5 Steps to Passionate Prayer for the Lost - Dare 2 Share
Helping youth leaders empower
students to reach their world.
Helping youth leaders empower
students to reach their world.

5 Steps to Passionate Prayer for the Lost

by

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

Intercessory prayer for the lost is hard work.

It takes time, commitment and discipline. And passion. Raise your hand if any of those are in short supply in your life.

Still, if the passion is there, the other three elements are far more likely to follow. So how do you ignite that passion for praying for the lost in your life and ministry?

One way is to stop and really think about why we pray for the lost to be saved. I mean, really think about it. Since 2 Peter 3:9 tells us that God ā€œdoes not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent,ā€ itā€™s clear that God loves the lost already, which is why He sent His Son.

So if His mind is already made up about wanting all to be saved, why should we pray?

That the Scales Will Fall from Their Spiritual Eyes

Try This! āÆ

Ask each of your students to send you a text message this week with the name of one lost friend they would like to reach with the gospel. Then pray, pray, pray for them.

The answer to that question is above most of our pay grades. But one of the reasons intercessory prayer is Value #1 of a Gospel Advancing Ministry is because of the adversary we face. In 2 Corinthians, Paul teaches that Satan has ā€œblinded the mindsā€ of unbelievers. So we need to pray that the scales will fall from their spiritual eyes.

Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who donā€™t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They donā€™t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.Ā (2 Corinthians 4:4).

Itā€™s been said that prayer is not preparation for the battle, but is the battle itself. As you continue your efforts to build a Gospel Advancing Ministry, itā€™s critical that evangelistic prayer becomes a growing priority in your personal life. Why? Because youā€™re up against an adversary for the souls of the lost studentsā€™ in your community!
Prayer is not preparation for the battle, but is the battle itself. Click To Tweet

5 Steps to Passionate Prayer for the Lost

Here are five steps to help you prioritize evangelistic prayer this week.

  1. Think of a time in your life when you lost something tangible that was really important to youā€¦say, one of your kids, your wallet, your keys or your phone. What did it feel like? (Panic!) How important was it to you that you find it? (Urgent, essential, everything else came to a screeching halt!) How much effort did you put in to try to find it? (Whatever-it-takes, repeated searching!)
  2. Read Luke 15. Meditate on these Parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. How important is one lost soul to God? Remember what you felt in your gut when you lost that important thing in Step 1? Do you feel anything close to that kind of intensity when you pray for the lost teenagers you know?
  3. Ask God to break your heart for the lost teenagers in your community.
  4. At youth group this week, ask each of your students to send you a text message with the name of one lost friend they would like to reach with the gospel.
  5. Go for a prayer walk this week around/near your studentsā€™ school(s), and use these text messages as your prayer prompt. As you pray over each of your students and their lost friend, ask God to break the hearts of your Christian teenagers so that they will reach out to their friend with the gospel. And ask God to remove the spiritual scales from the eyes of these unbelieving teenagers so that they can see the truth that Jesus came to bring them freedom.

Consider making this exercise part of your regular ministry routine as you seek to model a gospel advancing lifestyle that prioritizes prayer and relational evangelism!

related articles

free youth ministry resources

Free youth ministry curriculum, books, evangelism training, ebooks, videos, and more!Ā Download your free resources now and grow your youth ministry.

Start building a Gospel Advancing ministry.

Join a community of leaders with the vision to see every teen, everywhere, hear the Gospel from a friend.