Responding to a friend on this topic, I texted the following with some minor revisions: “Prayer should never be an excuse to neglect to evangelize. That would be disregarding the Great Commission, clearly sinful. I’m glad you see nothing wrong with praying for salvation, and I wholeheartedly agree that the sinners’ belief* in the gospel is solely what saves them. But no matter whatever the situation or however long it’ll take, praying for salvation can be instrumental though not efficacious to salvation. Paul prayed for Israel’s salvation (Rom. 10:1), although I don’t believe he expected it during his lifetime (Rom. 11:25-27). As you know, salvation is ultimately the work of (our sovereign) God who determines the time and situation in which the sinner acknowledges Christ as Savior. This is reflected in the Book of Acts. There was no prayer for salvation, but a lot of positive responses to the preached gospel.”
What’s amazing is that there were two unsaved prayer warriors who later became believers (Acts 10:30-48; 16:13-15). They weren’t necessarily praying for salvation, but it seems that God heard their prayer and in His wisdom sent His servants (Peter to Cornelius and Paul to Lydia) to evangelize them. Mind-boggling isn’t it?
Blessings!
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