How to Pray for Lost Loved Ones (The Life Points Series) , livre ebook

Baker Publishing Group - Dutch Sheets

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Bestselling author Dutch Sheets takes a fresh look at a very specific kind of prayer that concerns nearly every Christian. How to pray for the salvation of our friends and families. Sheets begins by examining several strategic biblical principles for effectively interceding for the unsaved. He also looks at the various schemes used by Satan to prevent our loved ones from recognizing the truth of the Word of God. He shows how the enemy's schemes can be defeated and how we, as believers, can open windows of opportunity for the lost to be able to truly hear and receive the good news of Jesus Christ.

Sujets

Philosophie et théologie

Prayer

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Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	29 août 2011
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781441267092
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0288€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

© 2001 Dutch Sheets
Published by Bethany House Publishers 11400 Hampshire Avenue South Bloomington, Minnesota 55438 www.bethanyhouse.com
Bethany House Publishers is a division of Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan. www.bakerpublishinggroup.com
Bethany House Publishers edition published 2014
ISBN 978-1-4412-6709-2
Previously published by Regal Books
Ebook edition originally created 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New American Standard Bible , © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Other versions used are:
AMP —Scripture taken from THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE, Old Testament copyright © 1965, 1987 by the Zondervan Corporation. The Amplified New Testament copyright © 1958, 1987 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
KJV—King James Version . Authorized King James Version.
NKJV —Scripture taken from the New King James Version . Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
TLB —Verses marked ( TLB ) are taken from The Living Bible © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL. 60189. All rights reserved.
Cover and Internal Design by Robert Williams Edited by Wil Simon and David Webb
C ONTENTS
Chapter 1
The Persistent Knocking
Chapter 2
Faith Paves the Way
Chapter 3
Being Strategic in Salvation
Chapter 4
Spiritual Warfare for the Lost
Chapter 5
Bearing God’s Heartbreaking Burdens
Chapter 6
Labor-Intensive Realities
Endnotes
The Persistent Knocking

Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child. The winner was a four-year-old boy whose next-door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman’s yard, climbed onto his lap and just sat there. When his mother asked him what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, “Nothing. I just helped him cry.”
L ETTING G OD C RY T HROUGH U S
On Wednesday, October 4, 2000, God somehow powerfully touched my heart with His, and for three and a half hours God allowed me to help Him cry over our nation.
Though I have often asked God for His heart toward America, I was in no way ready for the intensity with which it came that night. As I felt God’s aching heart for America, I thought my own heart would break in two. I didn’t know it was possible to weep from so deep within. It was not from my head or my emotions; it was from deep in my heart.
That day the Lord placed upon me an incredible burden to call the nation to prayer for the then-upcoming presidential election. I was led by the Lord to issue a prayer alert that ultimately went to millions of people, resulting in a great mobilization of prayer asking God for His man to be placed in office.
I believe God answered the prayers of those many people and gave us the president He wanted America to have. I believe He gave us a man who, like King David, is a man after His heart—a sincere, humble man who loves God and through whom He can work. Not that God is a Republican or a Democrat. It’s not about a political party but about finding a person God can use to accomplish His purposes. In ancient Israel, He could not do what He wanted through King Saul, so He looked for a man after His own heart. That person, of course, was David. I believe that, in this election, God heard our prayers and graciously gave us a man after His heart to lead our nation.
My wife and I, along with a few others from our church in Colorado Springs, attended the inauguration of George W. Bush. It was worth every minute of standing in the extremely cold rain—as well as the many hours of prayer and fasting leading up to this day—as I watched and heard Bush, with great conviction, complete his oath of office by saying, “So help me God.” Upon the uttering of those words, one well-known minister in attendance was heard to say, “The curse is broken off of America.” I, too, believe that it marked a new beginning. We are, indeed, seeing God’s grace upon us to heal and save our nation.
Another important result of my experience on October 4 was a fresh awareness of the incredible passion of the Lord to save. I already knew God desired to save America. He had been challenging me for the past few years to believe Him for the saving of this nation, for genuine revival and a great harvest of souls. But on this particular evening, it was different. I literally felt God’s breaking heart aching to save and heal America.
In my prayers for our nation, the Lord has often led me to Ezekiel 37. In this passage He uses a graveyard of dry bones to reveal Israel’s spiritually dead condition to the prophet Ezekiel. As the prophet gazed upon these dry bones, the Lord asked him an interesting question: “Can these bones live?” Ezekiel, not knowing how to respond, simply said, “Oh, Lord God, You know” (see Ezek. 37:3). God’s response was to have Ezekiel prophesy to the bones and later to have the wind of the Holy Spirit breathe life into the bones. In the vision the bones came together, and the wind—or breath—of God’s Spirit came to them, causing them to live again.
As I said, God has often led me to this passage. It seems I am prompted with the same question about America that God asked Ezekiel about Israel: Can these bones live? I have always tried to summon faith and believe that America will indeed receive a revival that results in Resurrection life. But I must admit there have been times of wavering in which I found it difficult to believe.
However, on that aforementioned evening something changed. I actually felt God’s passion to save our nation. I identified with His aching heart so strongly that my faith was lifted to a new level. I knew beyond any doubt that the dry bones of America could live, because God desperately wants to save this nation .
I am fully persuaded that hundreds of thousands of people will be saved in America over the next several years. As God comes to bring salvation to our nation, however, that salvation will come an individual at a time . Those born again will be our fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, husbands, wives, friends and neighbors. They will have names and faces, known personally by God.

