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Transcript 196D — Are We to Pray for Unbelivers?
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: A friend of mine, whom I am in a Bible study with, is distressed about this, and I hadn't ever really thought about it before. I've been searching the Bible and haven't really found anything positive about it. But every time we would pray together before we begin our Bible study, she would pray for a total cleansing, for our hearts and souls. And she feels that this prayer is only for believers, that we can't pray for non-believers. And I think that this is our Christian duty, that we should pray for other people, that they might come to know Christ.
HC: The question is raised, and it's a very good question: When we pray, are we to pray for unbelievers? Are we to pray that God's blessing would be upon them? Are we to pray that their sins might be forgiven? Are we to pray for other mercies upon them? Or are we only to pray for born again believers?
Actually, God gives us the priestly office of intercession. We are a holy priesthood. Now a priest is one who intercedes on behalf of those who would come to God. The unsaved person has no reason to believe that God is going to hear his prayer. He may not even feel like praying. But if he does, unless he is praying for salvation, with a broken and contrite heart, he has absolutely no basis at all to believe that God will hear him. He is an enemy of God. He is estranged from God altogether.
Now as born again believers we do have an open line to the throne room of God. We can come to Him at any moment with every request. And we definitely are to intercede for our unsaved loved ones and friends. We definitely are to implore God's blessing on them, and God's mercies upon them, and above all, that God might open their hearts and show them the way of salvation. This is what God expects of us.
The Bible says in the New Testament, "The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."
CALLER: And prayer changes things.
HC: Yes. Prayer changes things in the sense that God works through our prayers, to accomplish His purposes, even as He works through our witnessing to accomplish His purposes.
I think the verse that your friend was troubled by, and the one that comes to my mind, is John 17, the High Priestly Prayer of Christ. Now when He prayed, He said, "I pray not for the world." And that's very interesting language. We read in verse 9 of John 17, "I am praying for them [that is, those whom Thou has given Me]. I am not praying for the world, but for those whom Thou hast given Me. They are Thine. All Mine are Thine. And I am glorified in them." But you see, the Lord Jesus was Eternal God, and He knew whom the Father had given to Him. And He knew the ones that would not be saved. And so Christ did not have to pray for them. He is Eternal God Himself.
But when we pray, we're not God. We don't know what God's will is, concerning this one or that one. We pray because only in God can we find any answers. And so we read in Hebrews 4:16, "Let us then with confidence (or with boldness) draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
Or we read in verse 16 of James 5: "Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for another, that you may be healed." And the healing that's in view here is spiritual healing, that you might be healed of your spiritual diseases. And in that context it goes right on and says, "The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."
Thank you. Good night.