Most of us have family members and cherished friends who have not received Christ as their Savior and it’s a huge concern. Today Joyce and Ginger tackle the important subject of how to pray for your unsaved loved ones in this powerful episode of Candid Conversations with Joyce.

in our candid conversation with Joyce today we’re going to be talking about one of the things that is most requested for prayer. So I think many of you are going to find this very helpful Joyce today we’re going to talk about how to pray for and be an example to our unsaved loved ones. And it’s, it’s a big topic and it’s, it’s different for everybody, but it’s also a hard one because our hearts are so into this. It’s either the top prayer request or the second most requested prayer and which is good. That means that people care. Yeah. And the first thing I would say is don’t ever give up, no matter how long you pray for somebody that’s not saved and no matter how obstinate they seem. Don’t, don’t give up. And I’ll use my dad as an example. I mean my dad was not only abusive when I was growing up, but he was just downright mean. And uh, he, he made fun of religious people and there’s just a lot of things that he did that were pretty bad and probably would give that impression that this is not gonna happen. It’s not gonna happen. And I prayed for God to save him. I even remember one day asking God, I said, you know, people all over the world are getting born again through my ministry, would you please do me a favor and saved my father. And it wasn’t long after that and he did accept the Lord, you know, and I do believe sometimes God put it on your heart to pray certain ways, but I would say and I don’t remember exactly how long just to encourage other people. I probably prayed for my dad on and off for At least 30 years at least. And you know, I’m not gonna say I prayed for him every day. I didn’t, but um it would come up again and again and I would just pray for God to soften his heart. So I think you want to know how to pray. You know, people who won’t receive christ uh need to know the truth. So you pray, they’ll know the truth so the truth can set them free. And you you pray that if they have hard hearts, which many people do that God will soften their heart. And a lot of people have, they have misconceived ideas about God. Maybe something happened in their life. That was very hurtful and painful and they blame it on God. And so if that’s the case pray that they would realize that God is good and you know, um I was just writing something the other day and in the amplified bible of Philippians 46, which says be anxious for nothing. But in all things by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. But the amplified bible says with definite requests, which is interesting. It’s like I think sometimes we’re a little too vague in our prayers. Lord, I ask you to bless them. Well what exactly is it that you want got to do and so I do think that we can the Holy Spirit will help us in our prayers. We don’t know how to pray as we ought to. So instead of just praying something just to get it over with and be done with it so you can feel like you did what you should be doing. Um maybe wait on the Holy Spirit a little bit and ask exactly how how do you want me to pray for this person? You understand what I’m saying? I think that uh ask for insight, ask for help to know how to pray better. Yeah for just what specifically can I pray for them And I always pray that God will put the perfect laborer in the unsafe person’s life at the perfect time that can speak a word in due season to them. You know you you may be the one that prays for somebody but you may not be the one that gets to lead them to the Lord. In my case I did get to pray the prayer of salvation with my dad and he asked Dave and I to baptize him and we did that and I mean there was a definite change in him but it was it was a lot of years and uh if I can throw something in with that don’t give up with what you’re saying. It’s also don’t pray in a selfish way because sometimes we want to be a part of the answer or we want even to see the answer and sometimes God has another way that he wants to do this. So it’s hard sometimes to say God in whatever way you want to work. You know, I’m giving them over to you to do what you need to do in their life, even if I’m not part of the answer, I remember one time I was dealing with a lot of women that had unsaved husbands and they were praying for their husbands to be saved and I felt like the Lord put on my heart one time that a lot of women pray for their husbands to be saved, so their lives will be better rather than because they’re genuinely concerned for their souls. So we we do want to make sure that our motives are right and how we’re praying and that it’s not just something selfish. I think one of the things that is important to remind people is that when you’re praying for somebody else, you’re dealing with their will and God won’t, he won’t make somebody else do what you want them to do. So even what he wants them to do, even what he wants them to do, God gives everybody a free will and so all you can do is your part and I just want to recommend that you don’t want something for somebody so bad that they don’t want for themselves, that you end up ruining your life over that. So you gotta gotta stay balanced. The other thing that I think is very important right under praying for somebody is it’s so important that you’re a good example around them and you have to be ready to do it for a long time. I had, we had to be ready to treat my, my mom and dad right for a long, long time before I ever saw my dad really was hard hearted. He really, I think he had a dad that was um a churchgoer, but was really mean and wasn’t good to his family and that just made him bitter. He just, he had no use for religious people and so we, you you have to, you know, love can melt the hardest heart, but you have to be willing to be in for the long haul. The bible says love never fails, it never love doesn’t give up, so you keep praying. And even if you never see what you want to see, you’re doing your part your when you pray, you give God an opportunity to work on that person, but they still have to be willing to say yes to God. And I think every time you pray God tries to work. So I think the prayer is very important and I just encourage you not to give up. I like what you said that you need to pray and love, you didn’t say that you need to be pushy or you need to force anyone know, you can’t try to you can’t try to think of all these nifty little ways that you’re going to, you know, well maybe if I get them this certain book and leave it open to a certain page or you know, yes, you can invite somebody to go to church with you, you can, whatever God leads you to do, do it, but I feel like I want to repeat again what I said before, I just feel strongly about this. You pray that your part, but the other person has to open their heart. Don’t want something for somebody else, so bad that they don’t want for themselves, that you end up ruining your life over it. And I think there are people who do that, there are people who worry so much about their loved ones that they end up not enjoying the life that God has given them and and you know, maybe aren’t even happy around the people that they’re praying for us. So that plus your example and just not giving up and trust in God and you know, it’s it’s never too late. A person can get saved on their deathbed. They can my dad only had three years to live after he was born again. And so he messed up most of his life, but I do believe that that he’s in heaven, there are things that happen in people’s hearts that we don’t always even know about towards the right. So don’t give up like you said, right? So it’s very helpful, Thank you very much.