Praying for the Unsaved

I know instinctively that we are to do so, but can any one point me out an example in Scripture where there is prayer for the unsaved.. for their salvation, or an injunction to pray for the unsaved that they may be saved?


Extra Credit-

For the Arminian...Wouldn't a salvation prayer intefere with the free wiil of the lost?

For the Calvinist... Wouldn't a salvation prayer intefere with God's sovereign choice?

Matthew 9:37-38??

Romans 10:1 ?

Nope, prayers or not, I'm still the one doing the choosing, or I don't have free will.

Nothing can interfere with God's sovereign choice. We pray but it's God who answers, yes, no or wait.

Also, God ordains whatsoever comes to pass LONG before it happens. This includes our prayers!

~Deut

It is God's desire that all souls be saved…….

For the Calvinist...

No. God wants me to pray for the lost. Especially for the specific person He has laid it on my heart to pray for.

for the open theist, isn't God powerless to do anything about saving someone if the future is contingent on unknowable outcomes of human free will decisions?

for the works-salvationist and the once-saved-maybe-not-always-ists, isn't God also powerless since any man can negate His saving work?

hmmmm

I am persuaded that we do have a choice with regards to both how we respond and life in general

God knows because He is not limited in this physical time constrained world

if I make a wrong choice, while knowing of a better or 'right' choice, I do not believe God foreordained it because God does not plan evil but we usually are the recipient of pain because of our bad choices

the longer I go through life, the more I see God's presence in the world even in very little things...which gets my attention because I am a 'detail' person

but I also see how we (saved and unsaved now) bring the devil to our own door

all that to say God does foreordain; the Bible says so....but not in a way that we are puppets

He does say 'let us reason together...regarding sin and salvation...this is evident of God's mercy and patience

I think a simple answer to God's sovereignty is and will always be inconclusive. God is anything but simple even though His plan of salvation is...but we do not know what it took to get there but we can come to understand that God does ordain events in history and causes them to pass

the following certainly seems to be indicative of prayer for the lost

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Matthew 9: 37-38

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, I Timothy 2: 1-6

I was hoping for scriptures specifically telling us to pray for the salvation of a lost person, or an example of someone doing so.

I was hoping for scriptures specifically telling us to pray for the salvation of a lost person, or an example of someone doing so.

I was hoping for scriptures specifically telling us to pray for the salvation of a lost person, or an example of someone doing so.

Those are good Scriptures for mankind in general but do you have any verses for specific individuals?

I kind of thought so but I thought maybe I was missing something somewhere. I find it curious that that is lacking in Scripture.

It is our new nature to pray for all souls, as for a specific quote, I am not remembering anything with those exact words, but I believe it is implied when it says Jesus died for the sins of mankind……..dont' ask me to find it and how it is worded…..it would take me a lot of extra, well, I will atry to find it.

Hey, look what I Googled…….eazy peazy..
"For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have [desires] all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time" (1 Timothy 2:3-6)
"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man" (Hebrews 2:9).


"And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:2).

How bout 1 John 5:14-17