Why You Should Keep Praying for Your Unsaved Loved Ones

Are you lost for words and overwhelmed when your thoughts drift to that unsaved family member? Maybe you have given up on that spouse/child/uncle/aunt/niece/cousin and have even stopped praying for their salvation. You are not alone in your thoughts. I recently stumbled on a few verses during my bible study that reminded me of why you should keep praying for your unsaved loved ones.

Because the Lord is righteous and good, he teaches sinners the path they should follow. – Psalm 25:8 GNT

God is fair and just; He corrects the misdirected, Sends them in the right direction. He gives the rejects his hand, and leads them step-by-step.  From now on every road you travel will take you to God. Follow the Covenant signs; read the charted directions. – Psalm 25:8-10 The Message

I must confess that I have given up many times and had even stopped praying. But God reminded me that day that he is fair and just, and that he is the one who shows the proper path of salvation to those who go astray. And as you and I keep standing in the gap for the salvation of our loved ones, as we stand in the place of intercession pulling down strongholds over their lives, God himself will show them the way to salvation.

Believing in Faith for the Deliverance and Salvation of Unsaved Loved Ones

I know that nothing is more heartbreaking for a parent to watch her child stray from God’s ways. Most especially if that child was raised in a Christian home and has chosen to rebel against God and kingdom.

While some of these family members have chosen to out rightly denounce everything God and the bible, there are others who are being held captive against their own will by forces of darkness and from the pit of hell.

We see this in spouses and children battling with drug use and alcohol addiction. Some others are left broken as they watch their loved ones sink deeper into a life of sin, have chosen a perverse lifestyle and are living a life that clearly dishonors God. Now, you have become helpless, struggle with shame and guilt and you are left wondering if and when they will truly find and embrace Christ.

Praying for the salvation of a loved one over the course of a lifetime without losing hope is hard work. We persevere in the hard work of praying for unsaved family members and friends by anchoring our prayers in the truth of scripture and the character of God. – Lois Krogh

Someone once said – praying for our loved ones to get saved is nothing short of spiritual warfare. It is a fight to rescue them from Satan’s dungeon and from the pit of hell. But it must first start with a heart of love and compassion towards the unsaved. And it is this love that will compel you to tarry in the place of prayer for their freedom and salvation no matter what is happening in their lives.

Jesus hated sin yet loved the sinner. When the woman who was caught in the very act of adultery was brought before him, he did not condemn her to die like the others wanted. Rather, he orchestrated a pathway to her freedom and salvation.

No case is hopeless before God. Jesus restored the sanity of the madman at Gadarenes who was held captive by demons in an unusual first-time encounter. A reminder that God can meet our unsaved loved ones in the silence of the graveyards of demonic oppression and mighty strongholds that have kept them captive for so long. Indeed, we have a God who can set our loved ones free and rewrite their stories.

Jesus called forth Lazarus back to life. He had been dead for days and already buried. Yet, the bible says he who was bound and dead for days came walking out of the grave alive. A reminder that God can restore back to life our loved ones who are buried in a life of addiction, alcoholism, perversion and sin. We have a heavenly father who can deliver, heal and restore them to a new life in Christ.

It is true that praying for the salvation of a loved one can seem discouraging especially when we do not seem to see any positive changes in the lives of those we are praying for. However, the greatest gift we can give to them is to keep praying and interceding for their salvation. No matter how far they have walked in rebellion and disobedience, no matter how deeply rooted they are in sin and unbelief, we must never give up.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17

The Power of Praying for Your Unsaved Loved Ones

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. – James 5:16

I love this scripture from the book of James in the bible about the power of prayer. When we pray, our words move beyond being just mere words to becoming words spoken out in faith and breathed on by the Holy Spirit and sent directly to the throne of God. Your prayers are powerful and effective. Don’t stop praying.

Remember that as you pray for your unsaved loved ones, God hears and will save them. It may take a while or even a lifetime, but your trust in God and his sovereignty must remain steadfast. God is a good and faithful God. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. – 2 Peter 3:9

1. God’s Word is Alive and Powerful and able to Save

For the word of God is LIVING and ACTIVE, and SHARPER than any two-edged sword, even PENETRATING as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to JUDGE the thoughts and intentions of the heart. – Hebrews 4:12

2. God’s Word Can Accomplish What You Cannot on Your Own

So will My word be which goes out of My mouth; It WILL NOT return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the purpose for which I sent it. – Isaiah 55:11

3. God’s Ears are Open to Your Prayers

Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know. – Jeremiah 33:3

4. God Will Do His Part as You Do your Part

Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart. – Psalm 37:4

5. God is a Just and Faithful God

Now, will God not bring about justice for His elect who CRY OUT TO HIM DAY AND NIGHT, and will He delay long for them? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them QUICKLY. – Luke 18:7-8a

Some Bible Verses to Pray for Your Unsaved Loved Ones

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. – John 14:6

Thus says the Lord; “Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded,” says the Lord, “and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope in your future,” says the Lord, “that your children shall come back to their own border. – Jeremiah 31:16-17

I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow My decrees and be careful to keep My laws. They will be My people, and I will be their God. – Ezekiel 11:19-20

So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like fish scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized; – Acts 9:17-18

You never know how or when God might sober them up with a change of heart and a turning to the truth, enabling them to escape the Devil’s trap, where they are caught and held captive, forced to run his errands. – 2 Timothy 2:25-26

But now listen, Jacob, my servant, Israel, whom I have chosen. This is what the Lord says— he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams. Some will say, ‘I belong to the Lord’; others will call themselves by the name of Jacob; still others will write on their hand, ‘The Lord’s,’ and will take the name Israel. – Isaiah 44:1-5

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.– Ephesians 2:8-10

Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.. – John 10:7-9

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. – 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. – Colossians 1:13-14

GOD is fair and just; He corrects the misdirected, Sends them in the right direction. He gives the rejects his hand, And leads them step-by-step. From now on every road you travel Will take you to GOD. Follow the Covenant signs; Read the charted directions. – Psalm 25:6-10

A Prayer for a Burden to Plead for the Souls of Unsaved Loved Ones  

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. – Romans 10:1

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving –  Colossians 4:2

Father, I ask today that you fill my heart with a deeper desire and burden to pray for my unsaved loves ones. I admit that I have given up on them and lost hope many times for their deliverance and salvation.

Today, I ask for a renewed hope and faith to press deeper in intercession for their salvation and freedom from sin. Fill my heart with compassion and love for them.

Shred away every judgmental attitude and mindset that I may have had towards them. Help me to see them with the eyes of God and embrace them with the heart of Jesus.

Strengthen my hands in prayer and fill my mouth with the right words to pray. Holy Spirit, open my eyes to see where I need to focus on and teach me how to pray. I commit to continue steadfastly in prayer for ______________’s deliverance and salvation. I will not give up in prayer and for their salvation. So help me God. Amen!

Here is How to Pray for an Unsaved Loved Ones

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