Contents

Introduction

How to Win Your Loved Ones to the Lord

Summary

Introduction

Many who are lost are not going to come to the Lord by themselves.

As I travel from state to state holding meetings, I hear the cry of mothers and fathers, “Lord, save my children.” I hear husbands and wives plead for the salvation of their mates, asking me what can be done in their desperate situations. The picture looks so dark and the mountain seems so big. But praise God!

There are some things we can do to see our loved ones won to Jesus.

It is the purpose of this little book to examine the Word of God to see what we, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, can do to see the other members of our family delivered out of satan’s kingdom and translated into the Kingdom of His dear Son.

How to Win Your Loved Ones to the Lord

The God of this World

But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them (2 Cor. 4:3,4).

Satan, or the devil, is called “the god of this world” (world referring to those who aren’t born again). You are either in the Kingdom of Light with God as your Father; or you are in the kingdom of darkness with satan as your father, god, and master. There is no in-between. You are either a child of God or a child of the devil.

Now, according to these verses, satan blinds the mind of the nonbeliever, making it virtually impossible for him to see the truth of God’s Word. He will do all he can to keep the sinner from being born again.

The enemy keeps an unsaved person operating in the realm of the senses and reason. This prevents him from understanding the things of God, for spiritual things are not understood with reason or logic, but accepted into the heart by faith as the Holy Spirit illuminates him to the inward man.

The knowledge of the world comes through the five senses: tasting, feeling, hearing, smelling, and seeing. The knowledge of the things of God comes through the study of the Word and illumination from our Teacher, the Holy Spirit.

The natural man, or unregenerate man, lives by his senses and reason, for this is the only way he knows. (1 Cor. 2:14.) The spiritual man, on the other hand, lives by faith in the Word of God. He is led by the Holy Spirit who lives in his spirit.

The world says, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” The believer says, “I believe it; therefore, I will see it.” The two systems are totally opposite.

Binding Up the Devil

We have found that the minds of our loved ones are being blinded from the truth of the Word. But what can we do about it? I’m glad you asked!

Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you (Luke 10:19).

Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (Matt. 18:18).

Jesus said that we, as believers, have power over all the power of the enemy. The word power in the Greek means authority. Praise God! We have authority over all the power of satan in the lives of our loved ones. We do not have authority over people’s wills, but we do have authority over the devil’s evil influence on them.

Now someone might say, “How can you say that?”

Because 1 John 4:4 is true: Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. He that is in you is greater than the devil in your family! That’s just what the Word of God says!

Notice the above scripture taken from Matthew’s gospel. Jesus is telling us that whatever we bind—or in other words, refuse to allow on earth—God in heaven will refuse to allow. Also, this verse says that whatever we loose, or allow on earth, God in heaven will also allow it.

Let that soak in for a minute. Such authority the Lord has put into our hands! According to these passages, in the name of Jesus we can bind up the devil’s works in the lives of our husbands, wives, sons, daughters, and loose the Spirit of God to minister to their hearts.

Now how is this accomplished?

By opening your mouth and saying with all authority and boldness:

Satan, in the name of Jesus Christ, I bind you from interfering with the Word of God reaching my loved ones so that they can hear the Word, believe it in their hearts, and make confession unto salvation. I break your power over them in Jesus’ name and command you to loose your grip on them!

Don’t just think these words. Say them!

We release our authority over the devil by speaking words.

Jesus never told you to think the devil away, but He did show you how to use the Sword of the Spirit against him by speaking God’s Word out of your mouth. (See Eph. 6:17 and Luke 4:1-13).

If you want to see your family set free from the bondage of satan, you will have to open up your mouth and speak it forth.

Claim the Promise

Once you have commanded the devil to take his hands off the lives of your loved ones and have bound him from interfering with their coming to God, you must claim by faith the promise of God concerning their salvation.

And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house (Acts 16:31).

When you have found what God has said about the matter, begin to put your faith into action by speaking the Word only and acting like the Word is so— even if the circumstances don’t change immediately. Begin to do what Romans 4:17 says by “calling those things which be not as though they were.” This is what faith is all about.

Say with your mouth: Father, Your Word declares that if I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, I shall be saved. I believe on You, Jesus, and I am born again of Your Spirit. Therefore, my household shall be saved also. I thank You for it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

If you have another believer to stand with you in faith, you can agree together by saying:

Father, Your Word says in Matthew 18:19 that if two believers agree as touching anything, You will do it for them. My prayer partner and I are agreeing today that my loved ones are saved according to Acts 16:31. We are standing in faith in Your holy Word and we thank You for answering our prayer. We agree that it’s done in Jesus’ name. Amen.

After claiming your loved ones’ salvation according to the Word of God, begin to thank the Lord for answering your prayer of faith. (The prayer of thanksgiving is discussed later in this book.)

Don’t continue to ask the same thing over and over again. If you prayed believing the first time, then you can be sure: He has heard your petition.

First John 5:14,15 says,

And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

God’s will is His Word and His Word is His will. You have asked according to His will; therefore, believe He has heard you and that He is already moving on your behalf. From then on, continue to thank Him and give Him praise until you see it manifested in the physical realm. The worse things look, the more you should give praise to God for the answer!

