The Prerequisite of Prayer

In our last devotional, I shared that God’s priority is to see people come to know Him. Today, I want to give you the first of the five “P”s of evangelism, which I hope will encourage you as you seek to share your faith.

The Scripture is 1 Timothy 2:1-6,

Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

I want you to notice verse 4 in particular: God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. He wants them saved and discipled.

As Jesus said, “Go into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature, and make disciples of all nations.” Those are our two main jobs. Proclaim the gospel to see people get saved, and then disciple them. God desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

But did you notice that verse 1 preceded verse 4? Verse 1 says, Supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men. Verse 4 will not and cannot happen until verse 1 happens. First there is prayer, then comes sharing the plan of salvation.

We must first talk to God about men before we talk to men about God. We cannot be successful unless we talk to God about men first.