Today we conclude this series on Short Prayers That Will Change Your Life. Here are a few ways NOT to pray.

o A single woman prayed, "Dear Lord, I'm not asking just for myself, but please give my mother a son_in_ law."
o The minister asked a young boy: "So your mother says your prayers for you each night? What does she say?" The little boy said, "Thank God, he's in bed!"
o A young girl was causing trouble and was sent into the den to think things over. After a while she came out all smiles and said, "I thought and I prayed." Her mother said: "Fine. That will help you be good. The girl said: "Oh, I didn't ask God to help me be good. I just told him to help you put up with me."

Today we look at the prayer, "Lord, save my family." Perhaps no one here remains untouched by the need to see immediate or extended family members saved. It could be a son or daughter, a husband or wife, a brother or sister, a father or mother, a grandparent or grandchild, a niece or nephew, an aunt or uncle. You have someone near you who is away from God. Their salvation is of utmost importance. It weighs heavily on your heart. How do you pray for that person?


Choose to Live in a Christlike Way Before Them
Peter wrote this passage specifically to wives, but it applies to all of us.

1 Peter 3:1_2 Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, [2] when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.

Husbands in particular need to see Christianity in action. Words don't always cut it. They need to see a living sermon, rather than hear repeated sermons from their wives. The Bible says here that when wives live a Christlike life, God's power is released to influence their husbands to become Christians. That is the promise of Scripture.

John Drescher took a different angle by saying, "If I were starting my family again, I would stop praying for my family." When he stopped praying for his wife and children, great things happened. He had been praying that his son would change his attitudes, and that his daughter would mature in Christ's love, and that his wife would have strength to do all her duties. Then one evening it happened. He was alone when it struck him that this kind of praying must stop. It seemed that his prayers really didn't help. If anything, his children knew less about love as they grew older. Traits such as caring and kindness were decreasing. He concluded that he must stop praying for them! He was praying for the wrong person.
So he stopped praying like that for his family. He realized that if his children were to know Christ's love, then he, as their father, needed to experience more of Christ's love and make that love visible. If they were ever to learn true love in relationship to others, then he needed divine help to show true love in all his relationships with his family and others. So his prayers changed to, "Lord, make me fit to live with, loving, and kind, as you are to me." For his wife, he began praying, "Lord, make me a real husband, eager and happy to do all I can to make my wife happy." He realized that he needed to pray a "Lord, change me" prayer. "Lord, change my life so that my family may see Christ in me." He began to exemplify the saying, "A good life is the best sermon." Choose to live in a Christlike way before those you love.


Purify Your Motives Before God
James 4:3a When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives. .

Why do you want your loved one to become a Christian? Is it so your life will be easier? Is it because you have an image to maintain? Is it because you're tired of being embarrassed by their behavior?

Perhaps you need to ask God to purify your motives. You should want them saved, because they are lost for eternity without God. Your prayer to see your loved one saved must come from a genuine, deep desire for God to be glorified to the maximum whatever the cost to you. Purify your motives before God.


Ask God to Teach You the Lessons You Need to Learn
Psalms 86:11 Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.

As you begin to pray, "Lord, change my life so that my family may see Christ in me - God, purify my motives," God takes you at your word. The focus suddenly shifts off the other person and onto you. Then you can pray: "Before this person comes to Christ, Father, is there something I need to learn first? Only teach me what I need to learn, so I can maximize my effectiveness when I pray for those who are lost." When you mean business with God, God does business for you.

The Norwegian Bible teacher, Professor O. Hallesby, said, "My friend, if you are not able to leave your children a legacy in the form of goods, do not worry about that. And do not worry yourself to death either physically or spiritually in order to accumulate a great deal of property for your children; but see to it, night and day, that you pray for them. Then you will leave them a great legacy of answers to prayer, which will follow them all the days of their lives." Ask God to teach you the lessons you need to learn.


Totally Relinquish Yourself and Your Loved One to God
This is not easy. Don't take it lightly. Let's talk about totally relinquishing yourself to God. What you are saying to God is this: "God, whatever it takes to bring this unsaved loved one to you, then do it. If by my suffering or even by my death this unsaved person would come to Christ as Savior and Lord, then I'm a candidate." Paul was even willing to lose his own salvation, if it were possible, for the sake of seeing his fellow Jews come to Christ.

