A Simple Strategy to Pray for Non-Believers by Chuck Lawless

This week, I’ve been teaching about prayer and evangelism. Many, if not most, churches are not reaching many non-believers. If you want your church to begin changing this pattern, at least lead them to pray for lost people. Based on the Bible’s teaching about non-believers and evangelism, here’s a simple strategy for praying for specific non-believers.

1. We must pray for each other to be bold witnesses: “Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel” (Eph 6:19).

• PRAYER:“God, give me boldness, and grant (another believer) courage to be a witness, too.”

2. Non-believers must hear the gospel: “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?” (Rom. 10:14).

• PRAYER:“God, let (a non-believer) hear the gospel today. Give me courage to be the gospel spokesperson.”

3. They are following the enemy: “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2:1-2).

• PRAYER:“God, please give life to ___________, and free him/her from the power of the prince of the air.”

4. They are blinded by the enemy: “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:3-4).

• PRAYER: “God, open the blinded mind of ___________.”

5. They are in the domain of darkness: “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Col. 1:13).

• PRAYER: “God, deliver ___________ from the kingdom of darkness.”

6. They are under the devil’s power: “to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me” (Acts 26:18).

• PRAYER: “God, please open ___________’s eyes. Free him/her from the devil’s power.”

7. They are caught in the devil’s trap: “and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will” (2 Tim. 2:26).

• PRAYER: “God, release ___________ from the devil’s trap.” 

8. They must repent and believe: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).

• PRAYER:“God, bring ___________ to repentance and belief. When You do so, we’ll give You the glory.”

Use this prayer guide, fill in the blanks with names of people you know, and trust God to hear you on behalf of non-believers.