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Lesson Three |
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What are the prayers that win the lost ?
In Your Bible Read These Passages
Ezekiel chapter 34.
Here Is Your Memory Verse
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood,
but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the
powers of this dark world
and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6.12
Afterwards Discuss
This With Someone
Today it would be good to spend some time in prayer,
doing what we have just learned together.
Something To Do Before
Next Time (Homework)
Write a prayer in no more than two pages, interceding
according to 1 Timothy 2, 1-8
for all the different levels of rulers and for the peoples of
your nation.
Send your homework to your tutor.
Practical Application Work
Spend special times of prayer either alone or in prayer for
each other,
to cover all those areas of spiritual need where we need prayer
for ourselves
so that we can be better witnesses for Jesus. Send in a brief written
report
of what you are learning in your prayer times.
Meditate Word By Word On
This Verse
Acts 26, 28-29
- Spend a Minute to Change the World
- Pray For Algeria - Operation World page 87
- 30,000,000 North African peoples, 60,000 dead in recent civil war
- 99.4% Muslim, all unreached, intense opposition to the gospel
- Be sure to teach this lesson to others.
- Always pray and prepare well adding your own verses and stories to bring it to life.
Crowds Of People
One day when I was visiting the market I had to wait outside a shop which was full of people wanting to buy something. I was nearly crushed by the crowds of people, all in a hurry. First of all I thought badly of them because they were pushing and shouting, some were drinking and many were smoking and using bad language. Then I remembered the time when Jesus saw the crowds. He was not angry with them but saw them as harassed and helpless people. Jesus had compassion on them and asked his friends, the disciples to pray for workers to help them. Matthew 9, 35-38
Sheep Without A Shepherd
I repented of my impatience and began to pray. I felt God speaking to my heart saying, " If you really want to help these people, then no amount of human effort will get their attention. The best thing to do is for you to get closer to me so that I can respond to your prayers and bring the people to Me."
Bible Prayers That Save The Lost
Think about this for a moment, especially if you know your Bible. Where do you find examples of people praying to God and asking him to save individuals like Mother, Father, Son, Daughter, boss, neighbor and so on. The simple answer is that you cannot find these prayers!
Why Not?
Because God has already shown himself to be totally committed to their salvation. He is much more committed than we are. For him the matter has been already decided, and forever.God made a promise to crush the head, that is the authority of the devil, Genesis 3.15
God bound himself with agreements or covenants to bless mankind including Genesis 9, 1-17, Genesis chapters 15 and 17, Exodus 34.10
Even though man broke his promise time and again God in his love and mercy promised a new covenant in Jeremiah 31.31.
He promised Abraham that through him and by faith the families of the earth would be blessed, Gen. 12, 1-3.
God gave an entire nation, Israel, the job of ministering his blessing in the earth, Exodus 19, 5-6.
In Ezekiel 34, verses 4, 12, 16, the Father shows his great compassion by declaring that even if man fails to care, he will personally search for the lost, bring back the strays and bind up the injured and strengthen the weak.
Above all, God sent his Son, Jesus, to seek and to save the lost. Luke 19.10, Luke 4.18.
When God sent the Holy Spirit, the first thing he did in public was to inform men from all over the world, in their own language about the wonders of God. Acts 2, 1-12.
What Is The Best Bible Prayer?
Now that we know just how committed and determined God is, we can pray in the name of Jesus with passion, with perseverance, with insistence and with absolute confidence, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Amen."
How Then Should We Pray?
Even though we know that God is so committed to seeing people saved we still need to pray, and pray often and with considerable passion, enthusiasm and perseverance. What should we pray?
- First, We Must Pray For Ourselves
- For our minds to be opened to the reality of lost-ness, Revelation 20.11.
- For passion for the lost, Luke 19.10.
- For doors opened by God, 1 Cor. 16.9, 2 Cor 2.12, Acts 14.27,
- Col. 4.3, Revelation 3.8.
- For sensitivity to God’s guidance, Acts 8.26 onwards.
- For wisdom, as opportunities may not come where we expect,
- and we often look in the wrong place. James. 1.5
- For courage, Eph. 6.19, Acts 4.29.
- For freedom for Holy Spirit to do his work of convicting men, Acts 1.8.
- For his words, Isaiah 59,21, Jer. 1.9.
- For a mentality of growth and harvest, Matthew 13, 1-23, Isaiah 53, 10-11.
We Must Always Pray For The People
Prayer is an expression of our love. The best kind of prayer picks up the longings of God and expresses them back to him with words. Paul guides us how to pray for people in 1 Tim. 2, 1-3. "As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you." 1 Samuel 12.23
We Pray As Spiritual Warfare
Although the god of this age, Satan, has blinded the minds of unbelievers, prayer will open those unseeing eyes and rescue men from Satan’s power so that they may be forgiven by God and join his family. 2 Cor. 4.4, Acts 26.18. We have to pray against Satan’s work to hold back men, money and materials to advance the gospel. Ephesians 6.12. In fact so tight is his grip that Jesus told us to ask God to thrust workers into the harvest fields. Thrust is a word that implies some pushing forward! 2 Corinthians 2.11; Matthew 9.38
Answered Prayer.
The Bible tells us that the early church devoted themselves to prayer and God added daily to their number. Because their leaders saw prayer and the word as very important, the number of new disciples increased rapidly. Acts 2, 42,47; 6, 4-7. Remember, if we pray according to the will of God, then our answers are on the way. 1 John 5, 14-15, Mark 11.24, Matthew 18.19, Matthew 7.7, Jeremiah 33.3.
- To Close Pray For The
- World's Most
Unreached Peoples By Name
- Taken from the Joshua Project 2000 Unreached Peoples List
- at www.ad2000.org these people have no church and as yet
- no cell, church or mission has committed themselves
- to prayer, adoption or church planting among this people.
Afghanistan (2) |
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| People Name | Language | Population |
| Nangalami (Nigalami) | Grangali | 24,000 |
| Pashayi, Southwest | Pashayi, | 108,000 |
| Shughni | Shughni | 10,000 |
| Tangshewi | Tangshewi | 10,000 |
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