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Pray to Win! How Prayers Fuel Evangelism

Prayer

Do you remember a time when you last wanted to pray for someone else? It might’ve been during a difficult conversation, during a tough period in someone’s life, or something else entirely. No matter the case, there was a part of our soul in that moment that hurt enough and realised that the other person had an unmet spiritual need.

The Foundation – How Prayer Relates to Evangelism

When we think about evangelism, many emotions and images might come up. Some of it might be good; we’re excited to meet new people and to share about our faith with others!  At the same time, if any of us have tried evangelism, many of us have experienced turned faces, ignored responses, and rejection. As we evangelise, whether we have never done it before or done it numerous times, we experience the reality that evangelism and sharing the Gospel is difficult. Why is it difficult? It is difficult because evangelism requires us to go outside of our comfort zone, and perhaps more importantly, evangelism is a spiritual activity that requires prayer. 

Every person is called to share the Gospel – it begins with Jesus’ last words to make disciples of all nations and to preach His Word to all creation! Evangelism exists because salvation doesn’t, for there are billions of people who have yet to even hear or believe in the Gospel message. Although Jesus was focused on sharing God’s Word, one other core part of his ministry was prayer. Jesus would repeatedly spend time alone with God to pray amidst the business of his ministry. Jesus prayed because he was fully tempted in every way (Heb 4:15), and wanted to be in complete submission to the Father (John 6:38).

In our Christian journey, it is hard to know our own thoughts, much less what is God’s will. Thankfully, prayer helps us know more of God’s heart. Through prayer, we are reminded of who He is, who we are, and what we are called to do. God’s promise to us is that as we pray in accordance with what He desires, He will answer (John 14:13-14). Whether it is a friend, colleague, or family member, we can ask to open up their hearts as we start praying for them. At times God will answer directly, and we can testify to the joy of seeing God work powerfully! At the same time, there will be moments when we get disappointed when God doesn’t answer in the way that we expect. This is where we need to know how prayer helps us practically and spiritually to evangelize.

The Practice – How Prayer Equips Us to Evangelise

Who is harder for you to evangelise to – close loved ones, or people that you don’t know yet? Both can be difficult for different reasons, but what we do know is that we can grow in our love for people through prayer. In Matthew 9, we see that Jesus “had compassion” on the people; he saw many lost people without knowledge of God (v.36). Afterwards, he asked his disciples to pray for workers to be sent out to the lost. Are there people that you find difficult to love or to feel burdened for? One way you can start to prepare yourself to evangelise is by praying for them specifically.

How does prayer connect with the Holy Spirit? Ephesians 6:18 tells us to pray in the Spirit “on all occasions” in the NIV. What this means is that we have to be open to what God is speaking to us about through the Spirit, especially in moments when we are prompted to obey God. It might be a moment to share about your faith with someone else, or it might simply be a moment to pray. The important thing about “praying in the Spirit” is our obedience and communication with God. God can use our small steps of faith to move mountains (Matt 17:20).  

As we share the Gospel with others, we might experience rejection or difficulty in sharing our faith. One of these reasons is that salvation is a work of God and not something we can do by our own strength. Acts 4:12 states that “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Before we evangelise, we must be reminded that evangelism is a spiritual endeavour that started and finished with Jesus’ work on the cross. This is one important reason why we pray, so that we can depend on God and that God will open up people’s hearts and minds to accepting Christ.

Evangelism also involves spiritual warfare, which we can combat by prayer. Evangelism involves sharing about Jesus to others, which Satan is opposed to. The Liar will use every accusation, lie, and tactic at his disposal to cloud the minds of unbelievers (2 Cor 4:4). Thankfully, we know that our God has already won the victory through Jesus (Col 2:15). In Ephesians 6, we learn that we can fight the spiritual war by believing in and praying out truths in Scripture. As you evangelise, pray for your own hearts, for spiritual protection, and for people to come to know Jesus!

Prayerful Evangelism Builds the Body of Christ

At the end of the day, prayerful evangelism builds up the local church. Prayer on its own without evangelism is faith without action; evangelism without prayer is activity without spiritual authority. It is through depending on God through prayer and boldly sharing the Gospel that seeds will be planted and lost sheep will be welcomed to the body of Christ. You can participate in prayer and evangelism today! 

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