Kingdom
Praying for the Lost
For there is no difference between Jew and
Gentile — the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him,
for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
How, then, can they call on the one they have
not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not
heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can
they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet
of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:12-15, All scriptures are NIV
unless otherwise noted)
Praying
the Scriptures
To pray
effectively for the lost, we must first learn to pray with our mind (1 Corinthians 14:15), deliberately thinking through and selecting specific
verses. This truly is praying in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:18) as we allow the Holy Spirit to bring His Word to mind as
we pray.
Here are
a few verses we might select in our prayers for the lost. We’ve paraphrased the
verses.
Affirming
God’s heart for the lost—
He is not willing for anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9).
He wants all men to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4).
He gave
His only Son so that anyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have
eternal life
(John
3:16).
He sent His Son to be the Savior of the
whole world (1
John 4:14).
Jesus
has already paid the price—
Jesus gave Himself as a ransom for all
men (1
Timothy 2:5-6).
He has taken away
the sin of the world (John 1:29).
He suffered
death for everyone (Hebrews 2:9).
He gave
Himself as the atoning sacrifice for the whole world (1 John 2:2).
Acknowledging
what we know to be true of the lost—
They will not seek after God on their
own (Romans
3:11).
They cannot discern spiritual things (1 Corinthians 2:14).
God alone can draw them to Jesus (John 6:44).
God alone can enable them to come to
Christ (John
6:65).
They must be born again (John 1:13; 3:3, 5-7).
Seeking
God’s mercy to—
Make them alive with Christ even when
they are dead in their sins (Ephesians 2:5).
Save them by His grace (Ephesians 2:4-5, 8-9).
Give them the gift of faith (Ephesians 2:8).
Help them hear His call on their life (Romans 11:29).
Asking
God to—
Rescue
them out of the kingdom of darkness and bring them into the kingdom of His Son
(Colossians
1:12-14).
Send someone to open their eyes and turn
them from darkness to light (Acts 26:17-18).
Open their heart to respond to the truth
of the Gospel (Acts
16:14).
Give them new birth and new life through
the Holy Spirit (Titus
3:5, NLT).
Requesting
deliverance from Satan by—
Binding the strong man from them (Mark 3:23-27).
Overcoming evil spirits in the name of
Jesus (Philippians
2:9-11) and with the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 2:11).
Demolishing strongholds in their minds
by bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).
Protecting
them from evil—
Come against
the father of lies (John
8:44) with the Spirit of truth (John 14:16-17).
Keep them safe from the thief who wants
to steal the Word of God from their heart (Mark 4:14-15).
Let them remember every word of God’s
truth they have ever heard, for His Words are spirit and they are life. (John 6:63).
Granting
them receptive hearts that will—
Believe in Jesus (John 3:16; 3:36; 11:25-26).
Receive Christ and believe in His name (John 1:12).
Call on the name of the Lord and be
saved (Romans
10:13).
Confess
with their mouths “Jesus is Lord” and believe that God raised Jesus from the
dead
(Romans
10:9).
Giving
them yielded spirits that will—
Repent, lest they perish (Luke 13:3, 5).
Hear the Holy Spirit as He convicts them
of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment (John 16:7-8).
Allow the
Spirit to give them godly sorrow that brings repentance (2 Corinthian 7:10).
And in every prayer for the lost, no matter how far they
seem from seeing and hearing the Truth,
we acknowledge our confidence in the
Lord, knowing what is impossible with men is possible with Him (Luke 18:22-27)!
