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Q: I’ve been praying several years for several years for my brother (and several other relatives) to get saved but none of them have gotten saved yet! Does it really do any good for me to pray for them?

A: Yes! Your prayers can be a powerful force in the lives of your unsaved relatives if you pray according to the wisdom and Word of God. But most Christians don’t know how to pray with skill. They throw prayers in every direction and hope something comes of it. That’s especially true when they pray for the lost. It’s not uncommon to see believers praying for people to get saved for 20, 30, even 40 years without results.

What exactly are these people praying? It usually boils down to, "Oh, God, please save my brother. He needs to be saved." Then they might go a step further and start rehearsing their brother’s sins. "Lord, he got drunk again last night and we had to bail him out of jail again. If You don’t save him, he’s going to drive us crazy!"

That may sound funny, but every one of us has prayed prayers that sounded something like that.

What we haven’t understood is this: There’s nothing wrong with your brother (or any other unsaved person) except the devil. No human being who truly understood the salvation Jesus offers would reject it of his own free will. No one!

Why, then, are so many people still unsaved? Second Corinthians 4:4 tells us it is because "the god of this world [the devil] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."

Once you realize it’s the devil who’s the real problem, your first prayer step becomes clear. You must get the devil out of your brother’s way.

Jesus said you can’t enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except you first bind the strong man (Matthew 12:29). So bind him. Say, "You spirit operating in the life of my brother, blinding him to the gospel to keep him out of the kingdom of God, I bind you now. I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. I carry His authority and righteousness and in His Name I command you to desist in your maneuvers. I spoil your house according to the Word of God and I enter into it to deliver my brother from your hands."

Now, you may not be able to cast that devil entirely out of the situation, because your brother may invite him back in faster than you can cast him out. But you can bind that spirit and keep it bound.

The next step is found in Matthew 9:37-38, where Jesus said, "…Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest." It’s the Word of God that brings faith for salvation (Romans 10:17). See to it that the Word gets into your brother’s heart.

"How?" you say. "He won’t listen to me!" Probably not, but God knows whom he will listen to, and He’ll send that person halfway around the world to talk to your brother if necessary.

Pray to the Lord of the harvest. Say, "Father, I’m asking You to send laborers across my brother’s path, laborers who are equipped with the Word of God about salvation, Baptism in the Holy Ghost, healing and deliverance. Send laborers who can communicate effectively with him so Your Word can reach his heart."

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Faith Seminar  August 15-17, 2001, Plenary Hall, Senayan, Jakarta

Tabitha Ministries, P.O. Box 255/CPA-HU, Ciputat 15411, Indonesia. Fax: +62 21 3145124.

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Copyright © 2001 Tabitha Ministries.
Last updated: April 06, 2001 04:10:35 PM