The Power of Prayer Evangelism

By Alvin VanderGriend

A pastor in California led his family to pray for yet-to-be-followers of Christ who lived in five neighboring homes. Within the first eight weeks of prayer, one of their neighbors began asking faith questions and ended up committing her life to Christ. Another neighbor wanted to give up drug dealing and asked for prayer help. A non-churched couple living next door asked the pastor to start a neighborhood Bible study.

The family continued to pray.

By the six-month mark the couple who asked for a Bible study had given their lives to Christ. A Buddhist family who lived across the street was coming to church regularly, and one member of the family had become a Christ-follower. The children of both families were involved in the church’s education classes.

This pastor’s family discovered the power of prayer evangelism.

What Is Prayer Evangelism?

Prayer evangelism is a form of evangelism in which God moves in the hearts and lives of yet-to-be-followers of Christ in response to the earnest prayers of believers. Intercessors, with access to the throne of God, plead with the Father on behalf of those who lack that access.

And then, believers with access to prayed-for persons who do not know Christ, now stand ready to share the good news with those who are prepared to hear.

Why Pray for the Unsaved?

God wants us to pray for unsaved persons. Christ modeled prayer for yet-to-be-believers. The day before He was crucified, He said to the Father, “. . . I pray also for those who will believe in me through [the disciples’] message” (John 17:20). Paul was moved to pray for his fellow countrymen: “Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites, is that they may be saved” (Rom. 10:1).

God’s Word urges us to make “requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving . . . for everyone,” with the awareness that, “God our Savior . . . wants all [persons] to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:1–4). Prayer for unsaved persons is a high priority.

Prayer is the way Christ chooses to work in the world today. When the disciples worried they would fail if Jesus left them, He assured them that they would do “even greater things” than He had done, “because” He said, “I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name. . .” (John 14:12-13).

When Christ acts in response to our prayers, people get saved.

Why Prayer Evangelism Works

Not only is prayer evangelism biblical—it is also powerful! There are several reasons why combining prayer with evangelistic efforts produces great results.

Praying for others changes the person praying. Praying for others changed me. To be effective for God I needed to become more deeply concerned for the spiritual well-being of others, more aware of God’s heart for them. What I found was that the more I prayed for yet-to-be-followers of Christ, the more I cared. The more I cared, the harder I prayed. The harder I prayed, the more I wanted God’s best for them and the more effective I was in reaching out to them.

Prayer doesn’t just change things. It changes people—especially the people who pray.

Prayer for others builds relationships. Most people who come to Christ come because they have a relationship with a bona fide Christian—a relationship in which the love of Christ is not only communicated but demonstrated. Intercession builds relational bridges—bridges of love that connect us to the persons we pray for and connect the persons we pray for to Christ.

Prayer gains access where hearts are closed. People may refuse to open a Bible. They may turn a blind eye to what can clearly be seen in the things God has made. They may brush off the testimony of believers and spurn the church. They may close their hearts and minds to the gospel. But they can’t keep the Spirit from moving in their hearts—the Spirit who moves when God’s people pray.

The unknown author of Kneeling Christian said it best, “Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they are helpless against our prayers.”

Prayer evangelism is simple, flexible, and do-able. I can pray for yet-to-be-followers of Christ whether I am alone, with my family, with a small group, or with my whole church. My prayers can focus on friends, family members, neighbors, or coworkers. I can pray at home, in a restaurant, at my workplace, or on the move. Prayer evangelism is simply a matter of talking to God about the “lost sheep” who are all around us, lost sheep that Christ wants to bring home.     No one can honestly say, “I don’t know when, where, or how to pray.” Opportunities are everywhere.

What Prayer Evangelism Requires

Prayer evangelism requires a burdened heart. Burden is one of our strongest motivations to pray for unsaved persons. Jesus’ call to pray for harvesters arose out of His burden for “harassed and helpless” sheep. Paul’s fervent prayer for fellow Israelites sprang from his “heart’s desire . . . that they might be saved” (Rom. 10:1). Prayers without burden are lifeless and perfunctory.

When Salvation Army workers reported their failure to win souls, their leader William Booth proposed a two-word solution: “Try tears.” Burdened hearts love the lost. Burdened hearts weep. Burdened hearts pray fervently and powerfully.

