Blog 45 / Our High Calling

Our Motivation in Praying for the Lost

A significant part of our work in GRN is praying for unreached peoples to become followers of Christ and to display His glory in their lives. When praying for the lost, my focus usually has been on people’s need to be saved. I want them to know the joy of salvation, full and free. I don’t want them to face a Christ-less eternity and the horrors of hell. I would rather they experience and enjoy the glories of Heaven.

God has led me of late to consider our Lord when praying for the lost. What are the longings of His heart? There are several things on which to reflect. The Father has promised the Son the nations for His inheritance. When people reject Christ, this means He is not receiving His rightful inheritance. Nor is the Father receiving the full measure of worshipers that His heart desires.

And when people reject Christ, the Holy Spirit is grieved as the bride He is forming with people from every tribe and tongue and nation is missing many members. Not only that, the enemy is trying to steal the bride’s affections for himself. These belong to Christ alone, the One who paid the bride-price for her.

When we are burdened for the lost, nothing should motivate us to pray more than a longing to see the Father’s heart satisfied as He is worshiped in Spirit and in truth, to see the Son receive His full inheritance as a reward for His sacrifice, and to see an ungrieved Holy Spirit rejoicing over a spotless bride as she emerges from the nations.

And so, while we should give ourselves wholeheartedly to the task of intercession and winning people to Christ, we must keep the ultimate purpose of evangelism clearly in view. It’s about the Father’s glory and seeing His heart satisfied as He is worshiped and His Son honored and loved by the people He has redeemed.

 

Colin Stott
GRN Global Prayer Coordinator

read colin’s previous blogs:
demolishing strongholds – blog 44
overcome evil with good- blog 43
dealing with strongholds – blog 42
when our prayers go unanswered – blog 41
key to unanswered prayer – blog 40
prayer and The bride – blog 39
The Battle is the Lord’s – blog 38
praying for workers – blog 37
finding time to pray – blog 36
when the church is under attack – blog 35
FEASTING and FASTING – blog 34
OUR AUTHORITY IN PRAYER – blog 33
why ask for what we already have? – blog 32
is anyone praying for them? – blog 31
delays are part of answered prayer – blog 30
weapons of our warfare – blog 29
Keeping our spiritual fervor – blog 28
days of great harvest – blog 27
not i but christ – blog 26
what if – Blog 25
praying scripture – Blog 24
Prayer and obedience -Blog 23
the Prayer warrior – Blog 22
time alone with god – Blog 21
last resort – Blog 20
Prayer with rejoicing faith – Blog 19
travel the world through Prayer – Blog 18
lord, break me – Blog 17
ye have not because ye ask not – Blog 16
our Prayers reveal our heart – Blog 15
church of the living god – Blog 14
when we Pray for the lost – Blog 13
more than meets the eye – Blog 12
sugar cubes and  Prayer – Blog 11
it’s a wonderful life – Blog 10
the longings of god – Blog 9
praising god before he answers – Blog 8
no place like home – Blog 7
praying for god’s glory – Blog 6
are we known as formidable opponents – Blog 5
sugar cubes and Prayer – Blog 4
rejocing over god with singing – Blog 3
the indispensable Prayers of the church – Blog 2
the glorious end – Blog 1