As we desire to see a desperately lost world come to know our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ we must never forget how crucial prayer is to the whole equation. Clever thought, intriguing dialogue, carefully crafted arguments always fail to persuade the sin-ridden human soul, but the power of God via the Spirit of Christ is necessary. It is still quite true that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but the power of God to us who are being saved (1 Corinthians 1). Therefore, we are silly indeed to think that we will be able to win a lost soul by our own merit. It is not the Gospel plus our human intellect. It is not the Gospel plus our really great friendship. It is not the Gospel plus the right environment. This of course is not to downplay the helpfulness of apologetics, a local coffee shop, and certainly I believe that genuine friendship with unbelievers should exist. The fact still remains, however that it is not the Gospel plus anything that saves. It is the Gospel alone. It is God alone who saves. We are wise if we ASK and even labor in prayer for souls we hope to see transferred from the Kingdom of Darkness to the Kingdom of the Beloved Son (Colossians 1:13). For the battle we are presently engaged in isn't against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6). The war waged over human hearts and souls in won in the heavenly places where our Savior sits enthroned, a Savior who would not desire any to perish but all to come to repentance!
In addition, to praying for the harvest of souls that we could have as Christians let us also remember to labor in prayer for one another. In the Lord's High Priestly prayer Jesus utters these words to His Father: My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. John 17:15-16 As we consider a small portion of His own prayer let us be mindful of those Christians even today who are making such bold and hard stands for the Gospel that it lands them in prison, homeless, family-less, or worse and whether or not the consequences of our own obedience are so severe, let us at the very least act out full and complete obedience to the call of Gospel to live so radically. Let us agree with Christ that Christians everywhere may be guarded from the evil one and left in the world that some lost may come to know Jesus & the Father's will be done! Perhaps the reason our hearts grow so dull, so bored, so tired, so forgetful in regards to sharing Christ is because we are missing a piece of the equation...prayer must never be ignored...there can be no success in the Christian life if it is left out.
For more encouragement on prayer see this previous post: http://jayemartin.blogspot.com/2009/07/simple-summer-strategy-for-prayer.html
