How To Pray For Lost Souls

Salvation, which we can find in Christ as we hear His Gospel, is not meant to be kept for ourselves. Let’s say we are in a terrible pandemic, and people are dying left and right as each hour passes. Everyone is doing everything they can to find a cure for a disease that has been causing the deaths of many, yet no matter how hard they try, they can’t find one. You, however, have found the cure for this disease that has taken so many lives. For sure, you won’t just keep that cure to yourself; you can’t help but share it with others. So, we preach the Gospel to others so they may also find eternal life in Christ. Our efforts in preaching Christ to the lost is not only the preaching itself. It also includes praying for the lost souls so that they may see Christ and follow Him. 

Father in heaven, I pray that every soul who hasn’t heard the Gospel will be able to do so. May they see Your grace and mercy in Christ and commit to following Him for the rest of their lives. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Why Pray for Lost Souls?

You may wonder why we not only preach the Gospel but also pray for the lost souls out there who do not know Christ. We pray for those lost souls because, in the end, God is the One Who brings them to Christ. This is similar to a family member or friend you preach the Gospel to or at least try to bring to Christ. You don’t just concern yourself with preaching the Gospel to them. Surely, you always remember those loved ones in prayers that they will know Christ and also believe in His finished work on the cross.

Also, we pray to God because, as mentioned above, salvation is His work in the people’s hearts. Salvation is from the Lord and of the Lord (Romans 9:16  It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.; John 6:44; John 1:12-13). That is a very comforting truth whenever we pray for lost souls, including our dear loved ones whom we want to be saved as well. Whenever we preach the Gospel to them, the pressure is not on us to try to change them. We can never change them, especially their hearts, which is the very root of sin. We cannot breathe life into a dead heart that is made of stone. Only God can do that (Jeremiah 24:7 I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.). So, it gives us hope and motivation to pray for lost souls.

In essence, we pray to God for lost souls to know Christ because, in the end, He will work in their hearts. Thus, no matter how much you think that a lost soul will only remain lost, no heart is too hard for God to work on. He turns a heart of stone to a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

What Do We Pray for Lost Souls?

Salvation is a matter of the heart. Our hearts are dead in sin. All that we do is sin because we are sinful by nature. It is the result of the Fall (Genesis 3). So, man on his own will be inclined to sin. That is why we don’t have to teach people how to lie or do other bad things. People will end up learning how to do those on their own, one way or another. However, we have to restrict ourselves and even others from doing those bad things. That is why we have laws—both the Ten Commandments and even human laws. However, this only shows how sinful we are and how prone we are to break laws (Romans 3:20-22). This is because the problem of sin lies in our very hearts.

So, no matter how intellectual a person is, they will never repent nor believe the Gospel, no matter how simple the Gospel is, because of man’s sinful inclination to be dead in sin. That is why in Ephesians 2:1-3, it is mentioned that we were dead in our trespasses. However, God, in His grace, love, and mercy, changes our hearts of stone to hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26-27; Ephesians 2:1-9). From being dead in sin and hard as stone, our hearts start to beat. We become alive in Christ (Colossians 2:13-14). In other words, we get born again, and our hearts are new (Titus 3:5-7). That is why if we are in Christ, we are already a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)—new creatures with new hearts whose heartbeat is now to live a holy life for God. That is why if you are a Christian and you sinned, you feel bad. You now have a new nature and heart to honor God. If you were still dead in sin, you probably wouldn’t care that you sinned and would even perhaps indulge in it.

Therefore, pray for those lost souls that the Holy Spirit will work in their hearts as they hear the Gospel and turn them from having hearts of stone that are unresponsive to God’s love to hearts of flesh that are consumed by God’s grace and mercy in Christ.

Heavenly Father, I pray for those lost souls that their hearts will be softened and they will respond with humility, repentance, and faith in Christ as they hear the good news of Christ taking their sins, dying for their penalty on the cross, and offering eternal life and freedom to those who believe in Him. Thank You because no one is too far from Your grace. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

The life of the apostle Paul is proof that it is God who works in the hearts of the people. Paul was a very intellectual man; no one could outsmart him when it came to religious debates. Not to mention, he was a zealous persecutor of Christ. Yet we came to know him as the Paul who was after the Lord. It is because of God’s work in his life that, by the grace of God, he was what he was (1 Corinthians 15:10  But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.). It is amazing grace indeed that God works in our hearts, making us see and comprehend His love for us as displayed on the cross.