Romans 9:1_3 I speak the truth in Christ__I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit__ [2] I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. [3] For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race,

Paul was saying that because of his intense love for the Jews, he would be willing to substitute himself in their place and bear their punishment, if it were possible. That is very extreme, even an overstatement. But his total relinquishment is clear. The salvation of others meant more to him than life itself. That was a display of true Calvary love.

You not only relinquish yourself, but you totally relinquish your loved one to God. "God, whatever it takes to bring this unsaved loved one to you, then do it. God, do anything that will bring them to the end of themselves - even if it means illness or injury, temporary or permanent." Are you prepared for those implications? If you do, then you will know what it means to wrestle with their eternal destiny in the balance. This life is temporary. Eternity is eternal. Jesus said:

Matthew 18:8 If your hand or your foot causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire.

Whatever it takes, you want them to be with God forever, not separated from God for eternity. God will bring you to the place where your desire for that person to be in a right relationship with God is more important than your own physical well-being or theirs.

Are you prepared to say to God, "Use anyone, anything, anywhere, under any circumstances to bring this lost soul to you." And after they are converted, pray, "Lord, should you call them to be a pastor or missionary, or they are martyred for their faith, or I face the possibility of never seeing them again, then I relinquish that totally over to you. They are in your hands now and in the future."

And be prepared for the testing of your faith. Remember Abraham's testing when God told him:

Genesis 22:2 Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."
God tested Abraham not to see what was in his heart. God did not need to be enlightened. He knows all things. God tested Abraham to teach Abraham. Tests help uncover your real motives, clarify your deep loyalties, eliminate deceit, and nurture genuine faith.

When you relinquish yourself and your loved one to God, God will test you to see if you really mean it. Are you praying 100% for God's glory? Do you really want this lost one to be saved above everything else? That is taking our Isaacs and laying them upon the altar on Mount Moriah. Have you been there? It is the ultimate test. God can take us at our word. We can be left widowed or childless or friendless or orphaned.

You see, you can't pray like this if you have a twisted view of God. Don't get the wrong idea. God will do it right. He is good. He is merciful. He is not cruel. He is not harsh. You can only pray the prayer of relinquishment if you see the depth of God's character - his unfathomable love, his absolute justice, his limitless power, his infinite understanding, his unswerving faithfulness.

Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.

God will never do anything inconsistent with his character! Because of WHO HE IS, you can trust God to act with goodness and mercy for you and your unsaved loved one. When we truly relinquish ourselves and our loved ones to God, and when we truly want the greatest glory to come to the Lord, all fear leaves, and God's peace takes it place.

"Lord, whatever it takes, whatever it costs me, I am willing to pay the price as an intercessor. And, whatever it takes, in your mercy for their sake, use any and all means to bring them to Christ." Totally relinquish yourself and your loved one to God.


If They Have Hurt You, Forgive Them
One common reason God's answer has not come is that we have not forgiven that person for hurting us deeply.

Hebrews 12:15 See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.

Could it be that your lack of forgiveness has "defiled" your loved one, preventing the moving of the Spirit in their lives, blocking them from freely coming to Christ? After a dedicated Christian woman in California had heard someone speak on the subject of forgiveness, the Holy Spirit convicted her of her longstanding resentment toward her son-in-law. Her son-in-law was unconverted. For years he had been cruel to her daughter and her grandchildren. He caused her much heartache. She had prayed fervently for years for his conversion, but without results.

That same night at 11:30 P.M., that woman knelt beside her bed and repented of her resentment and prayed through the steps for forgiveness. She realized she was the cause for the ineffectiveness of her own prayers for her son-in-law's conversion. It was Thursday night.

The following Saturday morning, her son-in-law unexpectedly burst into her house. He announced the startling news that at exactly at 11:30 P.M. on the previous Thursday night, he had felt a strong conviction of sin, had repented, and had given his life to Christ. He said that he had asked forgiveness of his wife and children and that he had felt compelled to drive to her home (although it was a long distance away) to ask for her forgiveness for all the heartache he had caused her. As soon as the woman had forgiven her son-in-law, God could answer her prayers.

The more we let God work in us, the more God will release the power of the Spirit to work through us as we pray for the lost. Remove anything that hinders your prayers! If they have hurt you, forgive them.


