Since God doesn’t save anyone against their will, does it really do any good to pray for people who consciously refuse to receive Jesus as Lord?
Yes. Yes! Yes! It does!
You see, in spite of the fact that most all unbelievers who have purposely refused to receive Jesus as Lord think they’ve made that decision of their own free will, the truth is, they haven’t. The Word of God says they’ve been blinded by Satan. He’s blocking their perception of the truth. So their decision hasn’t been freely made at all.
That’s important for you to grasp. Because through the prayer of intercession, you can interfere with the satanic forces and help take those blinders off! You can also change circumstances with your prayers and help create situations that will bring them in contact with the Lord. You’re well within your spiritual rights when you do that.
I prayed with a friend of mine once who’d been praying for his lost brother for years. Jesus said in Matthew 12:29 to first bind the strong man and then enter his house and spoil his goods. So we said, “You spirit blinding the eyes of __________, you stop what you are doing to keep him out of the kingdom of God. In Jesus’ Name, you stop now!”
Jesus also said in Matthew 9:38, “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.” So we prayed, “Lord, send someone to ______________ with the Word of God. You know who he will listen to. We claim __________________ for the kingdom of God. We believe we receive his salvation and deliverance. In faith we praise You for it.”
In almost no time at all his brother called him. “What have you been doing up there?” he asked. “In the past few days, everyone I’ve come across has started preaching to me!”
Our prayers had interfered with the forces Satan had been using to blind this man to Jesus and created the circumstances to bring him into the kingdom. Sure enough, within a few days, he was born again.
Use this same prayer for your loved ones and believe when you pray and you’ll see the same results.
Don’t sit by and let the devil take your friends and loved ones without a fight. Pray. Pray! Pray! Come against the “god of this world.” Take off the blinders and open their eyes to the glorious gospel of God.