Should someone who is saved pray for the salvation of someone who is not saved?

[NOV25]

Hello LeeLoving, first off, here are a couple of Q & A's for you to consider.

Q. How do we know if someone has been predestined to eternal life?
A. We know when/if they come to saving faith in Jesus Christ.

Q. How does someone come to saving faith in Christ?
A. Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ .. Romans 10:17.​

We cannot know who will and who will not come to saving faith, so we witness and preach the Gospel to everyone. ~Arminianism

We cannot know who the elect are until they've come to saving faith, so we witness and preach the Gospel to everyone. ~Calvinism

God bless you!

~Deut
p.s. - I do not believe that there is a better answer to your OP question, "should Christians pray for those who are not saved", than this one, by the Calvinist Pastor/Theologian Charles H. Spurgeon. Personally, I will always be EXTREMELY grateful, and thankful to the Lord, for the many who prayed for my salvation.

​

Well said Deut. 👏

 

[JaumeJ]

Every day.

 

[Adstar]

Those who are saved are predestined to be saved, right? If so, does that mean someone who is saved should not pray for the salvation of someone who is not saved?

I have often prayed for the conviction / moving of the Holy Spirit to come upon people who are unbelievers or people who are in the process of seeking.. I cannot know if someone else is predestined to be saved or not.. God knows but i do not know.. So i will pray for them.. I know that people can and do resist the Holy Spirit so praying for the conviction / moving of the Holy Spirit is not praying someone into being saved..

I do not believe i can pray anyone into salvation.. If that where the case then we would spend all out time saying prayers for people to be saved and we would not need to share the Gospel or spend time with people who have questions about God and His will and are seeking clarifications..

 

[notuptome]

A Christian should be ashamed if they cannot pray earnestly for the souls of lost folks they know and have contact with to be saved. It is impossible to hate even the worst sinner if you earnestly pray that God would bring them to a saving knowledge of Christ.

One must remember that they were no better than the worst sinner they know. We all were gone astray and without hope until we heard the word of God were convicted of sin, righteousness and the judgment of God upon sin.

Pray for the lost and thank God you can weep for them that they might come out of the darkness into His glorious light.

For the cause of Christ
Roger

 

[mailmandan]

I have often prayed for the conviction / moving of the Holy Spirit to come upon people who are unbelievers or people who are in the process of seeking.. I cannot know if someone else is predestined to be saved or not.. God knows but i do not know.. So i will pray for them.. I know that people can and do resist the Holy Spirit so praying for the conviction / moving of the Holy Spirit is not praying someone into being saved..

I do not believe i can pray anyone into salvation.. If that where the case then we would spend all out time saying prayers for people to be saved and we would not need to share the Gospel or spend time with people who have questions about God and His will and are seeking clarifications..

Amen! I continue to pray for the salvation of family members and others and share the Gospel with them as the opportunity arises. When I was a brand new believer, I was temporarily under the delusion that if I just explained the Gospel clearly and eloquently enough to lost people, then they will surely believe the gospel, but that is not how it works.

*In 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, we read - I planted, Apollos watered, but God [all the while] was causing the growth. So neither is the one who plants nor the one who waters anything, but [only] God who causes the growth. (AMP)

 

[JaumeJ]

When some employ the word, predestined, do they not refer to all who are foreknown from this age for having called upon Jesus, Yeshua, for the gracing of His Salvation rich and free?

We are foreknow from this age before the Kingdom not predestined before being encarnated here inthis age, otherwise there would be no reason for this age………..

 

[EternalFire]

Those who are saved are predestined to be saved, right? If so, does that mean someone who is saved should not pray for the salvation of someone who is not saved?

Romans 10:1
Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

 

[Hazelelponi]

Those who are saved are predestined to be saved, right? If so, does that mean someone who is saved should not pray for the salvation of someone who is not saved?

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

What does this mean? Are we begging God to do His Will? (I think He doesn't need our permission)

Or are we praying to God to conform our wills to His perfect Will?

Yes.

What does God want us to be? Heartless toward the unsaved?

Or are we to pray for our enemies?

"But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven" Matthew 5:44-45

Who persecutes us? Who are our enemies but those who are enemies of God?

Even Jesus prayed for the unsaved... we all pray for the unsaved because we love them and want for them what we want for ourselves - a relationship with God.

 

[Whispered]

Those who are saved are predestined to be saved, right? If so, does that mean someone who is saved should not pray for the salvation of someone who is not saved?

Not right in the sense Calvinism teaches, nor the five petals of TULIP.
God predestined Salvation means after the fall of the first Adam God knew the second Adam, Himself as Jesus the Son of Man, would be sacrificed so as to seal a new covenant with the world. Of course there is no thing Omniscience cannot foresee or foreknow. This does not mean God determined you and I to be saved, and by name, while leaving John, Steve, and Marcus to die in their sins.

In Hebrew the word name is, shem.
Those marked for Salvation by God would be those for whom God's word of Salvation would resonate. The, "whosoever", in the Book of John chapter 3 verse 16.
So of course we should pray for those who are dead in their sin. The Apostles were ministering to the same people when they were given the Great Commission. Would prayer not be part of that as well?