I want you to be so convinced that God will save the person you love that you would be shocked if they didn’t get saved!

My purpose for this chapter is to encourage your faith that God really does want to save those dear to you . I want your faith to be lifted to a new level. I have found that where faith for the salvation of the lost is concerned, unbelief controls much of the Church. We ask God to send revival and save people, but deep in our hearts we can’t believe it is really going to happen. Perhaps it’s because we’ve prayed and waited so long that we are no longer convinced God really will do it.
P ERSEVERING IN P RAYER
Chrissy sleepily answered the phone late one night and heard her older brother’s voice on the line. “Sis, I just invited Jesus into my life!” he shouted. “I’m saved! The preacher said to tell someone immediately, so I knew I had to call you because you’ve prayed for me for so long.”
The praying sister sat speechless with the phone in her hand. This brother of hers—the one who had mocked and screamed at her at their mother’s funeral when she tried to share Jesus with him—the one who had broken up a pastor’s home to marry his third and current wife—this rebel was calling to say he’d accepted Jesus. She could hardly believe it!
Why is it when our loved ones are saved in answer to prayers we’ve prayed for years, we are always surprised? Could it be that we secretly doubt whether our prayers will really change anything? Or that we’ve written off the person as hopeless? 1
I want you to be so convinced that God will save the person you love, the one for whom you pray, that you would be shocked if they didn’t get saved. I want you to believe God is so passionately in love with people that when you cry for those you love, you realize you’re really helping Him cry.
Why is this kind of faith so important? First, if we don’t really believe God will answer our prayers, we will not pray with any kind of consistency and diligence. We may sporadically ask Him, but we certainly will not persevere. We must have a motivational faith that truly believes He is hearing us and He will answer.
When Raymond’s brother was dying, he stood by the hospital bed and said boldly, “Henry, I’ve prayed for you for years. I’m tired of you cursing the Lord I serve. It’s time you accepted Him and all He has done for you! You could very well die tonight! Where would you spend eternity?”
Henry acknowledged his need for God and asked Jesus into his heart right then. Finally, after 15 years, Raymond saw his prayers for his brother dramatically answered just a few days before Henry died. 2
Like Raymond, we must have faith that doesn’t quit!
F AITH R ELEASES G OD ’ S P OWER
The second reason this issue is so important is that our faith really does release God’s power. There is a striking story in Mark 6:1-6 about Christ not working any miracles in His hometown of Nazareth. A careful reading and study of the verses in the original Greek text reveals that Jesus didn’t simply choose not to work miracles, but He actually could not work miracles in Nazareth because of the unbelief of the people.
I certainly am not implying that Christ did no