In our role as believers it is our responsibility to know God's will. His Word is His Will. We pray effectively for the salvation of our marriages because we KNOW that divorce is NOT God's will.
That others HAVE 'free-will' is a given since the garden when God clearly stated to Adam and Eve to NOT eat of that ONE tree. Why else would He have even had it be there except to illustrate that mankind would have the freedom to choose? He also states in Deuteronomy 30 ..."I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live...." So there you have it again, Him giving us free-will yet telling us it is HIS WILL that we "choose life".
In this, the age of grace, I don't know that God is hardening hearts. I know He will do that again in the "end times" but although we are close, I don't think we're there yet. He still wishes, like you said, that "all come to repentence". THAT is HIS will. We pray His will over those we love. We pray for God to send ministering spirits to them, we pray for them to have "eyes to see and ears to hear", we pray that God reveal Himself to them. Since our prayers are all within what He STATED to be His will...that's our assurance in His answer. That is why when we pray that prayer that is over in the separated forum, we are praying so much of His Word right back to Him. Not because He doesn't know what He said, of course He knows, but so that HE KNOWS WE KNOW what He said and that we know also that His Word "doesn't return to Him void".