Take Your Stand Against the Enemy of Their Soul
The Bible makes it clear:

1 John 5:19b that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.

But Jesus said:

John 16:33b "I have overcome the world."

God's power is infinitely greater than Satan's. This means that when we pray for the lost, we need to take our stand against the enemy regularly. We need to command him in the all-powerful name of the Lord Jesus Christ to retreat from them and loose his grip from their spirits, minds, souls, and bodies. You can quote the Word of God, which is our sword in spiritual warfare.

1 John 3:8b The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.

Revelation 12:11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

You must realize that no matter how difficult or how seemingly hopeless or resistant the unconverted person is, we are not fighting them. We are fighting the enemy, who is our opponent.

Ephesians 6:12 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.

Satan doesn't want to give up his victims without a fight. Our prayer for the lost is often like a wrestling match. The victory is seldom won in the first round, or even in the second or third. Persistence is necessary to win. We need to remind Satan constantly that:

1 John 4:4b the one who is in you [the Lord Jesus] is greater than the one who is in the world [the devil].

You tell the devil that someone has to lose in this battle, and it is not going to be you. As long as you have breath in your body, you are going to fight for this loved one by the power of the Holy Spirit. Satan might just as well give up now. Ask God to frustrate Satan's plans. Believe God for a divine intervention. "Lord, I claim their salvation because of the promises of your Word!"

You've heard this one before. An elderly preacher is reported to have prayed the following prayer each day: "O Lord, give me a backbone as big as a saw log and ribs like the large timbers under the church floor. Put iron shoes on my feet and galvanized breeches on my body. Give me a rhinoceros hide for skin, and hang up a wagon-load of determination in the gable_end of my soul. Help me to sign the contract to fight the devil as long as I've got a tooth - and then gum him until I die." Take your stand against the enemy of their soul.


Ask God to Reveal His Character to Them
2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

Unbelievers have a wrong view of God. Their understanding of God is skewed, distorted, and twisted. So pray that they will see God as he is. That they will see some facet of his true character. Only God knows where they have a distorted view. Ask God to use any means to correct that distortion, and believe that he will.

o Ask God to reveal himself to them in personal ways which they cannot refute.
o Pray that God cause them to realize that by becoming a Christian they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
o Pray that God will bring these people to an end in themselves, that the pleasures they pursue will turn sour and leave them feeling empty and frustrated.
o Ask God to put the fear of the Lord in their hearts and keep them from going deeper into sin.
o Pray that they will have a burning desire to know God above all things.

Thomas De Witt Talmage, that widely known preacher of the past, told how his grandparents attended a revival service under the ministry of Charles G. Finney. As they returned home, they determined to pray for the salvation of their children. The young people of the household were planning to go off for an evening of partying. Just before they left, Talmage's grandmother called her children to her room. She said, "Now, I want you to remember while you are away that I am going to be in this room praying the whole time for your salvation." Off they went to the party. But amid the raucous hilarity of the night they were unable to forget what their mother had told them. Talmage said that the next day his grandparents heard someone crying in an next room and found their daughter pleading with God to save her. Out in the barn her brothers were experiencing a similar conviction of sin. In the wagon house their son David was praying to God for mercy. Before long, the entire family was saved. As the news began to spread, the whole region was stirred and many were converted. Ask God to reveal his character to them.


Ask God to Bring His Word to Them
Psalms 119:130 The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.

It is the words of God, the very Word of God, that brings light, and understanding, and life. Pray that God will bring his Word to them. Pray that God will take them to his Word and give them the desire to read it. Pray that God will bring people across their paths who will share the Word of God. Derek Prince, a doctor of philosophy, was converted without any person guiding him, but just by reading the Word of God. He later became an international Bible teacher.

Some people for whom we are praying have already been exposed to a lot of truth and have hardened their hearts to it. Cry out to God to release his mercy to them. Mercy is not getting what we deserve. Pray, "Lord, in wrath remember mercy" (Habakkuk 3:2b). Ask God to bring his Word to them.


Release the Praise of Faith
You know the prayer of faith. This is the praise of faith. We can also ask God to give us some reassurance from his Word to encourage us to keep on believing that he is working despite what we see or don't see. God can see if their hearts are growing softer or they want to turn away from a sinful lifestyle. When God gives us some reassurance from his Word, we can enter the praise of faith. We can picture in our mind's eye how God will make them new persons in Christ Jesus, filled with his Spirit, displaying God's love.

