Spiritual Hit List

I made a list, sometime around 1995, of people who I was praying for to come to know Jesus Chris as Savior. I think I made it around the time I was in a Bible study with other grad students at UK.  It is a list of old friends and family members.  Now, there are more people that I pray for than are on that list.  That list—it was the first I made, it goes back to my earliest days as a Christian.  There are 16 names on that list.

An old friend called me last night.  Here is something you need to know.  I had decided to call him.  Everything was normal: the screen lit up his name, like normal, except my phone was buzzing.  Took me a second to realize… he was calling me.  At the exact time I was calling him.  I was calling him because his dad had been on my mind.  His dad is on my list.  Well, my friend was calling me to tell me his dad had come to faith in Jesus!

There are 16 names on that list. 7 have come to know Jesus. 9 to go.  Never stop praying for people to come to Christ!

My oldest son, John, led his great-grandfather to Christ, when some in the family did not want him to burden his great-grandfather with that. John was telling me a couple days ago that he felt bad because he felt a nudge to share Christ with someone but he did not.  I told him that I have become convinced of something: prayer, unaided by any other activity, can change a heart and character, can lead the person we pray for to seek Christ.  It does not mean that you should ignore the nudge to share Christ, but if you are faithful to pray for people who need to know Jesus, you are doing more than you can imagine.

I won’t lie, I was tempted to quit praying for my list.  Starting 5 years ago, it really started popping. Who knows why it takes so long?  We should always pray and never give up.  Let’s remember that, remember to remind each other of it!