Tim Challies is a blogger, author and book reviewer. He also is pastor at Grace Fellowship Church in Toronto Ontario and co-founder of Cruciform Press.

He regularly blogs—and has become one of my favorite bloggers to follow.

I was reviewing some of his older posts, and I came across one from November 15, 2016 entitled, “18 Prayers to Pray for Unbelievers”.

Tim brings depth and order to this very significant subject.

I will summarize his points below, but encourage you to read his blog in its entirely. We each have unbelievers in our lives who need our prayers.

Tim has developed prayers we should pray in terms of the unbelievers in our lives. He classifies these 18 prayers in three sections: Prayers for Salvation, Prayers for You, and Other Prayers.

Under Prayers for Salvation, he lists prayers we should pray for the unbelievers. They are:

A prayer that God would circumcise their hearts - Tim notes that “to have a circumcised heart symbolizes having a heart that is fully joined to God, fully submissive to Him.”
“And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live” (Deuteronomy 30:6) (All verses reference are from the NIV).
When I read this passage from Deuteronomy, I thought what a perfect verse for each of us—not just the unbeliever, as with even believers, our hearts become often become calloused to our Lord.
A prayer that God would give them a heart of flesh - a warm heart as opposed to a heart of stone.
“And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh…” (Ezekiel 11:19)
This is a good reminder to the Christian as well—that our hearts are supposed to be soft in spite of troubles and hardships.
A prayer that God would put His Spirit within them - We need the power of God to endure and to be obedient.
“And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statues and be careful to obey my rules” (Ezekiel 36:27)
A prayer that they would come to Christ - As Tim states, salvation resides in Christ and Christ alone. We must pray that the Lord will open their hearts so they can believe, as He did Lydia’s - as reference in the selected Scripture passage:
“The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.” (Acts 16:14)
A prayer that they would be freed from “the slavery of sin” - Tim notes that although unbelievers might believe they are free, they are, in fact, enslaved to their sins—bound by sinfulness. “Pray that God would liberate them by His gospel.”
“But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed.” (Romans 6:17)
A prayer that God would remove Satan’s blinding influence - because Satan disguises himself as an Angel of Light—and makes evil seem good. As Tim notes, God must give them sight—spiritual sight,
“In case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Corinthians 44).
A prayer that God would grant them repentance - a repentance that would “lead to the knowledge of truth”.
“God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to to do his will.” (Timothy 2:25-26).

Next, Tim Challies offers prayers that you should pray for yourself as you pray for the unbeliever.

A prayer that you will develop a relationship with them - through relationships, we can speak the truth of the Gospel.
“How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Romans 10:14)
A prayer for opportunities to minister to them - Tim Challies states, “Many people come to faith after seeing Christ’s love displayed through the ministry of Christians. Pray for opportunities to minister to unbelievers so that your ministry can have an evangelistic effect.”
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16).
Prayers that are faithful and persistent - don’t give up! Tim gives the example of the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18:1-8).
A prayer for a burden to plead for their souls - such a burden keeps us in prayer.
“Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.” (Romans 10:1). This was Paul’s burden—to see the salvation of the lost.
A prayer of boldness in generating and taking opportunities to speak the gospel - we look to the words of Paul for such boldness;
“(Pray) also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given to me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the Gospel…” (Ephesians 6:19).
A prayer that other believers might encounter them - sometimes we cannot be with the unbelievers. Other times, more than one person must speak the truth to the unbeliever before he is reached.
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” (1 Corinthians 3:6).

Tim Challies groups the final prayers into the category of “Other Prayers” :

A prayer that God would use any circumstance to do His work in them - whether easy or difficult, we pray that the circumstances will lead to God.
“Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word.” (Psalm 119:67).
A prayer that God would extend His mercies to them - because God desires that no one perish.
“The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any would perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)
Prayers offered with confidence - God hears our prayers!
“The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” (James 5:16)

My thanks to Tim Challies for spelling out so clearly how we can be in prayer for unbelievers. I urge you to seek out his blog—he has tremendous wisdom to share.

And, I thank God that He hears our prayers—and wants unbeliever to believe even more than we do.