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Currently there is an interest and excitement to learn about and put into practice Ed. Silvoso's clear teaching from Luke 10 which gives praying people—all believers—a practical and easy way to tell their neighbours the good news that God loves them and cares about every aspect of their lives whether at home or in their workplace. Simply put, this prayer evangelism is
talking to God about our neighbours, before we talk to our neighbours about God.
Prayer Evangelism in 4 Easy Steps:
In Luke 10, Jesus says:
1. "When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' (v.5)
2. When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. (v.8)
3. Heal the sick who are there (v.9)
4. and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.'" (v.9 )
The principles of prayer evangelism are taught in several places in the Scriptures but this is the only place where we see an evangelistic method. Jesus tells us to do four things for the lost:
1. Speak peace to them
2. Fellowship with them
3. Take care of their needs
4. Proclaim the good news
Each of these steps is interconnected and builds upon the one before it. They must be implemented in the order that is given. After Jesus gave these directions to a bunch of untested rookies, those 72 returned with joy. It was so effective, they told Jesus, that even the demons were cast out in His name. Unfortunately, we rarely experience that kind of joy and this is because we reverse the order and begin with the last step. We set out to knock on doors, with a sense of duty, knees trembling, and then we do our best to witness to the stranger who answers. In most cases they politely take our brochure and close the door as soon as possible and we never see them again. But we have skipped the blessing and fellowship and the caring that are to precede the good news.
Why should the people inside believe us when we say that because of Jesus, we are going to heaven and they aren't? Why believe in the Word of God when the Book of Mormon or the teachings of Buddha are also around? For them to come to trust and believe what we say, a process is necessary. This is where prayer evangelism comes in.
The beginning of Jesus' teaching starts with us, being shepherds to those in our circle of influence. Jesus has given them to us.
We are their pastors and they are our sheep. We must begin by looking at them with the eyes of Jesus, filled with compassion and caring. This attitude is at the
heart of Jesus' strategy.
The
first step of the strategy is to speak peace over the lost. This is a powerful thing to do. When we say or think, from a safe distance: "Those Hindu neighbours worship idols." "That rude teenager takes drugs," we are only witnesses for the prosecution rather than witnesses to God's grace which causes His rain to fall on the just and the unjust. God sent His Son not to condemn but to save (Jn. 3:17). Without meaning to, instead of blessing the lost, we can sometimes even curse them. "That alcoholic is going to kill himself or someone else one of these days."
But, we have authority as Christians to release life. "The tongue has the power of life and death..." says Prov. 18:21, and, "The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life" (Prov. 15:4). When we pronounce blessings to our neighbours, the very city is built up, beginning with our street. (Prov. 11:11). Talking about this process, Isaiah 58 explains that our calling and title is actually to be "Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings" (: 12).
It is a powerful and possible thing to begin in your own neighbourhood, by prayerwalking and/or praying at home regularly to release light and blessing to the homes and families near to you. As you do this, you actually neutralize the demons that have been actively assigned to blind the minds of the unbelievers (2 Co. 4:4). With Paul, it is our task, (Acts 26: 17, 18), to open the eyes of the blind "from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me". Prayerwalking and releasing blessing and peace and light is spiritual warfare and the first step of theprocess. (And since it is warfare, remember to pray protection prayers as you begin this process.)
Light penetrates darkness and shines in it. The darkness John 1 tells us, cannot overcome the light. Something real and tangible happens as we regularly bless our neighbour or workmate or workplace (because God wants to penetrate the marketplace with its businesses, hospitals, schools, art guilds, with His blessing too). Before long, people who used to ignore us will seek us out. They have really felt our blessings. They may remark that we give off "good vibes". And, just as sinners wanted to draw near to Jesus, they will want to connect with us.
This leads to step two which is fellowship. Have a coffee with them on the front porch, or join them for a barbeque. But don't ambush them with the four spiritual laws between the hamburgers and apple pie. Have patience. Learn how to unconditionally love and bless them as they are, instead of the way you want them to be. Receive from them. Jesus emphasizes a two-way fellowship. "When you ...are welcomed, eat what is set before you." Jesus always treated sinners with respect. Look at Zaccheus and the adulterous woman. When we allow
non-Christians to do something for us we affirm their value and dignity as humans made in the image of God. In our day, this may mean playing tennis together, or organizing a multi-family garage sale together where we can pray blessings on them at close range.
Fellowship encourages trust to build. Be patient. Eventually, they will trust you enough to reveal their deepest needs. This is the
third step. An opportunity to pray for their felt needs. Once-distant neighbours or business
associates will now open up and tell us of their despair in a marriage which looks good on the outside but is actually rotting away. Or they will tell us of an addiction they struggle with or a money problem that seems hopeless. Without knowing it, they share from heart to heart because they sense that we have an answer. And they now have tangible proof that we care.
It is precisely at this moment that you can say: "I have been praying for you and I would be happy to pray for this too." Now you may also be thinking that his would be a good time to lead them to the Lord, because you know that salvation is their greatest need. But they don't know or want that yet. They want help for the need they feel is most important—their felt need. This felt need is the way God has created/allowed to show them that Jesus is a friend of sinners and that he came to save them and not to condemn them. Prayer moves us into the eternal realm, the realm of the Spirit. When you pray for their felt need, you touch them at their deepest level—the level of the heart. This is the closest you can get to them. Be patient. Sooner or later, that touch will register with them. Even the best fisherman cannot force the fish to bite. Fishing takes patience and hope.
"But," you may say, "what if God does not answer the prayer? I don't want Him to look bad." Don't worry. You are not promising the answer. You are only promising to pray.