The Book of Luke chapter 19:10 "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

 

[LeeLoving]

Not right in the sense Calvinism teaches, nor the five petals of TULIP.
God predestined Salvation means after the fall of the first Adam God knew the second Adam, Himself as Jesus the Son of Man, would be sacrificed so as to seal a new covenant with the world. Of course there is no thing Omniscience cannot foresee or foreknow. This does not mean God determined you and I to be saved, and by name, while leaving John, Steve, and Marcus to die in their sins.

In Hebrew the word name is, shem.
Those marked for Salvation by God would be those for whom God's word of Salvation would resonate. The, "whosoever", in the Book of John chapter 3 verse 16.
So of course we should pray for those who are dead in their sin. The Apostles were ministering to the same people when they were given the Great Commission. Would prayer not be part of that as well?


The Book of Luke chapter 19:10 "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Doesn't the Father have to draw someone to the Son for them to be saved, though? If Paul prayed for the salvation of Israel knowing that some would not be saved, then I guess people who are saved praying for the salvation of people who are not saved is ok.

 

[Whispered]

Doesn't the Father have to draw someone to the Son for them to be saved, though?

Wouldn't the Gospel message be that which draws someone to the Son?

If Paul prayed for the salvation of Israel knowing that some would not be saved, then I guess people who are saved praying for the salvation of people who are not saved is ok.

Yes, I'd agree.
We're told in the Book of Matthew chapter 5 to pray for our enemies and those who persecute us. Are those then not sinners?

 

[LeeLoving]

Wouldn't the Gospel message be that which draws someone to the Son?

In John 6:44 isn't Jesus saying no one can come to Him unless the Father draws them though?

 

[Whispered]

In John 6:44 isn't Jesus saying no one can come to Him unless the Father draws them though?

Is the Gospel message of God? Does the Book of James chapter 4 tell us to draw nigh unto God and He shall draw nigh unto us?

 

[Isaiah263]

I'm not a 5 point Calvinist, but I do know Predestination is all over Scripture. The Father has an elect bride for his son (John 6:39) whom He promised to Him before time began (Titus 1:1-2; 2 Tim 1:9) who Christ will never cast out (John 6:37). And whom The Father has given to the Son, He has given eternal life (John 17:1,6,9,10,12,24)
But we ought to pray for sure! In fact, prayer is so important to God, that He uses his saint's prayers for the end of history. (Revelation 8:1-5). We are commanded to pray for others. (1 Tim 2:2) If we're commanded to pray for them, the number one most important thing to pray for them is their eternity.

 

[Whispered]

I'm not a 5 point Calvinist, but I do know Predestination is all over Scripture. The Father has an elect bride for his son (John 6:39) whom He promised to Him before time began (Titus 1:1-2; 2 Tim 1:9) who Christ will never cast out (John 6:37). And whom He has given to the son, He has given eternal life (John 17:1,6,9,10,12,24)
But we ought to pray for sure! In fact, prayer is so important to God, that He uses his saint's prayers for the end of history. (Revelation 8:1-5). We are commanded to pray for others. 2 Tim 2:1) If we're commanded to pray for them, the number one most important thing to pray for them is their eternity.

God said, whosoever shall believeth in Him shall not perish but have immortal life.
Predestination does not mean God predestined a select number to be Saved and knew who those individuals would be. Were that the case, I believe we would have to give credence to the contrary. That God then also predetermined those whom He would let die in their sins. I don't think Predestination means what some are led to believe it to mean.

 

[LeeLoving]

God said, whosoever shall believeth in Him shall not perish but have immortal life.
Predestination does not mean God predestined a select number to be Saved and knew who those individuals would be. Were that the case, I believe we would have to give credence to the contrary. That God then also predetermined those whom He would let die in their sins. I don't think Predestination means what some are led to believe it to mean.

You don't think God knew who would be saved and who wouldn't be saved before creation began? (might not be wording things right, I actually might be wording things in a way I shouldn't be) Or you don't think He knew when creation first began?

Also when you used the word God did you mean the Father?

 

[LeeLoving]

I might have been pretty presumptuous asking someone else about what God knew before creation began. Or even just asking someone else about what God knows.

 

[JaumeJ]

Our Father is the Origen without beginning or end Who is All.

 

[Whispered]

You don't think God knew who would be saved and who wouldn't be saved before creation began? (might not be wording things right, I actually might be wording things in a way I shouldn't be) Or you don't think He knew when creation first began?

Yes, He did. However, very often the way of thinking about predestination in that regard encircles within it the idea that God not only foreknew whom would be Saved but that God deliberately intended, and predetermined, whom would be saved. As individuals preselected as it were.

That's not the case.Were it so, I believe God would have His inspired word to be consistent in that regard and unequivocally say as much. Whereas in the matter of the purpose of Jesus birth He instead said that He so loved this worlds people that He sent His only begotten Son to die as that propitiation for the debt of sin for the whole world. And as such whosoever would believe in Him would have everlasting immortal life.
Which is something we who were dead in our sins would not know without God's grace opening the narrow way for those for whom the Good News would invite to commit to introspection and thus humble ones self to that reality. That without God we shall surely die. While Gods grace filled invitation to join in His new covenant assures us to be with Him and truly live.

Also when you used the word God did you mean the Father?

It is God the Father.

 

[Whispered]

I might have been pretty presumptuous asking someone else about what God knew before creation began. Or even just asking someone else about what God knows.

I don't believe so. Aren't we led to understand what God knows by reading those words He meant for us through His inspiring them to be copied down for our benefit?