GlobalChristians

Eternity 12 - Prayers That Work - Praying For The Lost

Paul prays for his Jewish compatriots to be saved. So Paul believes that God can act in response to believing prayer and save the lost. Your prayers can save souls. God answers prayer according to His will and God loves to see the lost saved and brought into the Kingdom, so God will answer when we pray for the lost.

I used to lead a chaotic, excited bible study group of students that started an experiment in prayer evangelism. We kept a group prayer journal in which we wrote our prayer requests and a date and then the date on which the prayer was answered. So many people got written in the left column - then in the 'answered' column that it was soon nicknamed "the book of life' because if your name got in it - you were almost certain to be saved! All we did was pray - and dozens of people were converted!

Back to Paul and Romans 10.......Paul says some very important things about the lost and how to pray for them .lets look at some key verses (please read the whole chapter later). The background is the problem - are the Jews lost? There is a lot of theology in there (Three chapters of it Romans 9-11) and we will just look at those bits that pertain to praying for the lost.

(Romans 10 NASB) Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. {2} For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. {3} For not knowing about God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. {4} For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Its not good enough to be zealous and religious - Jews and Muslims are zealous and religious but are not saved. They need an end to their own religious strivings, they need to believe in Jesus. remember to pray for "religious" people who are not born-again, they need salvation too.

{9} that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved;

But neither is the gospel complicated -we just have to pray that our friends can grasp and confess the simple gospel truths. The cross and resurrection and Jesus as Lord.

{10} for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. {11} For the Scripture says, "WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED."

"Whoever"..is a great assurance to the prayer warrior - "whoever" includes all sorts of people even the most hopeless cases.

{12} For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him; {13} for "WHOEVER WILL CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED."

Ethnicity and culture are no barrier. If you call on Jesus - you get saved.

{17} So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

We need to pray boldly that the word of Christ will reach them in a form they can understand.

20} And Isaiah is very bold and says, "I WAS FOUND BY THOSE WHO SOUGHT ME NOT, I BECAME MANIFEST TO THOSE WHO DID NOT ASK FOR ME."

Don't look for signs of interest - God can save even the uninterested and apathetic - He reaches out even to those who do not ask for Him.

God is a prayer answering God who calls us to pray for the lost and will reach out in answer to prayer to the most unlikely people. Start your own "book of life" with a few friends at church and pray for the lost today .

Blessings,

John Edmiston