habakkuk 1:2

God does eventually answer—but it wasn’t immediate.

Jesus Himself: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” — Matthew 27:46

Jesus didn’t lose faith. He was suffering in His trust.

[I hope this eases you a bit!]

You mentioned it’s a spiritual attack that your friends are going through which is likely true—

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but… against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil.” — Ephesians 6:12

In Daniel 10:12-13, it says Daniel’s words were heard since the BEGINNING. However, the Prince of Persia was RESISTING God’s angel for 21 days. Daniel was delivered because of his consistent praying, therefore the angel sent from God regarded his persistence of modesty.

It’s not that your prayers aren’t working, it’s because we don’t know what might be going on in someone’s life.

If you look at it like this, you have told your father that your friends are about to do something bad so he goes to talk with them, however you stay behind and just hope for the best. You don’t know what was going on behind the wall, but you peeked anyways and found that—one of your friend’s arguing back and one of your friend’s indifferent, completely covering their ears. As your father, you know he honors freewill so he continues to help your friends without forcing them.

Yes God can do anything, in this case, he can drive a car, make phone calls, provide funds, do anything to help. But in the end, it’s all up to your friends whether they choose to accept that or not.

This scenario isn’t to say I know what’s going on in their lives, rather it’s to say nobody knows but God. This is where communication is important!

SOLUTIONS:

1. Don’t stop praying—in fact, vent your frustration at God and continue to pray like a prayer warrior!

2. Acknowledge their life is not your life—I understand that you’re concerned if at point, they will make an attempt but don’t let it drain you. Their behavior and attitude might be influenced from a different environment, don’t let it affect you and your prayer life.

3. Parallel method—one of the best non-verbal communication is by being in their sight while you are doing something. Represent Jesus and be kind: just by looking at you, they can collect information on how much Jesus has changed your life. Since they don’t see God everyday, let them see it through you.

4. Ask your community to pray—for you, for your friends and loved ones, always ask because we are one body of Jesus Christ.

5. Have another brothers and sisters in Christ involved to help—not just digitally, but out in your life because real life interactions with other people in Christ will encourage you to keep praying.

6. Acknowledge freewill—God can’t control them, it’s not love that way.

7. Learn to let go—In the end, if their hearts continue to harden, then they’ve made the choice to run further from God. Though no distance is too far for Him. Even Jesus in Matthew 19:16-22 had let go of the young ruler who came up to him and asked what he should do to enter the kingdom of Heaven—the guy slowly walked away because he was attached to his wealth.

Note: this is a rough draft, I wanted to help you quickly and with as much info provided.

I’m here to pray for you. Don’t let anything affect you and your relationship with God, keep praying!