“For the god of this world has blinded the unbelievers’ mind [that they should not discern the truth], preventing them from seeing the illuminating light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ (the Messiah), Who is the Image and Likeness of God.” 2 Cor 4:4 (Amplified)
It is a familiar scenario to most if not all of us. You preached Jesus Christ to people who have not only refused to respond as you expected, but are sometime antagonistic to hearing His message of salvation. While you desire their salvation, you understood that you could not force the decision on them and you are at a loss as to what to do. It seems that God had placed upon you a responsibility that far surpasses your ability. How do you hold back someone tottering towards spiritual slaughter and death if they are uncooperative and wouldn’t listen to your repeated entreaties? The question that needs asking is that where does your responsibility end for the salvation of a soul? Is it totally discharged the moment you speak to the person irrespective of their response or does God expect us to do something more or go the extra mile to ensure salvation?
While the ultimate responsibility for the final or eternal destiny of a soul rests with the individual concerned, we also need to be aware of the spiritual forces that are working against and are seeking to frustrate our goal of seeing them turn to Christ. Our anchor passage identifies these forces as belonging to the god of this world in the person of Satan who blinds or incapacitates the individual’s ability to understand or receive the message of the Gospel. The illustration that bests describe the plight of sinners is to imagine them trapped in a slimy pit from which they cannot escape. If they are to be saved, they would need outside help either in the form of people lending a hand or we throwing them a rope that they can use to pull themselves out. We cannot help them by jumping into the same hole of sin as we will all die, but we can help save them by lending a helping hand from our vantage point. We are able to do this because Jesus Christ had initially drawn us out of this hole and has now enabled us to do the same for our fellow men. So, how do we accomplish this end? By enabling the individual to take advantage of the help we are offering and this is by involving ourselves in the prayer of intercession for their souls. This reduces the obstacles to their accepting the Lordship of Jesus Christ to the barest minimum and would result in their salvation.
So, after you’ve preached or even before or whilst doing so, you need to accompany that obedient action with earnest intercessory prayer, which the bible says makes a lot of power available, and engage in fervent spiritual warfare on the behalf of the person or people for whom you are praying. To further enhance the effectiveness of your prayer, you can also add fasting, coupled with the determination to never stop until you have received the answer to your prayer. Your soul must necessarily reach out to God and touch Him on the behalf of those whose salvation and establishment in the Christian faith you are praying to see. When you have prayed earnestly and prayed through, you can then regard yourself as having discharged your responsibility for the soul of your brother or sister or spouse or parents, children, friends, colleagues etc and you will succeed because God still answers prayers.
Prayer:
Lord, I commit to seek you on the behalf of those who are heading to eternal doom. I ask for your grace today and for the guidance of the Holy Spirit so that I can pray your perfect will and see sinners come to Christ as a result in Jesus name. Amen.