Prayer for Salvation
Prayer for Salvation (Devin H. Dunn)
Acts 16:11-34
Big Idea: We don’t just speak to people about Jesus. We speak to Jesus about people.
The book of Acts is filled with prayer. The prayers of the first Christians were central to everything they did, everywhere they went, and everything they said. Prayer should be the anchor of the church, its sails, its compass, and its lighthouse.
Prayer is central not only to our boldness in sharing the gospel, but also to our dependence upon God to save those who hear it. We can share the gospel faithfully, but we are powerless to change the human heart. We don’t save sinners; God saves sinners. And he invites us not merely to speak the truth to others, but to intercede for them.
Charles Spurgeon famously captured this urgency:
“If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies… let not one go unwarned or unprayed for.”
Church planting puts us on the front lines of gospel advancement. But a church seeking to grow God’s kingdom apart from God’s power might grow numerically; it will never grow the kingdom supernaturally.
Prayer is not merely the first job of the church—it is the continuing work of the church. Apart from Christ, we can do nothing.
Acts 16 introduces us to three radically different people who need the gospel and the intervention of God: the seeker, the slave, and the sufferer.
I. Pray for the Seeker: Lydia (16:11–15)
Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke arrive in Philippi after the Holy Spirit directs them into Macedonia. On the Sabbath, they go outside the city looking for a place of prayer and discover a group of women gathered beside the river.
Among them is Lydia.
Luke describes her as a seller of purple goods from Thyatira and “a worshiper of God.” She was likely a successful and wealthy businesswoman who had become dissatisfied with the pagan religion surrounding her and had begun seeking the God of Israel.
She was religious. She prayed. She listened to Scripture. She sought God.
But she did not yet know the gospel.
Acts 16:14 says, “The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.”
God had to open the heart of a woman who was already seeking him.
Lydia reminds us that it is possible to be religious, moral, spiritually curious, familiar with Scripture, and still not know Christ. She was reaching toward God but needed to discover the good news that, in Jesus, God had reached toward her.
Her wealth could not provide what her soul desired. Money can purchase comfort, but it cannot purchase peace. It can purchase luxury, but not forgiveness. It can fill a house, but it cannot fill a soul.
There are still Lydias all around us—successful, moral, spiritual, searching people who sense that there must be something more.
We should pray that God would open their hearts to see that the treasure they seek is found in Jesus Christ.
Pray that God would save those who seek.
II. Pray for the Slave (16:16–24)
The second person Luke introduces is almost the opposite of Lydia.
She has no wealth, freedom, or social standing. She is a slave girl possessed by a “spirit of divination,” literally a “spirit of Python.” Her owners exploit her spiritual oppression for financial gain.
She is enslaved twice: physically by men and spiritually by the enemy.
As she follows Paul and his companions, she cries out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.”
The words sound true, but they come from a demonic source. Scripture repeatedly shows that demons can recognize and speak truth about God while remaining opposed to him. Satan’s strategy is often not simply to deny truth but to distort, manipulate, and counterfeit it.
Eventually Paul commands the spirit:
Acts 16:18: “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.”
And immediately she is freed.
The story is dramatic, but the reality of spiritual slavery remains.
Jesus says:
John 8:34: “Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.”
People around us are enslaved to things they believed would make them free. Addiction, pornography, alcohol, gambling, greed, bitterness, anxiety, approval, money, success, sexuality, and self-expression can all become masters.
That is how sin works. It promises freedom and produces chains. It promises life and delivers death. It promises fulfillment and leaves us empty.
But Jesus Christ offers true freedom.
The slave girl had no ability to free herself from either the people exploiting her or the spiritual power oppressing her. Christ intervened.
This is why we pray for those trapped in sin. We cannot break another person’s chains, but Christ can.
Pray that God would free those who are enslaved.
III. Pray for the Sufferer: The Philippian Jailer (16:25–34)
Finally, Luke introduces the most unlikely convert of the three.
Lydia represents privilege.
The slave girl represents oppression.
The jailer represents power.
He was likely a hardened man accustomed to Roman discipline and authority. After Paul and Silas are stripped, beaten, and imprisoned, the jailer places them in the innermost cell and fastens their feet in stocks.
Yet around midnight:
Acts 16:25: “Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.”
Bloodied and imprisoned, Paul and Silas pray and sing.
Then God shakes the prison.
The doors open and everyone’s bonds are unfastened. Believing the prisoners have escaped—and knowing the consequences he will face—the jailer prepares to take his own life.
Paul cries out:
“Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”
The jailer falls before them and asks one of the most important questions anyone can ask:
“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
Their answer is remarkably simple:
Acts 16:31: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.”
And he believes.
The man who had imprisoned Paul and Silas now washes their wounds. Then, in water, he and his household are baptized in the name of Jesus.
The jailer’s circumstances brought him to the end of himself, but there he discovered that Christ was ready to save him.
There are people around us right now who are suffering and approaching the end of themselves. Some have nowhere else to turn. We should pray that the church would be a place where they encounter Christians ready to love them, speak the gospel to them, and answer the question, “What must I do to be saved?”
Pray that God would give hope to those who suffer.
Conclusion
Behind all three stories stands a God who does what human beings cannot.
He opens the heart of the seeker. He breaks the chains of the slave. He gives hope to the sufferer.
The treasure of Christ is offered to the one who seeks. Freedom is offered to the one enslaved. Hope and life are offered to the one who suffers.
But God must awaken the heart. So we pray.
There are people all around us who need Christians willing to tell them about Jesus. But they also need Christians willing to tell Jesus about them.
Don’t just speak to people about Jesus. Speak to Jesus about people.
Application Questions
Who has God already placed in my life that I should be regularly praying will come to faith in Christ?
Who do I know that is seeking meaning, purpose, spirituality, or fulfillment but has not yet discovered the gospel? How can I pray for and speak to them like Paul did with Lydia?
Who in my life appears trapped or enslaved by sin? Have I become frustrated with them, or am I faithfully asking Christ to do what I cannot do?
Who is suffering or approaching the end of themselves? How can I make myself available to love them and point them toward the hope of Christ?
Do my prayers reveal that I actually believe God must change people’s hearts? Or have I begun relying primarily on programs, preaching, relationships, strategy, or persuasion?
If God answered my prayers for the salvation of others, whose life would be different? Am I praying specifically enough that I would recognize his answer?
Questions for reflection:
Who has God already placed in my life that I should be regularly praying will come to faith in Christ?
Who do I know that is seeking meaning, purpose, spirituality, or fulfillment but has not yet discovered the gospel? How can I pray for and speak to them like Paul did with Lydia?
Who in my life appears trapped or enslaved by sin? Have I become frustrated with them, or am I faithfully asking Christ to do what I cannot do?
Who is suffering or approaching the end of themselves? How can I make myself available to love them and point them toward the hope of Christ?
Do my prayers reveal that I actually believe God must change people’s hearts? Or have I begun relying primarily on programs, preaching, relationships, strategy, or persuasion?
If God answered my prayers for the salvation of others, whose life would be different? Am I praying specifically enough that I would recognize his answer?