Yesterday morning I led our men’s breakfast by encouraging our men to identify five people for whom they will pray to be saved.
At the conclusion of the teaching time, I had two strong convictions.
First, our men want their friends to know Christ. Sometimes you can gauge the impact of a message by how many people talk about the point of the message. If that is a true gauge, then our men really do want their friends to know Christ.
I simply asked them to go to God in prayer and ask God to give them five people for whom to pray. Then, having received those names to pray deliberately, consciously, and fervently for those people.
Here is how I asked them to pray.
First, I asked them to pray that God would bless the people for whom they prayed. Isn’t that a natural thing to do? To ask God to bless lost people? After all, we want those people apart from God to have the best possible blessing – – we want them to know Christ.
Second, I asked them to pray that God would show their friends they needed Christ. Most people know they need something, but they do know that it is Christ. We need to pray that they would recognize their need for Jesus.
Third, I asked them to pray that God would illumine their eyes. Paul prayed that believers would have the eyes of their heart illuminated (Ephesians 1:18). We need to pray for ourselves and for our lost friends in the same way.
Paul also said that the unspiritual person has no way to understand spiritual principles (1 Corinthians 2:14). For this reason, we need to pray for spiritual illumination.
Finally, I encouraged them to pray that their friends might be saved. Paul said that his “heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel” was that they might be saved (Romans 10:1).
Shouldn’t that be our prayer for our friends, neighbors, and family?
My second impression was that when men – – or women – – pray for lost people the lost will be saved.
Would you pray for your friends?
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