Over a year ago, our team in New Zealand received a prayer request from a father, saying, “Please pray for the salvation of my son Joshua. Pray for him to have an encounter with Jesus and be radically saved and transformed. Let it be in accordance with Acts 26:18, that the Lord ‘opens his eyes and that he will turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that he may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith’.”
Joshua’s father shared that his son had strayed from his Christian upbringing by the allurement of the world’s temptations. He was beginning to lose hope that Joshua (37 years old) would ever come to his senses and be saved and asked the DPM team to also pray for him.
At Derek Prince Ministries, we realize the privilege of being included in praying for someone's salvation, and so we joined this father in prayer for Joshua. And God moved mightily.
Recently, Joshua’s father wrote to us again, saying, “God got Joshua’s attention big time! He began to speak to his darkened heart, and Joshua began to see that God was indeed revealing Himself to him in various ways. It had a major impact on him, and Joshua was saved! He was a changed man. His marriage was also amazingly restored, and he had a newfound love for his beautiful wife and four children. What a merciful, prayer-answering God we have!”
Universal appointment
But this is not the end of the story about Joshua and his father. You may have noticed that the verbs in the father’s e-mail were all in the past tense: He was a changed man. The reason is that, sadly, his son was tragically killed in a workplace accident some weeks prior. Joshua had been crushed by heavy machinery with 30 tons of pressure, which should have killed him within minutes, but he was still alive when the ambulance arrived. Joshua was rushed into emergency surgery, but the heavy internal bleeding couldn't be stopped. Joshua went to be with His Savior, leaving his wife and young children behind, as well as his parents and two younger brothers and his youngest sibling a sister. Their loss is beyond words.
The shock was intense. However, in spite of his grief, Joshua’s father added, “I thank the Lord that my son was saved by the grace of God, which has given us much comfort in our time of deep grief.” He had assurance of his destiny. As Derek frequently pointed out, “Just as death is the universal fate of all, through their descent from Adam, so resurrection from the dead is the universal appointment of God for all; and this is made possible through the death and resurrection of Christ.”
God cares for your unsaved family members
Isn’t that wonderful? You may have the same desire for your own unsaved family members. Be encouraged: the Lord is even more passionate for their salvation than we! (see Ezekiel 18:23, 2 Peter 3:9) That gives us a solid, Scriptural basis to pray for the Lord’s will to be done in the life of your loved ones.
God cares for families. He does not just care for individuals. He has a special fatherly care for families because families are the expression of His own Father nature. Therefore, when people ask us to pray for their unsaved family members, we take those requests very seriously. But most importantly, so does God.
Don’t give up believing
If you are concerned about your unsaved family members, you will be encouraged by some practical words of warning and counsel by Derek Prince, taken from his radio series You and Your Household.
“I frequently meet fellow Christians who are concerned about members of their family who are not saved. It may be a husband, a wife, parents, children, brothers or sisters, or other family members. Often I find that Christians who have this kind of concern become dispirited and discouraged. Sometimes they are in danger of losing their own faith and with it the joy of their salvation.”
First, never let the devil use this means to rob you of the joy of your salvation. As long as you continue to radiate the peace and joy of salvation, your life is an ever-present testimony and challenge to other members of your family. But if you become discouraged and lose your joy, then in a certain sense, instead of you drawing your unsaved family members into salvation, they are drawing you down out of it. So don’t let that happen.
Second, do not give way to discouragement. This does not come from the Holy Spirit. It’s very important to know that. The Holy Spirit is the Comforter, He’s the Encourager, He does not discourage the children of God. If you are fighting discouragement you need to bear in mind that it does not come from the Holy Spirit.
Third, when everything around you seems to give way, you can still turn to one great, unfailing source of encouragement, the Scriptures. Take encouragement from the Scriptures."
Recommended
If you have been touched by this testimony, we recommend the following resources that will offer you comfort from God's Word.
A Father's Privilege (part of 'You and Your Household')
How To Face the Death of a Lost One
Sharing in Christ’s Victory over Death
