Last week:
Saw that we should pray for our one.
God wants me to pray for the salvation of my one because he wants to save him/her.
Prayer reaches my one when I can’t.
Prayer changes my one in ways I can’t.
Prayer prepares my one to receive the gospel.
Prayer prepares me to share the gospel.
God is already at work in my one, but Satan is, too.
Prayer is a powerful resource in reaching my one.
Left the question, “How should I pray for my one?” unanswered. That’s our topic this week.
This is a critical question.
For many of us it is not how to pray for a lost person.
Many of us have been using the 30 Day Prayer Guide for our one this week.
I used the blank sheet opposite the prayer guide to jot down the main prayer focus of each day’s prayer. I’ll continue to do so, as these will become things that I can continue to pray for for my one.
Let me share the seven so far:
My one needs to be convinced Jesus .
God must give my one a .
I want my one to turn to Jesus for from life’s burdens.
God needs to my one’s heart to the gospel.
My one needs to know he/she is to sin but can be set free by Jesus.
God needs to remove the Satan has put on my one’s eyes.
My one needs to truly of sin not just be sorry for the consequences of it.
We return to the main scripture passage of last week:
1 Timothy 2:1–4 (NASB95)
First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,
for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.
This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Paul uses to describe the praying we are supposed to do for all people, including those who are not yet saved.
NASB: entreaties, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings.
NIV: petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings
ESV: supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings
CSB: petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings
With the exception of the first word, three of the translations are identical. The NASB is the outlier with two different words used.
I prefer how the NIV, ESV, and CSB all translate the last three words: prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings. It is the last two types of prayer that will be the main focus of our prayers for our one.
Two main types of prayer when praying for our one
Give thanks that:
God your one to be saved
God is already your one to Jesus
God will your prayers for your one’s salvation
Going before God in behalf of your one and asking in his/her place.
What should we ask (intercede) for?
I. What they might ask for if they were asking
Think: If our one is seeking spiritual truth, what might he/she ask for?
?
?
?
?
?
?
We can pray on their behalf for these things.
II. What he/she does not know to ask for
1. Belief in
How God reveals himself:
Romans 1:18–20 (NASB95)
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
Romans 2:4 (NASB95)
Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
Acts 14:16–17 (NASB95)
“In the generations gone by He permitted all the nations to go their own ways;
and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.”
Pray your one will through his creation, his kindness, and his provision. Pray he/she will get answers to his/her questions about God.
2. Belief in as God’s Word and the Gospel as the truth
May not see the Bible as God’s revelation and true or the gospel as true
May believe in some other source of authority.
2 Peter 1:16–21 (NASB95)
For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”—
and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.
So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.
But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,
for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
Pray your one will the Bible is God’s authoritative word and that the gospel is absolutely true.
3. Knowledge of itself
May never have heard it.
May have heard a distorted gospel.
Romans 10:14 (NASB95)
How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?
Pray they will be exposed to the gospel . Pray that Christians will be in their lives and . Pray God can use all forms of media to expose them to the gospel.
4. Ability to the gospel
Ephesians 4:17–19 (NASB95)
So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,
being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;
and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.
Pray your one can have:
about himself/herself, their sin, etc..
of who God is, who Jesus is, who they are in God’s eyes, etc.
Sensitive
to listen to the gospel.
5.
Matthew 18:3–4 (NASB95)
and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
“Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Pray your one will not be but come to God as a little child – humble and open.
6. of sin and lostness
John 16:8 (NASB95)
“And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;
1 John 1:8 (NASB95)
If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
Pray your one will no longer excuse his/her sin but see it . Pray the Holy Spirit shows them they are lost without trusting Jesus.
7. and belief
Mark 1:15 (NASB95)
and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Pray your one will come to repentance and with put his/her faith in Jesus alone for his/her salvation.
8. from what else is keeping them from Christ
According to the Bible lost people are:
– unable to understand the gospel or their need for it
2 Corinthians 4:3–4 (NASB95)
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,
in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Pray that God their mind so they can understand the truth of God, the Bible, sin, their lostness, Jesus, the way of salvation, etc.
– unable to freely choose
2 Timothy 2:26 (NASB95)
and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.
Pray that God breaks Satan’s over their life and gives them to choose Jesus.
– surrounded by sinful habits, etc.
2 Corinthians 10:3–4 (NASB95)
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh,
for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
Pray against Satan has built up around your one.
CONCLUSION
We can learn to pray for our one and anyone else who is lost.
It begins with asking God him/her and he will.
We then ask for what he/she if he/she was seeking the truth.
To this we add for things that he/she would probably never know to ask for.
As we listen to while we pray, we will be directed to specific things to pray for for our one.