Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.
Romans 10:1
Most likely you have friends who are not Christians. I hope so. Perhaps they are family members, friends from work, people on your street, or people you’ve met through your kids’ sports teams.
And you care about them. As you get to know them better, you become burdened for their salvation. You understand eternity is at stake. You realize that salvation is the greatest gift we can receive. You know that God cares about your friends. You want your friends to experience the outrageous love and grace of God just as you have.
You begin to experience what Paul gives voice to in Romans 10: a burden for your friends to know Jesus. You can almost sense Paul’s emotion as he writes: “My heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.”
You must do what Paul did. You must pray for your non-Christian friends. You might do other things as well – love, serve, listen, talk. But the first and most important thing you can do for your friends is to pray for them, because only God can save a person. Only God grants eternal life. Only God opens blind eyes. Only God can change a stubborn heart. Only God can rescue a lost person.
Let me encourage you to pray for your non-Christian friends. Pray daily, fervently, and persistently. You might ask God to give you five friends to pray for daily. Pray for them until they come to know Christ. If God puts someone on your heart, most likely God is at work in his or her life, and he wants to use you.
At some point in your friend’s spiritual journey, you will probably need to talk to your friend about God. But even more important is that you talk to God about your friend.
George Müller, a native Prussian, immigrated to England in the 1800s and pastored a church there for over 60 years.
He believed in the power of prayer. His attitude towards praying for the lost is evidenced by his commitment to five people he knew. Müller wrote in his journal:
"In November of 1844, I began to pray for the conversion of five individuals. I prayed every day without a single intermission, whether sick or in health, on the land, on the sea, and whatever the pressure of my engagements might be. Eighteen months elapsed before the first of the five was converted. I thanked God and prayed on for the others. Five years lapsed, and then the second was converted. I thanked God for the second, and prayed on for the other three. Day by day, I continued to pray for them, and six years passed before the third was converted. I thanked God for the three, and went on praying for the other two. "
After thirty-six years, those two people still remained unconverted, but Müller was undeterred and wrote:
"I pray on, and look yet for the answer. They are not converted yet, but they will be. I have not a doubt that I shall meet them both in heaven; for my Heavenly Father would not lay upon my heart a burden of prayer for them for over threescore years, if He had not concerning them purposes of mercy."
Müller would continue to pray for these two men. One of the men became a Christian shortly before Müller’s death, and the other converted after Müller’s death. Müller had been faithful in praying for these two men for over fifty-two years. He believed that God would save every person he puts on your heart.
If all of us prayed daily for five non-Christian friends, at some point in the future we would see a whole host of people coming to faith in Jesus, including people we’ve been praying for. So join me in the adventure. Don’t miss out! Pray regularly and fervently for the non-Christian friends that God puts on your heart.