Why we should pray for the lost - Because Jesus prayed for the lost & the prayer for the lost has great impact

One powerful prayer by the Lord Jesus at the Cross turned many millions to Christ!



What was that prayer? It was in Luke 23:34 "Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do"

To me this is the greatest direct prayer in the Bible. It is a prayer that has impacted the lost many times over and still impacting the world today!

There are 222 direct prayers in the Bible. By this I mean actually worded prayers written by rote. They do not include instructions on prayer or references to prayer or teaching on prayer. It is prayers which are written as the characters in the Bible prayed it.

72 of these prayers are found in the Psalms. Jesus Himself prayed directly to God about 25 times in the Bible. Other than the Lord, we had the Jabez prayer, Moses prayer for the people, Daniel's prayer for his people and Ezra prayed also for his people. 

100% of such prayers have all been answered.

Another prayer quite similar to the prayer on the Cross is the prayer that Stephen prayed while he was being stoned to death. It was not a prayer in anger seeking retribution like asking God to curse them, judge them or destroy them but a prayer which echoed mercy and forgiveness.

Stephen prayed this prayer while in the presence of Saul of Tarsus who was consenting to his death.

Acts 7:57 "Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord, and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul"

Acts 8:1 "Now Saul was consenting to his (Stephen's) death...."

Later in Acts 9, Saul became Paul and met Jesus on the way to Damascus.

Acts 7:59-60 "And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin" And when he said this, he fell asleep"
God answered the prayer on the Cross, 3000 people repented on the day of Pentecost. 

God answered the prayer of Stephen - Paul got miraculously converted. Today there are 2.8 billion Christians worldwide vs 6 billion of the world population!