My parents have told the story how they discovered some things about my life before I became a Christian, and how God led them to follow 1 Thessalonians 5:18. After making an unpleasant discovery in my car one day, my father said to my mother, "Well, thank the Lord, because the Bible says:

1 Thessalonians 5:18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

My mother said, "Well, how can we thank God for that?" My father said, "At least now it's out in the open." Later he asked me, "Are you satisfied with the way you are going?" I said, "No." He asked me, "Would you like to pray?" And we knelt down and prayed together. That was a turning point. A couple of weeks later, I gave my life to Christ and was genuinely converted. Take note that they did not thank God FOR the ungodly things I was getting into. But they gave thanks IN these circumstances that God was still in charge and he would bring the answer to their prayers for my conversion. Release the praise of faith.


Try Tears!
When a couple of struggling Salvation Army officers wrote to William Booth telling him they tried every way to get a spiritual response among those they were working and failed, he sent a short reply, "Try tears!" They did. And they had an outpouring of God.

Psalms 126:5_6 Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.

Tears are not a magic formula, but when they are a genuine expression of the heart, God sees, hears, understands, identifies with our passion for the lost, and he answers. Perhaps our eyes are dry because our hearts are dry. Let your heart be broken for the things that break the heart of God. Try tears!


Pray, Lord, save my family! No doubt everyone here has someone near you who is away from God. You need to see an immediate or extended family member saved - a son or daughter, a husband or wife, a brother or sister, a father or mother, a grandparent or grandchild, a niece or nephew, an aunt or uncle.

I posed a question to the elders recently: "What happens when you don't pray?" The answer: "Nothing!" Prayer changes things and prayer changes people. Time and again we hear stories like G. Campbell Morgan, the outstanding Bible preacher. Dr. Morgan wrote: "My dedication to the preaching of the Word was maternal. When but eight years old I preached to my little sister and to her dolls arranged in orderly form before me. My sermons were Bible stories which I first heard from my mother."

John and Charles Wesley had a similar testimony. They grew up in an atmosphere of prayer. Their earliest recollections were those of a mother who never failed to devote one hour to prayer every day. Having no special room for prayer, Susanna Wesley would place her apron over her face and make her "closet of prayer" where she could find a place to sit. Her nineteen children knew they were never to disturb Mother while she was praying in her apron.

So strong was the memory of a mother's prayers from earliest childhood that John Newton, while drunk and drifting in a dreadful storm, cried out in prayer, "My mother's God, forgive me!" It was this John Newton who would later write, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me." Oh, friends, let us pray today, Lord, save my family!


PRAYER
I can think no better response than corporate prayer together. Today I would like us to stand and join hands as I lead you in prayer for those near you who are away from God.

Father God, as we stand here together today, would come and stand among us? Our hearts are broken for those we love who don't know you. We bring our tears before you - hear us! Lord, you said that you do not want anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

Would you help us first to live in a Christlike way before them? Lord, would you change us so that our families may see Christ in us? Would you purify our motives and teach us any lessons we need to learn first?

Right now, Father God, we want to totally relinquish ourselves and our loved ones to you. Whatever it takes to bring these unsaved loved ones to you, do it. We know this is not easy to pray, but we mean it. Whatever price we must pay, we affirm that their salvation is more important. We say, "Yes, Lord." And, whatever it takes, in your mercy for their sake, use any and all means to bring them to Christ as Savior and Lord. Whatever you are calling them to, we yield to you.

If they have hurt us, then we do right now forgive and release them in Jesus' name. We take our stand against the enemy of their soul. We command Satan to take his hands off this one whom you have chosen. We submit ourselves to God and resist the devil, knowing that he must flee (James 4:7) - knowing that the one who is in us, the Lord Jesus Christ, is greater than the one who is in the world (1 John 4:4). Lord, we claim their salvation because of the promises of your Word!

Father God, would you reveal your character to these loves ones. Show them your goodness, your mercy, your love. Replace the twisted views they have of you with a revelation of your true character. And, Father, bring your Word to them. Give them a hunger for it. Cause them to take it and read. Bring people across their paths who will share the Word with them.

We now, in faith, release the praise of faith. We give you glory for the answers to prayer you will bring! We pray in faith believing, and give ourselves to pray persistently, Lord, save my family!