How to Pray for the Salvation of Your Loved One – Paula Black

We all have people we love, who are unsaved. Sadly, we’re often at a loss to know how to pray effectively and can become discouraged with the lack of results (James 4:3).

The principles shared in today’s message are Biblically universal and are not only effective for salvation but are also effective in bringing a loved one back into agreement with God’s will.

Often a Christian will pray for 20 or 30 years for a loved one and see no change. This can give the impression that prayer doesn’t work. But be assured, prayer can be a powerful force if we pray the way God instructs us to. Most Christians simply don’t know how to pray with spiritual skill and end up simply crying out to the Lord on their loved one’s behalf, pleading with God to do what He already wants to do—save their loved one.

But God works according to the principles He has given us. He won’t change simply because we don’t understand Him or haven’t learned what He has instructed. We must be the ones to change and line up with His powerful spiritual principles. When we do, prayers are answered.

God has given us the secret to praying effectively and affecting the outcome of our loved one’s spiritual situation. Praise the Lord!

Too often a person may pray for their loved one by reminding God of all the things this person is doing wrong. Or simply pleading with God to have mercy and save their loved one in spite of everything they have done. Prayer doesn’t work this way.

We must start the journey by understanding that there’s really nothing wrong with your unsaved loved one. The problem is Satan, who has a stronghold in their life in some way and is deceiving them and keeping them from wanting to know God.

There is no human being alive who if they truly understands salvation through Jesus Christ, would reject that salvation of their own free will. People who reject salvation are doing so because of their false and deceived idea of what salvation is and who Jesus is.

Let’s look at the real problem of your unsaved loved one. In 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, it says, “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”

Jesus is teaching us that the god of this world—Satan—has blinded the minds of those who are not born-again and therefore don’t believe the gospel message. This isn’t you’re loved one simply rejecting. It is your loved one under deception from the enemy that keeps them from understanding.

Your first prayer step becomes quite clear. You must get Satan out of your loved one’s way.

In Matthew 12:29 Jesus says, “How can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.”

This is another power principle that Jesus is teaching that reveals how to free someone from Satan’s grip. You have that power and authority as a child of God to bind the evil spirit (strong man) who is deceiving your loved one and holding them under deception. Right from the mouth of the son of God, Jesus the Messiah, he said to bind the strongman so that we can take what the strongman is controlling.

Jesus also taught the following principles. “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 18:18.

The only question remaining is to be assured that what we are praying for is God’s will in Heaven so that we can pray in authority and faith. We confirm that salvation is God’s will for everyone, through 2 Peter 3:9, which says, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

So, let’s look at the principles that we need to utilize when interceding for our loved one and then I will include a sample prayer that you can use as a template.

Use the following Biblical Principles when you pray:
* Know that you are praying in agreement with God and His Word. Only then can you pray in faith. (Romans 10:17). And faith is required.
* Pray with authority—the authority Jesus gave His followers when He departed. (John 14:12).
* Use your voice in an authoritative way that expresses your conviction that you believe what you are praying. (Mark 11:23).
* Remember that the spirit that is deceiving your loved one can hear you, if over a distance, if you are addressing it in faith and the authority of Jesus. (Luke 7:7-8).

Then pray something like the following:
      “You evil spirit that’s operating in the life of my loved one (use their name—such as Jane), I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ and am a child of God. I          carry His authority and His righteousness as I come against you.
      In the name of Jesus, I command you to be bound from Jane’s life. I cast down the blinders and deceptions you have placed in her mind, on her ears and over her eyes. I command you to release Jane and I spoil your plans to rob her of her salvation in Jesus Christ.
     Thank you, Lord, that Jane is free to understand and receive your gift of salvation. I pray that Jane recognizes her need for Jesus as her Savior.
    In Jesus’ name I ask that you bring your people across Jane’s path to share the truth of the gospel with her and that she will receive it gladly.
    Thank you, Father, for Jane’s salvation, in Jesus’ name and that no weapon formed against her will prosper according to Isaiah 54:17. Amen.

I believe this type of spiritual warfare is an important part of the Christian’s arsenal to overcome the enemy. The Bible says we are to resist the devil and he will flee from you. (James 4:7). But you’ve got to believe it and mean it when you say it.

An important principle to also understand is that your loved one, once set free from deception, will be tempted again to invite this evil spirit back into their life. If they again open the door, the deceptions will be put back in place and only effective prayer will free them once again.

When you are dealing with someone else’s free will, you have to be committed to fight for them. As they are regularly set free, God has more frequent opportunity to minister to them. It is truly a spiritual battle for the soul of your loved one.

If you will pray utilizing these Biblical principles whenever the Lord brings this person to your heart or mind, and you are consistent daily, I believe you will see a change in their spiritual condition.

Matthew 9:37-38 reminds us of another prayer we should pray for our loved one. “Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

Ask God to send forth laborers into the harvest and into the life of your loved one. Remember that God’s Word does not return void but it accomplishes what it is sent to accomplish. When we use the Lord’s Word and pray in faith, the impact our prayers have is astounding.

“So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it” Isaiah 55:11.

Jesus already defeated Satan when He overcame death, stripped Satan of the keys of the kingdom, and rose from the grave. Jesus has given us those keys of the kingdom to establish God’s will in the earth until He returns to reign and rule. More than anything else we are to bring salvation through Jesus Christ to those who are perishing.

One of the last things Jesus told His disciples before He left earth, was to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). This command shows us the heart of Christ. Every person is important to Him. We can fight for our loved one’s salvation, and we absolutely should—with expectation of victory!

With God Nothing is Impossible!

Dale and Paula