Prayer is one of the most important things you can do with your time. Now it’s not the only important thing, but it should have the priority in our lives. One of the reasons that prayer is so important is that it is one of the essential things that leads people to become believers. So prayer affects the eternal destinies of people.
A lost person is someone who has not believed in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. They may or may not believe in God, they may or may not attend church, but they do not have a personal relationship with Jesus. Everyone in the world is in one of two categories, they are either a believer or an unbeliever, they are either saved or lost.
Luke 19:10 (NIV) 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.
The reason that Jesus came to this earth was to save the lost. He loved us so much that He came from heaven to die on the cross that our sins might be forgiven. Everyone who believes in Jesus has their sins forgiven and moves from being lost to being saved. Now, if this was Jesus’ purpose in life, shouldn’t this be our purpose as well?
An executive hirer, or “head hunter” whose job is to hire corporate executives for large corporations, told this story. He said that when he tries to assess a potential executive, he tries to disarm them. He takes them out to dinner, takes off his coat and tie, talks about sports or family until they’re relaxed. Then he leans over, looks them square in the eye and asks, “What’s your purpose in life?” He said, that it’s amazing how many executives fall apart at that question.
However, when he interviewed an executive named Bob, he asked him the question, “What’s your purpose in life, Bob?” Bob looked him squarely back in the eye and without hesitation answered, “To go to heaven and take as many people with me as I can.” The headhunter was speechless.
I think Bob had a great answer. I also want to go to heaven and take as many people with me as I can. How about you? For many of us, we especially want to make sure that our loved ones will be with us for eternity. Our spouses, parents, children, grandchildren, friends and whoever else is dear to our hearts. Yet, sometimes, these are the people that seem most resistant to the Gospel. Sometimes, it seems impossible that they will ever be saved.
Prayer is the key to seeing a lost loved one saved and that’s what we’re going to talk about today. So keep in mind someone that you love that is far from God today.
Listen to my September 12, 2010 message “How To Pray for Lost Loved Ones – Part 1.”