Sometimes we may get caught in a bit of a trap of thinking about God simply in broad, non-precise terms. For example, we may think and pray about how God has saved us from our sins and promises to bring us to dwell with him forever.
This is a beautiful and infinitely glorious truth! But there is more.
As Christians when we think of God we think in Trinitarian terms. There is one God, one being that is God. At the same time, within the one being that is God there are distinct, coequal, coeternal persons. The distinct persons are: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father sent the Son. Jesus, the Son, lived and died for us, purchasing our redemption. The Holy Spirit was sent to apply what the Son has accomplished according to the what the Father has decreed. Look, you just went from a “Costco sample sized” prayer or theological thought to a 48 oz ribeye!
Consider also the work of evangelism. This is another area that often gets relegated to more generalized thinking and praying. Think about how you pray about evangelism. When we pray we may simply say, “God, please save Joe.”
There is nothing wrong with this. Please don’t misunderstand. But, there is more.
What if we were thinking evangelism, praying for people, and pursuing a life of faithful evangelism with some of the following biblical truths and prayers on our minds?
- The Trinity is involved in the task of making disciples. Remember, the baptism of a new convert: they are baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (Mt. 28:19-20)
- Prayer: God 3 in 1, I am helpless without you. Use me to faithfully, boldly, and lovingly speak of Christ. Give me opportunities and the guts to take them. Make disciples for your Trinitarian fame.
- It was the Father who created people for his own glory. He has sent Jesus to recover his hungry and hurting people by means of his perfect work of atonement. (Gen. 1:1; Isa. 43.7; Mk. 6:34: Rm. 5:6ff)
- Prayer: Father, you have committed yourself to the highest level to rescue and restore your warped and wrecked creation; make me to be a willing, committed participant in this mission.
- Jesus himself was moved by love for his Father and for the lost. He became a man so that he could save people from their sin. Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. (Gal. 2:20; Phil. 2:5-7)
- Prayer: My loving Savior, your holy love for your Father coupled with your redemptive love for the lost makes me want to say, ‘Depart from me for I am a sinful man’ but I remember that you call, cleanse and commission sinners to be soul-winners! Use my O Great Savior for your mission!
- The Holy Spirit convicts of sin. He is the only way that anyone can every respond to the preaching of the gospel by faith. It is impossible without him. (Jn. 16:8; 2 Cor. 4:4-6)
- Prayer: Holy Spirit I cannot melt this hard heart. What I am going to say to him is utter foolishness apart from you changing his heart. Glorify Christ by crushing the heart of stone O powerful and faithful Spirit of God!
- The Trinity loves lost people. God demonstrates his love by loving the unlovely and the unloving. (Jn. 3:16)
- Prayer: God you have made me to love you and I have failed at that. I am also to love others and I’m afraid I’ve failed there too. With the new heart that you have made to love you incline my heart to love others also. And with this loving, help me to faithfully speak of you to them.
- The Holy Spirit makes us bold when we feel weak. (2 Tim. 1:7)
- Prayer: Holy Spirit you make gospel warriors out of weaklings. I ask for some of that evangelistic power that Paul promised to Timothy. Make me to be bold but not simply bold, but bold in you. Do this so that I don’t soil you boldness with prideful frustration or argumentation.
- The Father loves Jesus for the cross. I must love Jesus for the cross. My love will be characterized by, among other things, telling people about Jesus. (Jn. 10:17)
- Prayer: Father, you love Jesus for the cross, so make me to love him for the same reasons. Make me to boast only in him and for him and through him! Stitch the truth of the gospel deep upon my heart. May my love be fueled by the love that ordered and accomplished Calvary.
- Jesus was faithful when persecuted. He did not revile when reviled, instead he trusted God. (1 Pet. 2:23)
- Prayer: Jesus, you were so faithful amid so much hostility. May you be glorified in me and my witness in this way. As Stephen looked to the heavens with eyes full of faith, may I do the same, even as I trust in you.
- The Holy Spirit glorifies Christ. (Jn. 16:14)
- Prayer: Blessed Holy Spirit, point others to Christ through me. Make me to magnify Christ’s work and worth. Do your work in me and through me!
- The Holy Spirit is with us always, even in evangelism! (Mt. 28:19-20)
- Prayer: Spirit, you are with me always–make me to know this so that I feel it. I want to know this so that it will convict me when I am silent and comfort me when I am afraid. As you are with me give me clarity of mind and help me to recall Scripture to mind that is fitting for the moment. Thank you for never leaving me even when I turn inward upon myself in sin. You are so faithful and so good.
There is much more to say and to pray. But hopefully this will get some embers burning and your mind churning towards Trinitarian evangelism and prayer.
