Praying for Reconciliation0

This past weekend, our campus pastors did an incredible job explaining the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:16-21).  This passage makes me grateful that God has reconciled us to Himself (5:18), and I am even more eager to live each day as an “ambassador for Christ” (5:20).  With the gospel driving me, I want to share two key actions steps that I’m trying to implement in my own life.  Today, we’ll look at the necessity of prayer in evangelism.

We know that God wants us to pray for other people (1 Tim. 2:1).  We must realize that consistent prayer is imperative for reconciling others to the gospel of Christ.  That means, if I’m not sharing the gospel with others, it’s typically the result of a lack of prayer.  We don’t have evidence of evangelism in our lives, because we have not asked God to use us in that process (cf. James 4:2-3).  Jesus Himself said, “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:14).  That’s a powerful promise.  Why don’t I ask more often?

God has used Paul Miller’s A Praying Life to bring clarity to my prayer life.  I’ve found that most of my struggles with prayer involve either (a) asking God with selfish motives or (b) just simply not asking. The antidote to these extremes, according to Miller, begins with asking boldly.  Would you dare to ask God to use you instrumentally to lead someone to Christ in the next month?  Ask boldly, and specifically tell God how you want Him to move in the lives of those around you.  Ask Him for new relationships.  Ask Him to break through in the hearts of your non-Christian family.  Ask boldly for Him to use you to broadcast the love of Christ to your entire neighborhood.  Even as a pastor, I’m continually amazed by how BIG my requests should be.

Jesus told us that we can do nothing apart from Him (John 15:5).  That should fuel our bold requests, but that verse should also encourage us to submit completely to the Lord.  Sometimes God’s answer might not match my expectations.  That’s why we pray “your kingdom come, your will be done” (Matt. 6:10).  It’s not OUR will, but HIS.  After all, he loves and cares for people in ways that I cannot even understand.  God’s ways and thoughts are always above our own (Isa. 55:8-9), and we should continue to approach him like little children (Matt. 19:14).

My wife and I have been praying for our neighbors for months.  We’ve tried to reach out to them many times, but we didn’t seem to have many open doors.  On Sunday, God opened a door at a very inconvenient time.  My wife and I were looking forward to an afternoon to rest and reconnect after a tiring weekend.  But, we remembered our consistent prayers for our neighbors, and we trusted God that He was opening this door.  So, we decided to see what God had in store.  As a result, my wife had an opportunity to share the love of Christ with our neighbor for over an hour!

Would you dare to ask God to use you to share the gospel in your community?  Let’s bring BIG requests to God, Summit Church, and let’s trust Him to do even more than what we ask (Eph. 3:20)!  Next time, we’ll look at some more resources for carrying out the ministry of reconciliation.