Acts 27:23-24 “Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me and said, `Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.'”

Two things stand out to me from this. The first is that Paul was aware of who he belonged to and served, and he wasn’t afraid to say it. The second is that God indeed gives people to His servants, not for the personal aggrandizement of the servants but for the salvation of those who are given to them. There have been numbers of saints in the past who have prayed for souls to be given to them, but that has rather fallen out of fashion. It’s not a custom the devil wants us to have! However, that’s all the more reason to pursue it. People are not to be looked on as trophies, especially in evangelism. However, numbers matter, because each one is someone rescued from destruction, and that is something worth working for and celebrating. We cannot bring others into salvation if we aren’t serving the Savior ourselves, but if we aren’t drawing others closer to God, it’s probable we aren’t very close to Him ourselves. Different people have different gifts, and not everyone is to be an evangelist as in Ephesians 4:11, but everyone should be drawing those around them closer to God in one way or another.

I have prayed at various times for specific individuals to be given to me, in the sense I’m talking about here, but it hasn’t been very consistent. I remember particularly one time when, in a very rich time of fellowship with God through praise, I felt Him telling me to ask for whatever I wanted, and I named someone. I think it was about two weeks later when that person came to me and said they wanted to be baptized, because “This Bible wasn’t written just by men, and if God caused it to be written, then I’d better believe it.” The first thing is obviously knowing Who I belong to, and serving Him! I interact with many, many unsaved people every day. As I pray for their salvation, I need to be very careful that I am walking in full obedience to God myself, fully available to Him for however He wants to use me in saving those people.

Father, You know who is on my heart particularly at the moment. I do ask for them, that You would give them to me as brothers in Christ. I pray that my every interaction with them, on the physical level and on the spiritual level, would be fully effective for their deliverance, healing, and eternal salvation, as a testimony to many of Your power, love, and grace, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!