Prayer evangelism requires perseverance. Jesus applauded the shameless perseverance of the man who went to his neighbor to plead for bread to give his friend who had come at midnight. I am sure that he also applauded the persevering evangelistic prayers of George Mueller. Mueller began in 1844 to pray daily for five individuals who did not know the Lord. One by one they came to the Lord as Mueller persisted in prayer. The last of the five came to faith shortly after Mueller’s death, more than 63 years after he first began to pray.

Mueller understood perseverance. He just didn’t quit.

Our best evangelistic prayers are Scripture prayers. Since “no one can come to [Jesus] unless the Father . . . draws him,” Scripture prayer means praying that the Father will draw them (John 6:44). Since the evil one snatches away gospel seed sown in the hearts of people, Scripture prayer means praying that they will “hear the word and understand it” (Matt. 13:23). Since the “god of this age” blinds the minds of unbelievers, it also means praying that they will be unblinded and will “see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:4). God loves to hear us pray His purposes back to Him.

Prayer evangelism is spiritual warfare. Satan—the strong man—is determined to keep his captives bound. Christ, who is able to bind the strong man, wants them set free. Warfare prayer, according to Wesley Duewel is, “joining Christ in driving out and defeating Satan and in setting his captives free” (Touch the World through Prayer, p. 208). We do the praying. Christ does the freeing. It’s not prayer that defeats Satan. It’s Christ who defeats Satan in response to our prayers. He binds the strong man and sets captives free.

Prayer evangelism requires the Word of God. It’s not enough just to pray. If there is to be a spiritual harvest, people need to hear the Word of God. “Faith comes by hearing” said Paul, and “hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17). People can’t “hear” the word unless the Holy Spirit opens their ears and their hearts. Our prayers move the Spirit to do just that. And that word, God decrees, “will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire” (Isa. 55:11). That’s a promise—God’s promise!

Where Prayer Evangelism Works

It works person to person. Norm began praying regularly for John, an annoying neighbor, who he didn’t like very much. The first thing God did as Norm prayed was to change his own heart. He began to feel genuine concern for John. In a “chance” meeting John reported that he had started going to church, and Norm responded, “Great! I want you to know that I have been praying for you.”

Next, John asked Norm to suggest a Christian book for him to read. Norm gave him More Than a Carpenter by Josh McDowell. Then, to Norm’s surprise, John accepted the Lord, joined the church, and was reunited with his divorced wife who had also come to know the Lord. Norm’s reaction: “I am grateful that through prayer God not only changed John’s life for eternity, but He also changed me.”

It works family to family. A family placed the names of each of their neighbors in a jar. Each day at dinner they pulled out a name and prayed as a family for that neighbor. One week they pulled out the same neighbor’s name three days in a row. Wondering if God was sending them a message, they visited this home and found that the father had abandoned the family three days earlier. With this new awareness they prayed fervently for the needs of the abandoned family. Not long afterward the father returned home and reunited with his family. Prayer can change families.

It works in small groups. A prayer triplet is a small group in which each person presents the names of three persons he or she knows who have yet to follow Christ. The triplet members pray daily on their own for the nine persons named and come together once a week for mutual prayer. Any existing small group can choose to use prayer triplets. Group members agree to pray faithfully for those named, to report progress to each other, and to plan activities that might appeal to those being prayed for. God is pleased to hear our “agreeing” prayers.

It works in neighborhoods. A church in Bakersfield, CA, planted eight prayer cells in high-need apartment complexes near the church. As prayers mounted up, things began to change.  Residents of the complexes began helping each other. An out-of-control boy got turned around. Drug dealers moved out. A prostitute was converted and gave up her lifestyle. Several of the residents started going to church. Eighteen young people became involved in the church’s youth ministries. A couple of new Bible studies started in the complexes. Ten persons made commitments to Christ. Crime rates came down so dramatically that the police asked the church to consider planting prayer cells in other neighborhoods.

It works in whole churches. A 1,200-member church in southern California challenged its members to pray for family members, friends, neighbors, and coworkers who were not yet followers of Christ. The church provided prayer guides and regularly encouraged outreach prayer in their worship services. As a result the church began to see a steady stream of new converts. At the end of one full year of outreach prayer they had recorded 430 new commitments to Christ. Most of them had been prayed for by name by church members. Their prayers were the key to effective evangelism.

It works in whole denominations. Some years ago the Evangelical Covenant Church, a fellowship of about 110,000 members, initiated a denomination-wide emphasis to pray by name for yet-to-be-followers of Christ. At the denomination’s annual conference, members submitted the names of 394,000 persons who were being prayed for. One year later the denomination reported 11,600 decisions for Christ, which represents 11 new faith commitments for every 100 members. That is a conversion rate approximately seven times greater than the average in America. Prayer paved the way.

