Of course – and let’s be specific!
Sometimes I hear people praying that others who don’t know Christ will ‘have a miraculous dream’, or ‘see Jesus in a vision’. Awesome – no problem. But I don’t think it’s enough to cause people to follow Jesus and be saved. It is an amazing and exceptional way for people to be compelled into a real relationship where they personally hear about Jesus Christ, and then follow Him.
Cornelius’ vision in Acts 10 compelled him to go and find Peter, in order to truly hear the message of salvation in Christ. Cornelius was not saved by the vision, he was mobilised to find a messenger.
So, let’s pray that people will “hear the message.. through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). Pray that people in Vietnam, and Russia, and North India, and Yemen, and China … will either meet a faithful Christian in person, or get their hands on a radio, and find FEBC on-air and hear the message. This is practical, biblical, and real (it happens every day!). Wonderful.
I think God has a great chuckle at many of our prayers quite frankly, but he gets the point. Just like we do with our kids.
Faith comes by hearing the word of God (the Gospel in the case of a pre-Christian) and Jesus said we were to ask the Lord of the harvest for more workers. That pretty well does it – what is needed is more messengers who offer the Word and that is the focus of our prayers. We can rightly rejoice in God’s grace to individuals that prepare the soil of their hearts for the seed of his word but i agree with you Matt. The focus is on messengers carrying the right message. Praise God therefore for radio so that a single messenger can reach so many at one time!