How Paul Prayed for the Unsaved

“I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscienceconfirms it in the Holy Spirit— I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in myheart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ forthe sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs isthe adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving ofthe law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, andfrom them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, foreverpraised! Amen” (Romans 9:1-5).

“Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for theIsraelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that theyare zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they didnot know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish theirown, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the end of the lawso that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes” (Romans 10:1-4).

Do you see the parallels in these two passages? Here theyare: sorrow, anguish, brothers, heart’s desire, prayer, Israelites. This is howPaul approached evangelism: emotional intensity in prayer to God for unsavedpeople.

This post coordinates with today's reading in the SamePage Summer Bible Reading Challenge. If you are not in a daily readingplan, please join us at TotheWord.com. We would love to have you reading withus.

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships