Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You almost persuade me to become a Christian."
Acts 26:28

Paul almost persuaded King Agrippa to become a Christian. We want our family and friends to become Christians too, don’t we? We began a few of posts ago considering some goals when talking about the Lord. The first goal was to be accurate with the gospel. The second was to be loving. Last time it was to be persuasive. If you have missed any of these blogs, may I suggest that you read the previous ones you may have missed? This time let’s think about the goal of being prayerful.

The first reason to be prayerful is to beseech the Lord to give us opportunities to speak to people about the Him—that we would not miss the opportunities He gives us, and that we would be obedient to seize them.

The second reason to be prayerful is to plead with God to open people’s ears, and give them hearts to hear and respond to the gospel message we share. Remember, no matter what we do, or how well or poorly we may do it, people only hear and receive Christ because of the work of the Holy Spirit. Only He can change their hearts.

The third reason to be prayerful is to ask God to give us sensitive ears and hearts to the people with whom we are speaking. Let us listen to them and speak to their hearts, rather than just reciting a script. Let us also be sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit so that we will share what He wants us to say and not get distracted into unimportant side issues.

The fourth reason to be prayerful is to ask the Lord to remind us to follow up with the person if possible, and to follow up with more prayer.

Lord may we be Your witnesses used by You to point people to Jesus, and may You be pleased to save the people with whom we speak!