30 DAYS OF PRAYER | DAY 20 – Prayer for Evangelism

Jesus came “to seek and to save the lost.” His birth, his life, his death, and his resurrection have made a way for men to be saved. We were saved from our sin, but we were also saved to serve. Grace has come to us through Jesus, but God’s grace was never intended to terminate on us. It was meant to be received by us and then extended to others.

Charles Spurgeon once said, “Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter.” This may seem strong, but Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  If we are truly following him, we will seek to reach others.

My prayer is that we would have a heart like Jesus, that we would love lost people the way Jesus loves loves them. Jesus looked out over a city of people who needed spiritual direction and felt compassion for them. Let’s pray that we would feel the compassion of Jesus for our city.

We live in a city of about 1.2 million poeple. Of that number, more than 800,000 likely do not know Jesus. Add to that number the fact that the Oklahoma City area is growing by 1729 people per month. Our city desperately needs a movement of Christ-followers with compassion for hundreds of thousands of people who are far from God.

We need a missional movement of people who have compassion for our city that extends beyond the events of a church. We need redemption groups filled with people who have compassion for their neighbors. We need kids’ soccer teams with someone who will share compassion with their teammates. We need classrooms filled with students who have compassion for other students. We need office buildings with pockets of people with compassion for their co-workers. We need play groups with ladies who have compassion for the single moms who can’t play during the day. We need golf foursomes where men live with compassion for other dudes who need Jesus.

That is what happens when the church begins to grasp the compassion that God has for the city. Followers of Jesus scatter throughout the city to live with Jesus and for Jesus in every area of life. Our God is too good and our mission too great to sit idly by and do nothing.

Would you pray that we would be a church that is passionate about evangelism? Nearly a million people in our city are at risk. Their eternal destinies are at stake. We can not change their hearts, but we can make sure they know about the redemption of Jesus and the offer of salvation available to them. Let’s pray that we seek the lost with this kind of commitment:

“If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for.”  [Spurgeon At His Best, 67]

This post was written by Jeff Lawrence, Lead Pastor of Redemption Church.

–January 12th is a very big day for Redemption Church! Thank you for praying with us! For more information about the launch of Redemption Church and how you can pray for us, please click here.