"Unless the Holy Ghost blesses the Word, we who preach the gospel are of all men most miserable, for we have attempted a task that is impossible. We have entered on a sphere where nothing but the supernatural will ever avail. If the Holy Spirit does not renew the hearts of our hearers, we cannot do it. If the Holy Ghost does not regenerate them, we cannot. If He does not send the truth home into their souls, we might as well speak into the ear of a corpse." - C. H. Spurgeon
If you have a heart for friends and family whom you’d like to see come to know Christ as their Savior, it is imperative to join your gospel witness to them with prayers from Scripture.
Hebrews 4:12 declares that God’s word is sharper than a double-edged sword. As you pray for your friend(s) using Scripture, you’re joining with the truth God has already spoken and thinking your thoughts after God on their behalf.
The 12 prayers below ask God to work in the life of the person you’re praying for in a saving way, and they tie your prayers with a relevant Scripture passage.
1. Gracious God, in you great mercy, set my friend ______ free from spiritual captivity. Grant repentance to _____ leading them to a saving knowledge of the truth, that they may escape from the snare of the devil having been taken captive by him to do his will. (2 Tim 2:23, 26) Enable me to gently instruct ______ when he/she is in opposition to you,
2. Father, my friend _____ has a zeal for God but seeks to establish their own righteousness, and they did not submit to Christ's righteousness. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. My heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.(Romans 10:1-4)
3. Lord, plow the fallow ground of ______’s heart making them receptive to your Word. Make the seed fall on the good soil you have tilled. Give ______ a noble and good heart, help him hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. (Luke 8:11-15)
4. God, In you mercy, cure the blindness on ______’s mind caused by the god of this age. Grant ______ new spiritual eyes to see. May _____ see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4)
5. God, unplug the ears of ______ that they might hear your word. Grant ______ that he/she might see with his her eyes, hear with his/her ears, understand with his/her heart and turn, and you will heal him/her. (Deuteronomy 29:4; Matthew 13:15)
6. O Lord, give ______ a new heart to believe. Regenerate ______ his/her heart and turn their heart of stone into a heart of flesh that they might come to faith in Jesus. (Ezek 26:36; John 6:63, 65. Eph 2:8-9)
7. God, grant ______ a good will to respond to your call that ____ might declare with his/her mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in his/her heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, and be saved. (Romans 9:15, 16, 10:9)
8. God, send other believers into ______ life to witness the gospel to him/her: godly men and women who will exemplify Christ and cause him to want to know Christ for himself. (Matthew 9:38)
9. God, make me more loving so that I might build a compassionate, caring relationship with ______. Make me more Christ-like so that by all possible means he will be saved. (1 Corinthians 9:22)
10. God, I pray you open more opportunities to speak the gospel into the life of ______. Break down barriers which might hinder the proclaiming of the mystery of Christ (Colossians 4:3)
11. God, I am not a man/woman of skilled speech. Give power and boldness to witness to ______. (Acts 4:29)
12. God, that my friend might come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Make provision for a clear opportunity for me to bring him to a saving knowledge of Christ Give me opportunity and boldness to invite ______ to come home to you. (Luke 14:23)