Christianity Oasis Forum

[splash]

Scripture Prayers for the Lost

Praying for our unsaved friends is the best way to begin reaching them for Christ. The following verses give us a biblical outline for these prayers.

For God to draw them to Himself
"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him . . . " (John 6:44).

That they would seek to know God
"But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul" (Deuteronomy 4:29).

For them to believe the Scriptures
" . . . faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ" (Romans 10:17).

That Satan would be prevented from blinding them to the truth
"The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Corinthians 4:4).

For the Holy Spirit to work in them
"When he [the Holy Spirit] comes he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness . . . But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth" (John 16:8,13).

That they would believe in Christ as Savior
"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life" (John 5:24).

That they would turn from sin
"Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out . . . " (Acts 3:19).

That they would confess Christ as Lord
"That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved" (Romans 10:9,10).

That they would take root and grow in Christ
"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness" (Colossians 2:6,7).

-adapted from Discipleship Journal, Issue 34, 1986.

[Lionhearted]

thank you splash!!

and i'd like to say a big amen to praying scripturally for our unsaved ones ...

of the 15 years i was praying for darrell, i only started praying scripturally the last 3; OHMYGOSH what a difference. the first 12 years, which were gruallingly (if thats a word) HARD ....

i mean how many times can you say:

save him God
show him Your light
reveal Yourself to him
give him ears to hear and eyes to see
i lift it up to You God, You know what's going on with it

...how benign and bereft of any of God's power

(praying my own words from my own heart with a sprinkling of God's Word, did nothing but frustrate me and make me give up so many times; in all honesty, you do run out of words, and how hard it is to always feel like a broken record before the creator of the universe ...

BUT, when i started using GOD's WORD to pray ..... SUCH POWER !!!

He actually took the scripture and made it my own. it made me want to pray all the time; i felt hungry to pray, .... not, obligated to struggle to find the words.

God is soooooo terrific !
robyn

[Tracy L]

Robyn,

How do you pray scripturally compared to our regular "save them Lord" prayers. I have unsaved loved ones that I pray for and I usually just say the things you were saying.

What is the difference? How can I be more effective?

Tracy

[Lionhearted]

well....

i believe that we can come boldly before God and call Him and His heavenly host to intervene here on earth; that is our birthright as sons and daughters given to us in Genesis when He gave us dominion over the whole earth. Let me put it another way; i believe God is wanting us to do this, because He says that He wants everyone to be saved ... and that He waits .... to work co-operatively with us. NOT that He co-operates with us but rather that we step into HIS plan .... i see that its an awesome opportunity to be able to step bodly and intensely into this realm of the supernatural, and ACTUALLY work with the Creator !!

i see prayer as a move into the supernatural ... i was, for the most part, fighting against satan, for darrell's soul. because in all reality, that's exactly what i was doing ... i was praying for God to move darrell out of darkness (taking him away from satan) into the kingdom of light.

in the past i had treated praying for someone's soul as .... well, like i said, obligatory ... and had foolishly tried to do it in my OWN strength using my own words, my own thoughts; i had stepped into a battlefield that i was not prepared for ... so satan was easily able to trip me up ... (discouragment, frustration, bitterness .... etc, when year, after year, darrell didn't get saved) i hadn't used the proper warfare weapons (see eph 6) ... what happens in war when we aren't trained properly or using any weapons ... we get slaughtered, which is what was happening to me.

there is only ONE offensive weapon ... vs. 17 .... and the sword that the Spirit wields, which is the Word of God. .... and in the next verse we are given the 'key' to that 'sword' ... Pray at all times in the Spirit.

so, in a nutshell ... i read God's Word ... as a prayer. You will find that all of God's Word is one long ... prayer!!

i remember when i first started doing this, completely out of obedience because i couldn't understand what He meant, so i just obeyed. it felt very much like the anglican church that i had briefly attended as a little girl. you know, all "wrote" prayers .... i really struggled to understand how this was supposed to work. but as usual, God is soooo very patient with me

He said ... "keep reading, keep doing it"

out of frustration (yet again) ... i was angry at God, i said, "its just words, i'm just reading words!

He said ... "thats the problem ... you don't believe"

i was shocked (and a little afraid) ... "i believe in YOU, and i believe in Jesus, and that You are truth" ... God said ... "you need to believe that my Word is ....more than truth; it is ... ALIVE and that there is MY POWER ... underneath those Words, and around those Words, and inbetween those Words ... Do you really believe & trust that I will do what I say in that Book?

and this is where i was broken and repentant ... He was showing me that i had a divided heart ... i wanted so desperately for God to save darrell, BUT .... but in the event that darrell didn't ever accept .... (that, that right there, that last phrase, was the division in my heart) ... there are NO buts with faith.

so now, i've choosen to put all my "eggs" in one basket. there are NO what ifs, or buts. its just His Word.

i'll give you an example:

thank you LORD for choosing darrell before the foundation of the world, for destining him to be your son. I pray LORD, to you, the God of my Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, that you would grand darrell a spirit of wisdom and revelation and insights into the mysteries and secrets, in the deep and intimate knowledge of YOU, by having the eyes of his heart flooded with light, so that he can know and understand the hope YOU have called him to and how rich and amazing YOUR inheritance is; LORD, i want darrell toknow and understand the surpassing greatness of YOUR power in him and for him because he believes in YOU. This same pwoer that YOU showed when YOU raised Jesus from the dead and seated HIM at YOUR right hand beyond our galaxy. Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name; not only in this age and world but also in the future age and world.

sometimes when i'm praying i only get a couple lines out and God takes me in another direction ....

i was a little leary that i was "naming and claiming" ... but God showed me the difference ... with naming and claiming, its done in the person's strength that's praying ... according to what THEY want ... they are, in effect, asking God to "come along in agreement" with THEIR prayers ....

in praying scripturally, you are asking God to bring you along side with HIS work ....

He said, what i was doing, WAS naming and claiming ... that He wanted me NOT to do that anymore.

i can give you more examples tracy, i just fear this answer has already been tooooo long. just pm me.

thanks for the opportunity to share

robyn







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[flutemusic67]

Ooooooooooo splashie! Imma use these while talking to my daughter! Thank you thank you!

*throws a towel over splash and runs away*