Strong faith (according to Romans 4:20,21) is giving glory to God and being fully persuaded that what God has promised, He is also able to perform. By doing this, we are operating in the Abraham and Jesus kind of faith. This is the kind of faith that gets results.

They Must Hear the Word

Even though you have broken the power of the enemy over your family in Jesus’ name and are standing in faith on the Word of God for their salvation, they will never be born again unless they hear the Word of God.

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? (Rom. 10:14).

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Rom. 10:17).

How can men or women have faith in what Jesus has done for them if no one shows them in the Word of God? How are people to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior unless they are first told how? People have to hear the message of Jesus Christ.

Someone might say, “Well, I have told my loved ones about Jesus and that they need to be saved, but they just won’t listen to me.”

That is true. Many times it takes someone outside the family to bring the message to them. This is why Jesus tells us in Luke 10:2,

The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.

Jesus is telling us to pray that God would cause born-again men and women to cross the paths of our loved ones’ lives and to have the opportunity to share this all-important message with them.

See the Word as a seed. (1 Peter 1:23.) The harvest will not come forth without planting the seed first. In other words, your loved ones need to have the Word of God planted in their hearts by hearing it before they can believe the Word and make confession unto salvation.

Praise the Lord!

Once that seed is planted, it will never quit working in them. Isaiah 55:11 says that the Word will not return void unto the Father but shall accomplish that which pleases Him. The Holy Spirit will continue to convict them of their need to be born again until they respond to that conviction and surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Walk in Love

Now this is a crucial point: God has never told us to push or drive the sinner into making a decision for Christ. People are to be loved into the Kingdom, not forced.

The Bible says if Christ be lifted up, He will draw all men to Him. Jesus doesn’t force—He draws.

In John 13:34,35 Jesus gives us a command to love:

A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if we have love one to another.

The sinner should see this love in the believer and say, “He has something I don’t have, and I want it!”

Galatians 5:6 says that faith works by love. This applies particularly to our faith in the area of believing for our loved ones. We can believe God and confess Acts 16:31, Luke 10:2, and the other scriptures we have mentioned, and even pray five hours a day; but if we aren’t walking in love with those whom we are believing for (and everyone else for that matter), our faith will be nullified.

You say, “But, Brother John, you don’t know how they mistreat me and verbally abuse me because I’m a Christian. How am I supposed to love them when they treat me like that?”

When you were born again, you received into your spirit the very nature of God, which is love. (Rom. 5:5.) You have the love of God, or the God kind of love in you! You don’t have to pray for it or beg God for it—it’s already in you.

This kind of love is an unconditional love. In other words, it loves regardless of how it is treated, whether good or bad. The world knows nothing of this love. It is foreign to them.

One of the best examples of the God kind of love is shown us in John 3:16:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

God loved the world so much that He gave part of Himself—His only Son.

He loved you when you were a sinner, when you wanted nothing to do with Him. He didn’t wait for you to “straighten up and fly right.” He didn’t wait for you to love Him first.

This is the type of love we are talking about. It is agape—the kind of love we are commanded to love with, the God kind of love.

Praise God, we can love as the Word tells us to because that love is in us. What we must do is release that love and get it out where others can see it and benefit from it.

Think love thoughts. Speak love words. Do love things. Even though your family may do you wrong, let that love dominate you at all times. It’s not easy at first; but the more you practice it, the easier it gets. Remember: Love never fails (1 Cor. 13:8). Love always wins out.

To see your loved ones come to God, you must walk in love with them every step of the way.

Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession

What else can we do to see our family won to the Lord, other than claim these scriptures and walk in love?

In Ephesians 1:16-19 there is a prayer that Paul prayed under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit:

(I) Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers,

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.

And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power.

As Christians who are believing for our loved ones, we can pray this prayer every day—thanking the Lord that their eyes are being opened to the truth of God’s Word concerning salvation.

As an example, let’s say I want to pray the prayer of thanksgiving for John Doe. This is how I would do it:

I cease not to give thanks for John Doe, making mention of him in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto John Doe the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of John Doe’s understanding being enlightened; that he may know what is the hope of His calling, and what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to John Doe who believes according to the working of His power.

By praying in this manner, we are staying in faith. We are thanking the Lord that He is already at work in the situation. Faith is now! Don’t hope that God will intervene “someday.” Offer up to Him the prayer of thanksgiving because He is moving in the lives of your loved ones right now!

Another way we can pray for them is to intercede in the Spirit (in other tongues).

Many times we come to the place where we just don’t know what or how to pray in a situation. This is where interceding in the Spirit comes in.

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God (Rom. 8:26,27).

When we pray in other tongues for the needs of other people, we are praying the perfect will of God into the situation. Acts 2:4 says the Spirit is giving us the utterance. As we intercede in the Spirit, we are pulling down the strongholds of satan in their lives. (2 Cor. 10:3,4.)

To illustrate the importance and effectiveness of interceding in the Spirit on behalf of others, let me relate a story.