Rapid and Fearless Pace

Something happens when people pray for unsaved persons in their spheres of influence—something that wouldn’t have happened if they hadn’t prayed. I think E. M. Bounds had it right when he said, “The gospel moves at slow and timid pace when the saints are not at their prayers early, long, and late.”

If that is true, then wouldn’t it also be true to say that the gospel will move at rapid and fearless pace when God’s people are at their prayers early, long, and late? I think so!

NOTE: This article was written for issue 7 (Nov/Dec 2012) of Prayer Connect magazine.

ALVIN VANDERGRIEND is the co-founder of the Denominational Prayer Leaders Network. He served as a longtime pastor and denominational prayer leader. His books Praying God’s Heart and Love to Pray are available from www.prayershop.org

By Dave Butts

What are you looking for in life? Be careful what you look for. The Bible tells us that those who seek will find. But you might be seeking wrong things. If you are looking to be rich, you may well end up rich, but also tremendously unhappy and burdened down by the things of this world. You may be looking for fame, for recognition of your accomplishments. In the process of finding that recognition on earth, you may well lose the praise of heaven.

Many have just quit seeking. Living lives of “quiet desperation,” they simply hope to avoid disaster or pain. Sometimes even Christians can find themselves in the rut of everyday life, with the only thing they are looking for being heaven some day. The pressures of life have stifled desire of any significance, and life is just something to be endured.

Did you know that God never intended for us to live this way? God is actually looking for the discontented. He is looking for seekers, those whose desires are always going beyond the confines of daily life. In 2 Chronicles 16:9 the Word says, “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.” The same concept is expressed in Psalm 14:2, “The Lord looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.” I don’t know about you, but I want to be found by the God who is looking for seekers.

What does it mean to be a seeker after God? Does it have any real meaning for us? After all, if we are Christians, the Holy Spirit dwells in us. The Lord has promised to be with us always, even until the end of the age. So, is it necessary for a Christian to be a seeker after God?

I believe that King David gives us a wonderful understanding of what it means for a man of God, experiencing the presence of God, to still be a seeker after God. In Psalm 27:4 we read this passionate prayer of a man after God’s own heart: “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.” If we try to analyze this verse in spatial, literal terms, we find ourselves confused. If David were in God’s temple, gazing upon His face, why would he still be seeking Him?

That’s because seeking God is much more than having one experience and calling it “finding God.” It is much more than believing a certain set of doctrines. It is even much more than having a good prayer life. God is too big to be confined to any one person’s experience or belief system. Seeking God is an attitude, a way of life, a journey that is never complete in this life.

The vastness of God makes the task of seeking Him the journey of a lifetime. Let me give a totally inadequate illustration, but one that may be helpful nonetheless. I always enjoy visiting the Smithsonian Institute when I go to Washington D.C. As you might know, the Smithsonian is made up of dozens of buildings, each housing a particular aspect of man’s knowledge or achievement. So you could go to the Air and Space Museum or the American History Museum or the Portrait Gallery and still say of each, “I went to the Smithsonian.” What would be totally inaccurate would be to go to one of those museums and return home saying: “I have experienced the Smithsonian in its entirety.”

God, of course, dwarfs the Smithsonian, but we sometimes feel like or say, “I know God. I have experienced God. Others need to seek Him, but I have found Him.” That’s like going to one building of the Smithsonian and thinking you have experienced all that the Smithsonian is.

David didn’t fall into that trap. His desire was to spend all of his days in the presence of God, gazing upon His beauty. Yet he also realized with humility, that he would still need to have that seeking heart for the rest of his life.

I believe that to live this life, we must start with prayer. Ask God to give you a seeking heart. Repent of any spiritual lukewarmness or self-satisfaction. All that we have comes from God, even a heart that seeks God. But we must ask Him. We do not just become seekers because we are naturally good and spiritual. We are not! We must ask and receive that gift from God.

Seeking also requires effort. When we have asked and received of the Lord a seeking heart, there will be required of us an earnestness and effort that emerges from the longing for intimacy with God, that God Himself has placed within our hearts.

The path to God is always Jesus. He is the way! There is no other path to God. Seeking God successfully only happens along the pathway that is Jesus. It is in intimacy with the Lord and walking daily in His ways that we find ourselves with a seeking heart that pleases God and draws His eyes and favor upon us.

