Making A Prayer List: How To Pray For Your Unsaved Friends

So you’ve committed to praying for your unsaved friends?

This is a great first step.

Making a prayer list of your friends who God has given you a heart for will help to remind you to pray for them and show you how to pray for them.

Once you’ve made this list here is a 10-point Biblical prayer you can pray over them.

Let me give you a practical model to make your friends prayer list.

How I Use A Friends Prayer List

I use a life journal notebook for my devotional times each morning so I use a half sheet of paper that fits nicely into my devotional book.

Doing it this way means I make changes to the list as life circumstances change and I can move it around as a bookmark for my devotionals.

The main thing though is that I know I’ll see this list every morning and it will prompt me to pray for my friends to come to Christ.

Knowing Who To Pray For

Take a moment to look at your friendships and ‘circle of influence’.  

Think of people you are closest to and spend time with on a regular basis. 

On a scrap piece of paper, write as many names down as possible in sixty seconds. Simply write whoever springs to mind. 

Now look over the list…

1. If they go to church with you, cross them off.
2. If they are a member of another church, cross them off.
3. Who is left?

You may find that you know some people who go to church with you, yet have no evidence of a relationship with Christ.  Feel free to add them or keep them on your list.

Writing Your Friends Prayer List

I then take this list and write the completed list of names for my journal.

As you write each name, also ask God how to pray for them and make any notes next to their name.

Ask God for specific areas.

For example:

• Show me opportunities to speak with them.
• Help them to see their need for You.
• Is God inviting me to spend a little more time with them?
• Reveal Yourself to them so that they know You are real.

Everyone is at a different stage of their spiritual journey. What is your friend’s next step to get closer to God?

If they are hostile to God, how I can pray that they may start seeking God?

If they deny God exists, how can I pray that they would know that He is real?

If they are seeking God, how can I pray they would talk with me about how I found God?

If they are studying the Bible in their search, how can I pray that God’s Word would speak to them?

In other words, I try to pray in accordance with the work that God might be doing in their spiritual life already. Salvation is a work of the Lord and you are working in partnership with Him.

Watch For Answers

Going beyond the generic and into specifics prepares me to cooperate with what God might be inviting me into.

It shows me what to look out for, to see where they are on their spiritual journey and how I could be used by God in their life.

As God answers some of those specific petitions on my prayer list, I’ll update the list from time to time.

Updating my prayer list helps me to see progress in a person’s journey towards Christ.

“Therefore, my confession of faith is: ‘God has begun a good work in ______’s life and He will perform it and bring it to full completion until the day of Jesus Christ, in Jesus’ Name.’” 

Your Turn

• Make your prayer list. Stick the list somewhere you know you’ll see it every day.
• Commit to praying for 30 days for every name on the list as God directs.
• Learn more about friendship evangelism here.

And if you want to grow in some simple next steps in personal evangelism and reach for the lost you may find these three books helpful to you (links to Amazon):

• Conversational Evangelism: Connect With People To Share Jesus
• Evangelism: How the Whole Church Speaks of Jesus
• Surprising Insights from the Unchurched and Proven Ways to Reach Them

These may help you answer the question:

“What can you do in the next 90 days to grow your evangelism skills?”

Have You ever used a friends prayer list before?

Do you have a testimony you want to share to encourage others to speak about their faith?

Share your comments below.