Your prayers can be a powerful force in the lives of your unsaved relatives and friends if you know how to pray for them according to the wisdom and Word of God.
The problem is that most Christians don't know how to pray with skill. They just throw prayers in every direction and hope something comes of it. That's especially true when it comes to praying for the lost.
It's not uncommon to see believers praying for friends or loved ones to get saved for 20, 30, even 40 years without results.
What exactly are these people praying? It usually boils down to something like this: "Oh, God, please save my brother. He needs to be saved."
Don't you think God know He needs saving?
They might even go a step further and start rehearsing their brother's sins: "Lord, he got drunk again last night and we had to bail him out of jail again. If You don't save him, he's going to drive us all crazy!"
That may sound funny—the example is a little extreme to make a point—but many of us have prayed prayers that sounded something like that.
The Source Of The Problem
What we haven't understood is this: There's nothing wrong with your unsaved loved one (or any other unsaved person) except the devil. No human being who truly understood the salvation Jesus has offered would reject that salvation of his own free will. No one!
Why, then, are so many people still unsaved? Second Corinthians 4:4 tells us it is because "the god of this world [the devil] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."
Once you realize it's the devil (not your loved one) who's the real problem, your first prayer step becomes clear. You must get the devil out of your loved one's way.
As Jesus said, "How can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man?" (Matt. 12:29).
A Prayer
Say, "You spirit operating in the life of my loved one, blinding ________ to the gospel to keep ________ out of the kingdom of God, I bind you now. I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. I carry His authority and righteousness and in His Name.
"I command you to desist in your maneuvers. I spoil your house according to the Word of God and I enter into it to deliver my loved one from your hands."
Now you may not be able to cast that devil entirely out of the situation, because your loved one may invite him back in faster than you can cast him out. But you can bind that spirit and keep it bound. It may keep you busy for a while, but you can do it.
Eagle Mountain International Church, Inc.
aka: Kenneth Copeland Ministries