In the 1800’s there lived a minister named Rev. Daniel Nash, more commonly known as “Father Nash.” Charles Finney, a man used mightily of God during those days, makes mention of Father Nash in this autobiography, particularly referring to his intercessory ministry.

Finney tells of a prayer list that Father Nash kept and that many times each day he would intercede for those on the list—and did he get results!

Among the people who happened to get on Father Nash’s prayer list was a tavern owner. His barroom, as one would expect, was a very ungodly place (to say the least!) and the owner himself was blasphemous and profane even to the point of swearing and using God’s name in vain whenever he saw a Christian. He despised Christianity as a whole.

Not too long after Father Nash began interceding for this man, Finney had a revival meeting in the town where this bar owner lived. And who do you think came into this meeting? You guessed it—this very man!

When he made his entrance, it caused quite a disturbance in the congregation. They thought he had come to disrupt the meeting. As a matter of fact, some folks just got up and left when they saw him come in. But it wasn’t long before Finney realized that the man had not come to oppose.

The man stood up and asked Finney if he might say a few words. He then proceeded to confess all the wrong things he had done, the way he had mistreated God and abused the Christians. From that night on, Finney said, a prayer meeting was held in this man’s tavern nearly every night!

Intercessory prayer works. It will work for you as it did for Father Nash, if you are willing to do it. God is no respecter of persons.

Take time to pray in the Spirit for those you are believing for. You will see results!

Hold Fast to the Word

“John,” someone might say, “I’ve been doing all these things you’ve been speaking of. I’ve broken the power of the devil. I’ve claimed the promise. I’ve even been spending time interceding for my loved ones. But I still haven’t seen anything happen.”

This is where perseverance and patience come in.

Patience, according to W. E. Vine, is “the quality that does not surrender to circumstances or succumb under trial.

It is the opposite of despondency and is associated with hope.”

Perseverance, in Webster’s Dictionary, means “to persist in anything undertaken; to maintain a purpose in spite of difficulty or obstacles.”

Many times people “miss it” by giving up too soon. They give up in the eighth inning, instead of playing until they win. Sometimes you will have to go extra innings, but don’t quit.

Ephesians 6:13 says, Having done all, to stand. Having done all you know the Word of God says for you to do, stand! Some take longer than others to respond to the conviction of the Spirit on their hearts. Some are “tough nuts to crack.” But, glory to God, there is no nut too hard for the Holy Spirit!

The enemy will come to you and say, “Now let’s be realistic. Look at the situation. Observe the circumstances. God isn’t working in their lives. They haven’t changed a bit. You don’t really believe that they’ll ever be saved, do you? Why don’t you just give up hope and admit they’ll never come to the Lord?”

If satan can keep you in the realm of reason and keep your eyes on circumstances, get ready for defeat. If he can get you to start saying, “I guess I’m just wasting my time. They’ll never come to the Lord in a million years,” then you have lost. Remember, you have what you say. (Mark 11:23.)

But, if you keep the devil in the arena of faith, you will whip him every time. When he comes to you with those discouraging thoughts, don’t think on them; cast them down in Jesus’ name, according to 2 Corinthians 10:5 that

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Begin to confess with your mouth:

No you don’t, devil. I know your tricks and I know you’re a liar. God says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” You say that they won’t be saved. Someone’s lying, and it’s not God. It’s you! I’ve claimed them for God in Jesus’ name and I’ll stand in faith and love until it’s manifested. I’m not moved by what I see or feel, I’m moved only by the Word of God. I’ll stand as long as I have to because I know my God cannot fail!

True faith in the Word of God never backs down to adverse circumstances.

When you stand on the eternal Word of God for the salvation of your loved ones and put all your trust in Him, failure is impossible.

Summary

We have seen through the Word of God that we can do something about the salvation of our loved ones. By being a doer of the Word, you can see your family come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and be born again into the family of God.

Remember these things:

1.    Bind up the devil.

2.    Claim the promise.

3.    They must hear the Word.

4.    Walk in love.

5.    Pray the prayer of thanksgiving and intercede in the Spirit.

6.    Hold fast to the Word.

John W. Bulloch

Rev. John W. Bulloch is an ordained minister of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Before entering the ministry, John worked as an electronics engineer for eight years with the Udylite Corporation in Detroit, Michigan.

In June of 1973, Rev. Bulloch was led by the Lord to step out into full-time ministry, and in August of that year he was asked by Dr. Kenneth E. Hagin to travel and minister with him. He ministered with Brother Hagin for one year, then entered the position of Youth Pastor at Bloomfield Hills Christian Church in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. There he remained for three years until the Lord instructed him to move out into a traveling teaching ministry.

Since then, John has traveled throughout the United States and Canada teaching and preaching the uncompromised Word of God with signs and wonders following. Many have been saved, filled with the Holy Spirit, healed, and set free from the bondage of Satan under his ministry as the Word goes forth with might and power, and the gifts of the Spirit are in operation.

Rev. Bulloch also has ' pioneered" and pastored three churches, with Faith Christian Fellowship of Royal Oak, Michigan, being his present headquarters.

Table of Contents

Introduction

How to Win Your Loved Ones to the Lord

Summary