God answered more specific prayer requests in my first six months as a pastor than I can remember him answering in any other period of my life. My faith grew in a wonderful way. Through this season, God taught me an important lesson that also applies to evangelism: pray bold prayers.
Pray with Boldness
Jesus once cursed a fig tree, and it withered away. The amazed disciples asked how it had happened. Jesus answered, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith” (Matt. 21:21-22). Though certain aspects of this passage are debated, one thing is clear: Jesus taught us to pray bold prayers and expect bold answers from God.
When I first became a pastor, several mountain-sized obstacles stood in the way of our church remaining open. So I prayed, and God answered. He moved one mountain after another as I boldly prayed about those specific needs. After six months, I received the greatest answer to prayer: one of my ex-LDS friends accepted Christ!
Sometimes we’re afraid to ask God for things that seem impossible. Perhaps we feel selfish or like we’re tempting God. But God delights to answer such bold, seemingly impossible prayers. Why? Because such prayers are a deep expression of our dependence on God, and when God answers them, he alone gets the glory.
So what seems impossible to you as you seek to evangelize your LDS family or friends? What mountains stand in the way? Perhaps it seems impossible that a certain family member would ever be saved, or that a certain friend would even listen to the true gospel. Don’t be afraid to pray about these obstacles. Boldly ask God to move those mountains, because God delights to glorify himself by doing the humanly impossible.
Pray for Boldness
The early church quickly faced persecution for proclaiming Christ, including being arrested and threatened. How did they respond? “‘And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.’ And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:29-31).
Even Paul, apostle to the Gentiles and church-planting genius, asked others to pray that he might have evangelistic boldness. “To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak” (Eph. 6:18-20).
One of the main reasons people fail to share the gospel is fear. “What if I don’t know what to say? What if they think I’m weird? What if there are workplace repercussions for sharing my faith?” How do you overcome such fears? Prayer. Prayer is the channel through which the Holy Spirit pours evangelistic zeal and boldness into our hearts.
So, in your evangelism, pray bold prayers. Pray with boldness, and pray for boldness.
Pray with me: “Heavenly Father, I come to you in Jesus’ name and pray for myself and all my brothers and sisters seeking to evangelize their LDS friends and family. I pray you would glorify yourself by doing the humanly impossible, by removing mountains and saving our lost loved ones. I pray that you would fill us with Spirit-born boldness so that fear would not stop our mouths. I boldly pray that we would see many saved as we boldly and lovingly share the gospel. Amen.”