Praying for Someone Who Does Not Know Christ as Savior |
|
“I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers…”. Philemon 4
This blog post focuses on prayers for salvation. Of course, we pray for many things for friends – for health, for God to provide for them and their family, maybe for help in finding a job, or that their travel will be uncomplicated. But this post is about prayer for the most important thing in life — trusting Christ as Savior.
It is hard to watch friends struggle through life without Christ. Praying for our friends and family who have not yet trusted Christ as their Savior is a loving and appropriate response to our concern and love for them. Some of our friends might doubt some aspect of their Christian faith. We are to pray for them, too. So how should we pray for them?
Praying the Scripture is a good way to pray at any time. Here are a few examples of Scripture passages you might consider in prayer for not-yet-Christian friends. These prayers are just examples to encourage you to pray in your own words.
Pray Faithfully (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
Father, here I am again praying for my friend, Joe, who is without Christ in his life. He is a good friend to me and I rejoice that you have given me such a good friend and a kind person. Father I pray for Joe to trust Christ as his Savior. You have told us to pray for the outcomes we want, Father, and so I’m praying for Joe to receive the forgiveness that is his through faith in Christ. I pray he will be reconciled to You, Father, through the finished work of Jesus on the cross who died and rose from the dead for Joe, just as He did for all of us. Thank you so much for the assurance of eternal life with you, and I pray that Joe will know this assurance in his life, too. Thank You, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Pray for an Ambassador (2 Corinthians 5:20)
“Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us; we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.”
Father, my prayer is that an ambassador in addition to me might go to my friend, Joe, to present the gospel of Christ to him. I pray that the Holy Spirit would open Joe’s heart to the gospel, Father, so he can hear and understand that it is for him. I pray he will hear, understand, and trust the truth of the gospel so that he can be made new in Christ through his faith and receive eternal life. I’m praying in Jesus’ name for Joe.
Pray Believing (John 20:29)
“Jesus said to him, ‘… Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed.”
Father, I you know that I am Your child by virtue of Christ’s sacrifice for me. You know how much gratitude I have for Your gift of faith and eternal life through Christ. I pray that You will help Joe to hear and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ as I present it to him today. I believe that Joe can hear the gospel, Father, and that he, too, can call You “Abba! Father!” because You love him. I am convinced that nothing can separate us from Your love. I want this awareness of Your love for Joe, and I pray, believing that all things are possible for You. May Joe trust Christ alone today as his Savior, not the good things he may have done for others, but that he will realize that Christ died for him and that trusting Christ as Savior is the only way. I pray he will know that his sins are forgiven because of Christ’s sacrifice as his substitute, and that, through faith in Christ alone, he will have the gift of eternal life in heaven, and the Holy Spirit’s presence in his life to help him live each day. Thanks in advance for Your mercy and grace for Joe, Father. I’m praying in Jesus’ name for Joe.
Pray faithfully. Pray for an Ambassador. Pray believing. And share the gospel.
No comments:
Post a Comment