prayer

4 Prayers to Pray for Those Who Don’t Know Christ Yet

I tweeted out a request for prayer recently. There were some family members at a funeral I preached whom I know were unbelievers. I’m grateful for the many people who responded that they did and would be praying. To those of you who may take the time to read this, I appreciate your prayers. I could sense more warmth from them, but there was not an outward response that I could see. This circumstance got me thinking about praying for the lost, and I’d like to offer some suggested prayers we could lift up on behalf of those who don’t know Christ.

  1. Pray for the convicting power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of unbelievers. Jesus taught that the Spirit’s role is to convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8). Without his work in the lives of the lost, they simply will not come to Christ.
  2. Pray for the gospel to be preached/witnessed to unbelievers. Paul affirmed that the “gospel is the power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16). We should be prepared to be the answer to our own prayer here and look for opportunities to share the gospel with others.
  3. Pray that God would open the blinded eyes of unbelievers. One of Satan’s chief tasks is to blind and hinder unbelievers from seeing the glory of Christ and responding positively to him (2 Corinthians 4:4-6).
  4. Pray that God would give believers boldness to share the gospel. Even the apostle Paul asked for prayer that he might be a bold witness (Ephesians 6:19). Pray for one another that we might boldly preach, proclaim, and witness the gospel to others.

I know there are other things we can pray, but these four are a good start. And they should be a start, not a finish. Consistently praying for unbelievers is a fruitful task because God himself desires the salvation of the lost much more than we do (2 Peter 3:9). I’m reminded of one of my favorite George Müller stories. Müller ran an orphanage in England on faith and prayer in the 19th century.  He prayed for more than 50 years for two of his friends to come to faith in Christ. One day later in his life, someone asked George if he thought his friends would ever be saved. George responded, “Do you think my Lord would have me pray for my two friends for 50 years if he did not intend to save them?” True to God’s leading, one friend came to faith in Christ shortly before George died, and the other shortly after George died. So, let us persevere in praying for those who don’t yet know Christ.

I’ve got my names ready to pray these prayers on their behalf. Will you join me?

7 Spiritual Growth Suggestions for 2015

Can you believe it? We’re a week into the New Year already. I can remember growing up how I thought time moved like molasses—very slowly. The older I get, the faster time seems to move, especially trying to keep up with my two energetic little boys. Anyway, I’m sure many of you can sympathize with the speed at which each day seems to go by. Thinking about time and all that needs to be done and all that I want to get done is a necessary and sometimes frustrating endeavor.

Someone has said that we tend to overestimate what we can do in a day and underestimate what we can do in a year. That insightful thought reminds us change, improvement, or movement toward sanctification happens in a process and not overnight. So, how can we grow, improve, or change in 2015? Let me offer some suggestions that I am personally going to adopt this upcoming year.

  1. Be consistent in Bible reading and application. Ezra 7:10 reads, “For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.” I do read the Bible every day. I believe it is a requirement for spiritual growth. But God has been convicting me about living out what I read. So I’m going to try to apply specifically each day something I read from my devotional time.
  2. Grow in my prayer life. I pray every day, but the devotion, depth, and consistency of my prayer life is not what I believe God wants. I’m going to be trying something new. There are about 4-6 parts of my day that I would consider either starting points of the day or transition points (first thing in the morning, last thing at night, devotions with my family, first few minutes in my office, last few minutes in my office, etc.) My aim for 2015 is to make prayer the starting or finishing point for each of those daily transitions.
  3. Go on a mission trip. I’m the missions pastor at my church and annually go on a mission trip. But we are commanded by God to be on mission. One way we can all practically obey God’s commands is to set aside time, resources, and efforts to go on a mission trip.
  4. Read more broadly and consistently. A year ago in December, I finished a PhD, which required an enormous load of reading. While I didn’t take 2014 off from reading, I read significantly less. I’ve put together reading goals for this year that are broad and challenging.
  5. Be useful and give away what God is teaching me. Far too many Christians today soak in their spiritual development and inconsistently, if at all, share with others what they’ve learned. Through friendships, writing, teaching, serving, and leading God has reminded me that his followers are to invest in the spiritual lives of others.
  6. Share Christ personally with more consistency. I love my job and the opportunities I get to preach, teach, write, serve, lead, and share. But sometimes I’ve allowed my responsibilities within the church building to overwhelm my focus. This has at times resulted in a failure to consistently look for conversations and build relationships with those who don’t know Jesus. I know this is an area of my life that needs improvement in 2015.
  7. Renew my commitment to personal health. All of us have many demands on our time. But personal health is a part of spiritual health and growth. Mark Dance wrote about The Physically Healthy Pastor at Lifeway’s Pastors Today blogpost. While it’s targeted at pastors, I’m sure anyone would benefit from the principles.

These seven suggestions are in no particular order. And as a way of personal accountability, I plan to write on these topics through the year. I’ll share where some of these suggestions have worked or need to be amended (such as the prayer strategy). I also hope to share some stories where God is working in my own life teaching me important lessons in the year ahead. We’re all on a journey of spiritual growth. These are some of the suggestions I believe God is leading me to adopt this year. What about you?