Not Seeing A Change?.... What are you Praying?

During a recent conversation the Lord gave me a question to ask the person I was speaking to. Have you asked God to help your husband yield to the Holy Spirit? A simple question, however, I could tell by the person's response that the idea of asking God to help the individual yield had never crossed this woman's mind. Often times when we are married to an unbelieving spouse or a spouse that is young in the Lord, we spend most of our time praying and/or rejoicing over our spouse's salvation, but we neglect to ask God to assist them in the yielding process. The Lord gave me very specific instructions to share that I believe will be of benefit to anyone praying for the salvation of a loved one.



1. Pray that God draws the individual by His Spirit.

No one comes to the God unless God draws them in. Just as Jesus pricked each of our hearts, it will take that same prick for the next unbeliever to come into the knowledge of Christ.

2. Pray that God tills the ground of the individual's heart. (Mark 4:3-20)

Just as soil must be tilled and/or prepped before it is ready for seed, so is the ground of our hearts. Often times when we are in church (the place most of us hear the Word being preached) our hearts and minds are focused on other things. The cares of the world, the daily "to do" list, past hurts and scars, sports, etc. When our hearts and minds are focusing on these things, we are not in a place to receive and digest the Word of God. Those of us that are more mature understand the need to cast down imaginations and everything high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, but an unbeliever does not understand this concept for they have not been taught. This is why many come to the church building Sunday after Sunday and leave the same. Their bodies are there, but the soil of their hearts have not been made ready for the seed.

3. Pray that God strengthens the individual in his/her innerman that he/she will be able to yield to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Because God has given man free will, He will not force us to obey Him. He comes and makes impressions upon our hearts and it is up to us to trade our fleshly desires for His heavenly ones. Often times individuals hear the voice of the Lord, but the flesh is so strong that they are not able or willing to yield to what the Lord is saying. In order to defeat the flesh, we must feed our spirit. When praying for those that have not yet come into the knowledge of Christ I often ask the Lord to give him/her the grace to say yes to Him, and to strengthen their innerman that they may be able to yield. While we may think we yield of our own accord, if God does not strengthen us, none of us would be able to yield.

When praying for someone that has not come into the knowledge of Christ is it important to begin to "see" that individual the way God sees them. Again, this can not be done without the help of the Holy Spirit, so I often ask God to help me see people the way He sees them. I don't want to see with my natural eye because then all I would ever see is the imperfections of our humanity. Instead, I ask God to show me what he sees. God sees the condition of our hearts. When you begin to see that unbeliever from God's eye, it will be so much easier to love them into the Body. This is a perfect example of God helping us to yield. God commands us to love one another, yet it is difficult because we see with our natural eyes. Our humanity wants to rebuff that which it does not like or understand. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can begin to see the hearts of men and women making it easier to yield when the Holy Spirit says, "Go love on that drunkard".

Yielding to the Holy Spirit is a day by day, step by step process. As we grow in the knowledge of Christ and deeper in relationship with Him, yielding becomes as second nature. Even when God asks us to do the seemingly hard thing that we may sometimes wrestle with, if our heart's desire is to please the Lord, we eventually yield and move closer to the Lord. For an individual that is just coming into relationship with the Lord yielding is still a foreign concept. We all crawled before we walked. Praying that the Lord helps the babes and unbelievers to yield may be the very thing that pushes that individual out of wrestling and into yielding! Remember, Jesus Himself (when wrapped in humanity) needed help in yielding even though He already knew the will of the Father (Luke 22:42-44)

I pray that this post helps you in your intercession for the babes and unbelievers around you. Those of us that are stronger should bear the infirmities of the weak (Romans 15:1). Let's carry this burden of prayer as the Lord leads that more will be able to come into the knowledge of Christ. May God richly bless you!