How To Get Saved Prayer

When someone preaches the Gospel to us, we are usually asked to pray the Salvation Prayer. At the same time, it has become the prayer we inherently teach to whoever we preach the Gospel. Within Christian circles, some practice the prayer and some don’t. It is a matter of preference, but at the end of the day, salvation is the work of God’s grace and mercy in our lives, and it is gifted to us because of our prayers (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Father in heaven, more than the prayer of salvation, open and shift our eyes to the beauty of the Gospel. Make us behold the glory of it and how You displayed Your mercy and grace in the person of Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

There’s Nothing Wrong with Praying

The salvation prayer is how we lead a person when we preach the Gospel and they want to follow Christ, repent, and commit their lives to Him; we ask them to repeat it after us. The essence of the prayer is like outlining the Gospel like this:

 

LORD Jesus, thank You for dying for me on the cross. I know that I am a sinner who deserves God’s wrath. No amount of good works will be able to save me from it, for the punishment for my sins is eternal death. However, You died for my sins. I believe that through Your finished work on the cross, You paid for the penalty of my sins, and those who believe in You receive forgiveness and eternal life. I commit to follow You, Lord. I repent from my life of sin. In Your name, I pray. Amen.

As you can see from the sample prayer above, it is designed for those to whom we are preaching the Gospel and who want to follow Christ. It is important to note that there is nothing wrong with praying the salvation prayer, as it clarifies to the newly converted believer what they are getting into. So, if we lead those we reach out to in a salvation prayer, it is important to make sure that they understand the meaning of the words they are about to pray. Before leading them to pray, you can help them understand what it means to follow Christ.

It is important to note that it is not the salvation prayer that saves a person. Just because someone prays the salvation prayer does not necessarily mean the person is saved if deep in the person’s heart, he or she doesn’t repent from his or her life of sin and believe the Gospel. If salvation rests upon whether we pray the salvation prayer, then that makes salvation something we get by good works. 

However, we know that it is not by works but by the grace of God in Christ that we are saved through faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is not a matter of whether we have prayed the salvation prayer or not, but, rather, if we have repented and believed in Christ. Such repentance and belief are still not a result of our work, for no one is righteous, and no one seeks God (Romans 3:10-11). A right relationship with God is the result of His grace at work in our hearts (Titus 3:5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;; 1 Peter 1:3; Ephesians 2:1-9). That is why even the likes of the apostle Paul, who once persecuted Christians, became a follower of Christ—God worked in his heart (Ezekiel 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.).

 

How, Then, Should We Guide the Newly Found in Prayer?

We guide them by making clear to them that even if we ask them to repeat the salvation prayer after us, it is not the prayer itself that saves them but Christ. Once we make that clear, we can lead them into the salvation prayer.

As we guide them in prayer, it is vital to touch the core essentials of the Gospel.

LORD Jesus, thank You for dying for me on the cross. I know that I am a sinner who deserves the Father’s wrath. 

No amount of good works will be able to save me from it, for the punishment for my sins is eternal death. 

However, You died for my sins. I believe through Your finished work on the cross, You paid for the penalty of my sins…

And that those who believe in You receive forgiveness and eternal life. I commit to follow You, LORD. I repent from my life of sin. In Your name, I pray. Amen.

Going back to the sample prayer we have above, you will see that it involves a humble acknowledgment of one’s sin, the knowledge that good works can never be enough, the realization that Christ is the only perfect sacrifice to atone for our sins, the acceptance of forgiveness and eternal life in Him, and the response we ought to take, which is repenting and believing.

Perhaps, if there really is such a thing as a “prayer to get saved,” that would be praying to the Holy Spirit to cause one’s heart to be tender before God and a person’s spiritual eyes to be opened so that they may see the grace and mercy of God in Christ. It would take the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit to cause a person to become a new creation with new hearts.Ultimately, if we are to answer the question “How do we get saved?”, the answer is not a prayer but Christ. Even if the person you preach the Gospel to doesn’t pray the salvation prayer but repents and believes in Christ, then that person is saved. We respond to Christ by repenting from our life of sin, believing His work of the cross and that He is indeed the Son of God, and committing to follow Him for the rest of our lives (Mark 1:15; Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.).