Seven Ways to Pray for a Lost Friend

One of the new waves I see emerging in the Sunday School movement is increased sensitivity to prayer and the leading of the Holy Spirit. Intentional prayer by classes and small groups for friends and neighbors who are unreached with the gospel is becoming more frequent. You may be trying to figure out how your class or small group can become more focused on evangelistic prayer.

First, develop an evangelistic prayer list in your class. You may want to display your list on the wall as a reminder each week for your class to pray evangelistically. Another option is to have a class prayer coordinator and let that person maintain the list. But the major issue is to pray together for your lost friends and neighbors and expect God to move.

Also, I would encourage each class member to maintain their own evangelistic prayer list. Because many people have the desire to pray for the salvation of their family and friends but often dont’ know how, here are seven distinct ways to pray evangelistically:

1. Pray they experience a deep conviction of sin in their life. (John 16:8)
2. Pray that God opens their eyes to His salvation. (Matthew 16:17, 2 Corinthians 4:4)
3. Pray for God to powerfully draw them to Himself. (John 6:44)
4. Pray for God to remove any barriers to their salvation. (1 Corinthians 10:5)
5. Pray for their hearts to be good soil, fully receptive. (Matthew 13:8)
6. Pray for new birth and true repentance. (2 Corinthians 5:17, Luke 13:3)
7. Pray that they become fruitful witnesses who lead others to Christ. (Matthew 28:18-20, John 15:8)

There is a bookmark available with these seven suggestions on one side of the bookmark, and a place to list the names of seven friends on the reverse side. These bookmarks are available in bundles of 50 for $10.00 (5 cents each). When placed in their Bible, we have discovered that this bookmark is an excellent way to help the people in your group pray effectively for their friends. You can order these bookmarks here.

“They that sow in tears shall reap in joy!
Psalms 126:5

Special thanks to Dr. Gregory Frizzell, office of Prayer and Spiritual Awakening for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma for developing “7 Ways to Pray Evangelistically”.