Those whom we long to come to Christ have been blinded – they cannot see the truth of the gospel, however clearly we believe we have presented it.

‘And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God'(2 Corinthians 4:3-4)

These verses emphasise that unbelievers don’t ‘see’ the gospel because they cannot – it is ‘veiled’, that is, hidden or covered up.

The enemy wants to keep them blindfolded and stop them from seeing the truth. How has he done this? He has established strongholds in their minds based on ‘arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God’ (2 Corinthians 10:5). As Paul Barnett comments: ‘We do well to follow Paul in his realistic estimate of the entrenched power of unbelief and pride in the human mind’ (The Message of 2 Corinthians).

Our prayer is for the removal of the veil in order for them to receive revelation. But first it is helpful to understand more about the nature of the veil that blinds. In his book, How to Pray for Lost Loved Ones, Dutch Sheets writes about three components of these strongholds.

• Arguments: the gospel is filtered through a person’s philosophy of life, views, mind-set and existing beliefs.
• Pretensions: the self-promotion, pride, or attitudes that desire to remain independent of God and ‘in charge’ of one’s own life.
• Every thought: all that goes on in a person’s mind, often coloured by what they read, watch or access over the internet.

These are the things we seek to demolish through prayer, and it’s good to be specific. Ask God for insight regarding the mind-sets, pretensions and thought barriers which exist in the people for whom you are praying.

Prayer points

• Pray for insight into the mindsets, pretensions and thought barriers.
• Pray that these strongholds will be demolished in people’s lives.
• Pray that the veil will be removed from their spiritual eyes.
• Pray for humility where there has been pride.
• Pray that they might see the truth of the gospel.
• Pray that they will exchange the lies they have believed for God’s truth.