A friend asked the question: how to pray for the unbelievers, how to pray effectively?I believe that every Christian prays regularly for his family, friends, colleagues, or neighbors who do not yet know the Lord; and while we can and should pray for questions about their lives and circumstances, the focus of our prayers must always be on their salvation. Here are some ways the Bible can guide our prayers.
We begin with the prayers for salvation, each of which points to the same thing, but in a different way or angle, or using a different language, each of which is based on a specific text of Scripture.
- Pray that God will circumcis their hearts.
- Circumcision was the sign of the Old Testament of the entry into God’s covenant.
- Of being of God’s people.
- Having a circumcised heart symbolizes having a heart totally united to God.
- Completely subdued to Him.
- That of your offspring.
- To love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.
- That you may live?(Deuteronomy 30.
- 6).
Pray that God will give you a heart of flesh. The Bible opposes a heart of flesh, a heart that is alive and responds to God, with a heart of stone, a callous and stubborn heart. Pray that God will act within these unbelievers to change their hearts. “I will give you a heart, I will give you a new spirit; Shall I take the stone heart of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh?(Ezekiel 11:19).
Pray that God will put His Spirit in them. The great joy of salvation is to be inhabited by God Himself; Pray that God may grant this honor to these unbelievers, that he may be happy to live in them. Will I put my Spirit in you and make you walk in my statutes, my judgments, and fulfill them?(Ezekiel 36. 27).
Pray that they may come to Cristo. Si the unbelievers must be saved, there is only one way. They must come only through Christ and only through Christ. Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but for me?(John 14:6). Remember also that He is the only one who calls Him to come and be delivered from the burden of his sin (see Matthew 11:28-30).
Pray that God will open your hearts to believe in the gospel. Again, God must start and people must respond. So pray that God will open the hearts of these unbelievers so that they may, in response, believe, as Lydia. “Does the Lord open his heart to respond to the things Paul said?(Acts 16:14).
Pray that God will deliver you from the bondage of sin. The disbelievers may think they’re free, but they’re actually enslaved. They are slaves to sin, chained by their sin and sinful state. Pray that God will deliver you through His gospel. . ” But thank God, who once enslaved sin, yet have you come to obey in all heart the form of doctrine that has been given to you?(Romans 6. 17).
Pray that God will eliminate Satan’s blinding influence. The unbelievers have been blinded by Satan and will only be able to see and appreciate the gospel if God works in them. Pray that God will give you a spiritual vision. “century blinded the intelligence of the unbelievers, so that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, which is the image of God, may shine upon them (2 Corinthians 4. 4).
Pray that God will grant you repentance. Unbelievers cannot repent without God’s enabling grace. Therefore, pray that God will grant you repentance, that this repentance will lead you to the knowledge of the truth. Pray also that they may return to common sense and free themselves from the devil’s bonds. God grant you not only repentance to fully know the truth, but also a return to common sense, freeing yourself from the bonds of the devil, having been captured by him to fulfill his will (2 Timothy 2:25-26).
You prayed for the disbelievers using different words and approaching different angles, but you also have to pray for yourself.
Pray that I will develop relationships with them. For people to be saved, they must first listen to the good news of the gospel. Before you hear the good news of the gospel, do you first need to meet Christians?Christians like you. Pray that you will develop a deeper and more meaningful relationship with them so that you, in turn, can tell the truth, but how will you invoke the one you did not believe?And how they’ll believe the one they haven’t heard of. And how will they hear if there’s no one to preach?(Romans 10:14).
Pray for opportunities to serve them. Many people come to the faith after seeing the love of Christ manifested through the ministry of Christians; pray for opportunities to serve the unbelievers so that their ministry will have an evangelical effect; so that his light may also shine before men, that they may see. your good deeds and glorify your Heavenly Father? (Matthew 5. 16).
Pray for them with faith and perseverance. Our temptation is to be discouraged in prayer, to pray for a moment, and to give up when we see no visible results, but God calls us to persevere in prayer. Persevere in prayer, watching with thanksgiving?(Colosssenses 4. 2). (See also the parable of the insistent widow in Luke 18:1-8. )
Pray for the obligation to beg for your soul. Paul was eager to speak to the Church of Rome of his great desire to see the salvation of the lost. Do you share this deep desire? Pray that God will place great importance on souls. “Brethren, is the goodwill of my heart and my call to God that they may be to be saved?(Romans 10. 1).
Pray for the audacity to create and seize opportunities to share the gospel. Even Paul longed for this courage and confidence in the fact that he uttered the best correct words. Pray that God will give you courage and that when He seizes opportunities, He will guide your words. ?[Pray] for me as well; To be given the floor as I open my mouth to courageously make known the mystery of the gospel?(Ephesians 6. 19).
Pray that other believers will find them. God almost always uses a succession of people to share the gospel with people before they are saved. Pray, then, that God will lead other Christians into the lives of the unbelievers you love, that they too are an example of Christian life, and who also speak of the Gospel. “I planted, Apollo watered, but did God’s growth come?(1 Corinthians 3. 6).
Here are some other biblical accents to guide your prayers
Let’s pray that God will use any circumstance to do his work in them. Let us pray to a sovereign God to do his good will sovereignly. He often saves people in difficult circumstances, taking them to their own extremes. Let us pray, then, that God provides the circumstances, easy or difficult, to lead them to salvation. “Before I was afflicted, I was wrong, but now I keep my word? (Psalm 119. 67). When you pray for the unbelievers you love, always pray to God:” May your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven? (Matthew 6. 10).
Pray that God will grant you mercy. God assures us that He wants everyone to turn to him with repentance and faith. He’s not happy to see people perish. Let us pray, then, that God may be glorified in the salvation of this people. “The Lord does not delay his promise, for some believe that he is long, on the contrary, he suffers a long time with you, not wanting to perish anything, but all come to repentance (2 Peter 3. 9).
Pray with confidence. Finally, pray with confidence. God expects us to pray, God calls us to pray, God commands us to pray. Why? Because God likes to hear us pray and God is pleased to answer our prayers. So as you pray for the unbelievers, pray confidently that God will hear your prayers. “Many can, because of their effectiveness, plead with the righteous?(James 5. 16).