Like me, there may be someone you really want to become a follower of Christ.
Again like me, you feel he or she knows the way to Jesus but is reluctant to take that last step of faith. You wonder what to do next.
Perhaps you haven't been specific enough in your prayers.
Neil Anderson, author of Praying by the Power of the Spirit, offers prayer ideas that have yielded results in his life and in the lives of others.
My wife and I often pray that a believer will come across the path of the individual we are praying for.
Neil Anderson endorses that idea and notes that Jesus declared that the harvest of potential believers is plentiful but there are few workers - few believers presenting the gospel. In Matthew 9, he tells us to pray for workers who will go out into the harvest.
Anderson mentions a missionary friend of his who prayed for his father's salvation for 25 years without success. A few weeks after he began praying for someone to come and share the good news with his father, the missionary said his father wrote to him to say that he had been invited to a Bible study in his apartment building and he had become a believer.
Anderson gives several other personal examples of this prayer approach leading to people giving their lives to Jesus.
Years ago, I remember hearing a preacher state that seekers often need to hear the gospel from several different people - and in different circumstances - before they become believers. Perhaps you need to pray for others to speak about Jesus to your friend or relative.
The author also urges us to:
The prayer for the rebellious is a hard one to pray. But Anderson said it is better for someone who is fighting God to experience what it is like to live in this fallen world if that is what it takes to find Jesus.Again like me, you feel he or she knows the way to Jesus but is reluctant to take that last step of faith. You wonder what to do next.
Perhaps you haven't been specific enough in your prayers.
Neil Anderson, author of Praying by the Power of the Spirit, offers prayer ideas that have yielded results in his life and in the lives of others.
My wife and I often pray that a believer will come across the path of the individual we are praying for.
Neil Anderson endorses that idea and notes that Jesus declared that the harvest of potential believers is plentiful but there are few workers - few believers presenting the gospel. In Matthew 9, he tells us to pray for workers who will go out into the harvest.
Anderson mentions a missionary friend of his who prayed for his father's salvation for 25 years without success. A few weeks after he began praying for someone to come and share the good news with his father, the missionary said his father wrote to him to say that he had been invited to a Bible study in his apartment building and he had become a believer.
Anderson gives several other personal examples of this prayer approach leading to people giving their lives to Jesus.
Years ago, I remember hearing a preacher state that seekers often need to hear the gospel from several different people - and in different circumstances - before they become believers. Perhaps you need to pray for others to speak about Jesus to your friend or relative.
The author also urges us to:
- Pray that the person will receive spiritual life (1 John 5:12);
- Pray against Satan blinding the person to the gospel (2 Corinthians 4:3-4); and
- For those who are rebellious, ask the Lord to "do what you have to do in order for them to come to their senses, but spare their lives."
Prayer is a powerful tool in preparing people to receive Jesus as Lord.
That's great advice Dad.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Andrew.
ReplyDelete