Here is the good news! Jesus said that all who seek will find. God is not hiding. He longs to be found and known. But His very character and vastness demand a life of seeking. No matter how long we have known Him and walked with Him on this planet, we will still find ourselves learning and experiencing new aspects of who He is. “Blessed are those whose strength is in You, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage” (Psalms 84:5).

Dave Butts was the chairman of America’s National Prayer Committee and the co-founder and president of Harvest Prayer Ministries until his death in 2022.

His popular prayer guide, Asleep in the Land of Nod has been used by hundreds of churches to help their congregations pray for revival.

By David Butts

When we think of a priest, we usually think of one who is in a special relationship to God, able to approach Him on behalf of others. It’s not a wrong concept–especially if we stay away from the idea that the priesthood is only for a select few with special training. According to Scripture, every believer in Christ has been made a priest through Jesus: “You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5). “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9).

If we are to walk in all the privileges and responsibilities of a priest in the kingdom of God, we must understand what it means to be a priest. It is especially important to understand this when we see that Jesus Himself is a part of that priesthood, and in fact, is our great High Priest. The book of Hebrews really focuses on the priesthood of Jesus and, consequently, helps us to see our place in God’s house as priests.

As a priest, Jesus has a ministry of prayer that we would do well to emulate. “Because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them” (Hebrews 7:24-25). “Christ Jesus, who died–more than that, who was raised to life–is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Romans 8:34). The current ministry of Jesus is prayer. It is what He is doing now. As a priest, His role is that of intercessor. The good news for us is that He is praying for us.

It is important to understand that as priests of God, all Christians are now called to priestly intercession. The Apostle Paul calls us to intercessory prayer in 1 Timothy 2:1. Also, in Ephesians 6:18, he tells us to “keep on praying for all the saints.” We are to join Jesus in His current ministry of intercession as we assume our roles as priests of God.

The writer of Hebrews gives us great encouragement in our intercessions in the following passage: “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:19-22). This passage shows us that a priest has the right place from which to pray. It is in the Most Holy Place. In the Tabernacle and the Temple, the Most Holy Place was the most sacred spot on our planet. It was where the High Priest of the Jews entered once a year to pray and offer atonement for the people. It was the place of the Presence of God.

Can you imagine living as a Jew in the Old Testament period and each year watching the High Priest enter the Temple, knowing he would go into the Most Holy Place to meet with God, and that you would never be allowed such a privilege? Only the High Priest . . . and even for him, it was a once a year privilege.

Because of the blood of Jesus Christ, we have become priests with the amazing privilege of entering into the Most Holy Place as often as we would like. As we pray, we come into the Presence of the Lord and make our requests. Most Christians are unaware of the awesome responsibility as well as amazing honor given to us through this free access into the Lord’s Presence.

We can also see in Hebrews 10 that a priest has the right attitude in prayer. We are to have confidence and assurance as we pray. This is not because we are something special, but because our Lord Jesus is someone special. It is through Him that we enter into God’s Presence. We are invited in to make our requests and intercessions known. Hebrews tells us to draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith. James tells us that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. How that truth ought to cause our faith and confidence to grow as we pray!

We can have the confidence that the Lord is listening and preparing to answer every prayer prayed according to His will. The Apostle John instructs us: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God; that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us–whatever we ask–we know that we have what we asked of Him” (1 John 5:14-15).

A priest also has the right model to follow. Jesus, our High Priest and Intercessor is our model. We are commanded to follow in His steps. The disciples were so impressed by the power of His praying that they asked Him to teach them to pray. His response was not to preach a sermon on prayer, but to give them a model prayer. In a sense, Jesus said, “Here’s an outline. Make sure you include these items in your prayer. Make sure you pray about Kingdom issues.” We pray best as we follow the teaching of Jesus on prayer.

Priests of God! The Lord Himself is calling you to make a difference in this world by standing before Him as an intercessor for others, releasing His power into their lives. One of the best examples of priestly intercession in Scripture is found in the book of Numbers. The people of Israel were grumbling against the leadership of Moses and Aaron. God sent a plague that began to kill the people. Remembering that incense represents the prayers of the saints, allow this passage to stir your heart: “Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘Take your censer and put incense in it, along with fire from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. Wrath has come out from the Lord; the plague has started.’ So Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already started among the people, but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them. He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped” (Numbers 16:46-48).

As priests of God, we are to stand between the living and the dead. We make the difference by bringing the needs of people into the Presence of a holy God through intercession. It is time for the Church to take seriously the call of God to be priests that pray.