Non-Christians are usually very open to prayer— especially in a moment of crisis. They know their problem is too great for them and if you think you have access to a person of power who might help them, they are very open to that. (As a city church made up of many congregations, we had a prayer tent down by the Credit River during the Streetsville Bread and Honey Festival for several years. At every booth
people were offered free samples. At our tent, we would hand out balloons to the children of passersby and offer free prayer for any people who had needs. Very many, who were non-Christian adults, stopped and received prayer either as a blessing, or, they entered the tent and received prayer for deep issues such as marital breakups or conflict in families. Several were also led to the Lord).
God wants to draw all men unto Him and will often provide a miraculous answer to get the attention of the unbeliever. In John 14:6-14, Jesus says to the unbelieving Philip (who politely doubts Jesus' words that He is the Way to, and also actually is, the complete representation of the Father) "...or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves." Like Philip, most people want to go a good place when they die and many of them claim to believe in God but most do not believe that Jesus is the only way to the Father. Jesus is teaching us that it is all right to see in order to believe. Jesus knows that, once he is convinced, Philip will do "the works that I do" and "greater works than these"—miracles worked through prayer—to convince others who, likewise, do not believe that Jesus is God and is the Way to God. (v. 12)
Jesus says to us, also,"... or at least, believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it." This passage presents prayer and evangelism as fully integrated components of the same equation. In this passage, Jesus presents
prayer AS evangelism. Prayer becomes evangelism when it is used to open the eyes of
non-Christians to the divinity of Jesus. Jesus uses a person like Philip (who very politely reveals his unbelief and inability to see Jesus as God), to give us the key to break through the widespread barrier of unbelief that we encounter every day. The key is prayer for miracles that meet
their felt needs.
Paul also speaks of this. "When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power. (1 Co.2:l-5).
More than 25 years ago, without having this all so clearly spelled out, I remember God answering such a prayer. I had been called to the hospital to visit a woman whom I had befriended. She had been abused all her life and had fallen into a very promiscuous lifestyle. She was on the run from a violent husband and pregnant, but not by him. She was at her wits end when I began to pray for her and care for her. To make a long story short, at the hospital, she tearfully confided in me that she had been drinking a lot and taking drugs, in the early stages of the baby's being formed, and before she knew that she was pregnant. In fact, she had tried to commit suicide by taking an overdose of pills. Now, hooked up to a machine that the doctors hoped would delay the baby's far-too-early arrival, and, realizing what the terrible consequences might be, she was about to deliver. She wept because
she desperately wanted this child and she felt deep guilt and fear. What to do? I gulped, tossed a silent help!!! heavenwards and told her about Jesus and his love and power. She cried throughout. I asked if I could place my hand on her belly and pray for the child. I told her that Jesus had the power to heal whatever was wrong with the child and that he loved her very, very much. She said she did not believe that but I told her it did not matter because I believed he could do it and I knew he loved her. It has always astounded me that God answered that prayer so clearly. She did not give birth before the child could live. The child was beautiful and not harmed by the drugs and alcohol. And my Mend, asked how to, and became a Christian shortly after the baby's birth. As I write this I suddenly see the very process I am writing about, and I see that God is faithful to provide a miraculous answer to open the eyes of those who are desperately blind and to draw them near to His Father-heart of love.
Once we have done the first three steps, step four, leading our neighbours and co-workers to God, becomes much easier. You have given them peace, which is what
non-Christians lack the most, you have provided them with the most protective, healing fellowship they have ever enjoyed and you have offered prayers for needs they have felt very deeply and not been able to meet on their own. Now it is very natural for them to ask, "Tell me. Who is this God who loves me?" They feel safe in approaching you because there has been a gradual improvement in the spiritual climate of your relationship as it moves from step one to step four.
When we intercede for our neighbours, the kingdom of God comes near to them in a very real way: "Say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near
to you.'" (Luke 10:9). We do not need to drag them into the kingdom by persuasion. The kingdom of God, which is within us (Luke 17:21), "a treasure in jars of clay" and an "all-surpassing power from God" (2 Co.4:7), has come near to them in our:
1. blessing them, which opens the door to unbiased fellowship,
2. fellowship with them, which establishes a level of trust, allowing our neighbours to share with us, their felt needs,
3. prayer for them, which addresses their felt needs,
4. and, [when we pray for our neighbours, and the kingdom of God comes near to them in a tangible
way,] in our "Say(ing) to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to
you"'.
It becomes much easier for them, then, to receive Jesus as their Saviour and their Lord and to recognize that the Father heart of God really is filled with love for them.
Other Sources to Consider
"Anointed For Business" by Ed Silvoso
"My City, God's
City" by Ed Silvoso
"That None Should Perish-How to Reach Entire Cities for Christ Through Prayer
Evangelism" by Ed Silvoso
"Thank God Its Monday" by Rick Heeren
"The Elk River Story- Transforming the Spiritual Climate of a
City" by Compiled and Edited by Rick Heeren
Transformations Videos 1 and 2 through The Sentinel Group (www.sentinelgroup.org)
"Taking Our Cities for God-How to Break Spiritual
Strongholds" by John Dawson "Healing America's
Wounds" by John Dawson (about Identificational Repentance)
"Transforming Your Community Through Spiritual Mapping and Strategic
Prayer" by George Otis Jr.
"Releasing Heaven on Earth: God's Principles for Restoring the
Land" by Alistair Petrie
"Intercessory Prayer" by Dutch Sheets
"Watchman
Prayer" by Dutch Sheets |
