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The topic of “Concern for the Salvation of My Neighbor” is heartwarming because it reminds me that God has invited us into a partnership with Him in the work He is doing in the world.  It is a high honor.   

 
 After Jesus taught His disciples to “hallow the Father’s name and pray for His kingdom to come," He instructed them to pray for things that are “the Father’s will”.  I have learned immovably that if I want to get things from God, I must ask for things He cares about most.  Simply put, God is twice as likely to answer the prayer for a home for an orphan than for another home for me someplace tropical.  To be honest, I do not really pray for “temporary” things much anymore - the Father knows what I have need of.  
  Far too often, our true heart's desires do not reflect God’s.  I know I get way too caught up in the “here and now”, getting distracted with shiny things… Even in this, God is good.  When my heart grows cold or apathetic, the answer is prayer itself.  If we want a heart that reflects the Divine - we have only to ask!  He longs for us to ask for a heart that would rather see the lost saved, the saved matured, and the matured to multiply, than for more “stuff” for ourselves.  Like Tasha so often says, “Pray that God would break your heart for what breaks His”.  He loves to answer that prayer! God will grow your heart beyond yourself in ways you never thought possible.  He wants to do a miracle in your heart before He uses you to do a miracle in someone else’s.   

 
 Which brings us back to praying for the lost.  
It’s not very glamorous, is it?  And most of the time it is done in secret.  I can tell you, though, that when someone DOES come to Christ whom you have labored in prayer for, few things compare to that feeling!  You will experience the joy of new birth all over again.   
 James 5:16 tells us the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous person avails much.  If asked to give a “getting answers to prayers formula” (as if we could reduce it to that), I would say we should be praying in the Father’s will - the things HE wants - and make sure we are walking uprightly before Him.  

 
 We learn by doing. I did not really have much of a prayer life, until…I started praying.  I say that tongue-in-cheek of course, but in all seriousness, we should be busier than we are in praying for lost loved ones. After all, prayer is such a magnificent privilege. The very right to do so was purchased with the blood of our Savior, Who longs to see our neighbor saved more than we do.