Dave Butts was the chairman of America’s National Prayer Committee and the co-founder and president of Harvest Prayer Ministries  until his death in 2022. His popular prayer guide, Asleep in the Land of Nod has been used by hundreds of churches to help their congregations pray for revival.

By David Butts

It’s very obvious in Scripture that the Lord wants us to pray. There are many commands given to us concerning prayer: “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1); “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:18); “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6).

These are just a few of many such injunctions in God’s Word concerning prayer in our lives. Why is it then, that so many Christians feel so inadequate in their prayer lives? Christians everywhere confess their prayerlessness and long to become people of prayer. Yet, the life of prayer evades so many. How can this be turned around in our lives?

I believe that one important key is to understand the reason behind God’s commands to us to pray. It can be difficult to discern the mind of God on a matter, but He has given us much in Scripture to help us understand. My friend Alvin VanderGriend has suggested that there are three reasons given for prayer in God’s Word: intimacy, enrichment and partnership. Another way of stating these is: knowing God, obeying God and partnering with God.

There is a passage of Scripture that combines all of these in one place: “This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 5: 3-5).

The first reason for prayer is the simple need we all have to know God. There is no way to draw near to the Lord apart from prayer. It is in prayer that we express to the Lord our love for Him, our faith in Him, our worship of Him, and our surrender to Him. If for no other reason, the desire for intimacy with Christ ought to bring us daily to our knees.

The second reason for praying is simple obedience. God says to pray…so we pray. This is especially important during those times in our lives when we don’t feel like praying. These spiritual “dry times” can happen to us all. Often, the only thing that will lead us out of such dryness is sticking with the routine of daily prayer and time in God’s Word. Developing a spiritual discipline out of obedience to the Lord is a bulwark against spiritual dryness, laziness, and busyness.

One of the areas that I believe is least understood by Christians is the partnership that God has called us to with Himself in the area of prayer. God, in His wisdom and sovereign power, has chosen to accomplish His will on this planet through the prayers of His people. God has decided not to arbitrarily move in and out of situations on earth, even though He is able to do just that. Instead, He waits on His people to pray and then pours out His power in response to those prayers.

Ezekiel 22:30 is a passage of Scripture that illustrates this principle of how the Lord works. “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.” God uses the illustration of a walled city to demonstrate His commitment to prayer. The walls protect a city from enemy attack. But through neglect (sin), the walls can begin to crumble and a gap or opening in the wall can create a dangerous situation where the enemy can come in. God said of Israel in Ezekiel’s day, that they had allowed such a situation to develop. It was going to result in the destruction of the land, unless someone stood before the Lord in the gap on behalf of the land. This is a clear picture of God’s desire for us to engage in intercessory prayer.

What is absolutely heartbreaking is that God Himself was looking for an intercessor. He was looking for someone who would stand before Him in prayer on behalf of Israel so that He would not have to destroy her because of sin and rebellion. God’s desire is made clear here. He did not want to destroy Israel. He was waiting for an intercessor so He wouldn’t have to. God had chosen to reserve His power to save the nation of Israel for those who prayed. But no intercessor was to be found. Israel was defeated by the Babylonians and her people were in exile for 70 years.

Isaiah 59 reflects a similar situation. The chapter speaks of a nation that was in trouble. There was no justice, violence was in the streets and the righteous were being preyed upon by the wicked. Verses 15 and 16 show us the Lord’s response to the evil that was going on. “The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intercede.”

Once again, the Lord made His will very clear. He was displeased by what was happening in Israel and desired for matters to be made right. He was waiting for His people to pray, so that salvation and righteousness might be poured out upon the people. But again, there was no one to intercede. In this case, however, the Lord allowed Israel to suffer in sin for hundreds of years until His people were redeemed by the coming of the Messiah. God always looks first for an intercessor. It is His plan to accomplish His will on this planet through the prayers of the saints.

It is for this reason that Jesus taught us to pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” God has given us the awesome privilege of partnering with Him in bringing about the advance of His Kingdom on earth.

As we ask ourselves, “why pray?” we can move from a lethargic attitude about prayer to a place of tremendous excitement as we join with God in what He is doing on this planet. Understanding the place of prayer in God’s plan can give us greater motivation and commitment to be the people of prayer that God is calling us to become.

Dave Butts was the president of Harvest Prayer Ministries until his death in 2022. He was the author of many books on prayer including The Devil Goes to Church, Desperate for Change and Prayer and the End of Days.

©2013 Harvest Prayer Ministries