CPR: Life-giving prayer

Most of us know CPR as the life-rescue procedure for a stricken individual. But there’s also something known as spiritual or “Eternal CPR,” a term coined by Sonlife youth ministry. It stands for “Cultivate a relationship; Plant the seed of the gospel; and Request a response.”

Many years ago, I adopted the idea into my life. I eventually came to call it “prayerful” CPR after evaluating my prayer life. I realized I regularly interceded for people within my family and work life, and asked for wisdom in leadership. These requests were appropriate.

But I also realized I needed to pray for people who don’t know Jesus. Not only for those in far away countries, but for those in my sphere of influence.

When I was growing up, my father Joe consistently modelled this behaviour during our family prayers. He prayed for lost and seeking folks, and talked about them all the time. For 38 years, he prayed almost daily for one individual – who eventually accepted Christ late in life.

My father had the gift of evangelism. But I don’t. My personality doesn’t allow me to easily strike up conversations with strangers and turn them towards spiritual matters. That’s a gift.

That doesn’t let me off the hook, however. All of us are ambassadors for Christ. So I began praying for the friends of my teenage kids. Many were the kind of friends that parents would want to steer their children away from. But we invited them into our home and let them hang out. Prayerful CPR altered my actions.

Let God determine the outcome

I began to realize God might want to use the situations my kids were getting into for a higher purpose. So I prayed that God would lead our family into whatever mission he was designing for us.

I weeded out phrases like “help us accomplish your mission” because they made us sound too instrumental. It wasn’t about us. Besides, the mission was inscrutable, so how were we to “accomplish” it? No, this was about God doing something. If we got our hands on it, we’d steer it somewhere God wouldn’t want it to go. Prayerful CPR altered my perspective.

So is prayerful CPR “effective?” I suppose. For example, a young man who frequently hung out at our house became a Christ follower and is now a baptized member of our church.

But ever since I took my hands off accomplishing the mission, I can’t take credit for effectiveness. Besides, many people I’ve prayed for haven’t yet responded to God. Some have become more open to Christ. Some haven’t visibly moved at all. I prefer to view prayerful CPR as something to which I’m called to be faithful. God will produce results and take credit for effectiveness according to his mission.

There is one way prayerful CPR has been effective. It’s changed my life: my perspective, my actions, how I open my life to my neighbours, my character, my watchfulness for occasions to plant seeds or request a response.

Recently, my experiences sparked a vision. What if everyone in our conference practiced prayerful CPR? Fifty thousand people would be praying regularly for seekers in their spheres of influence. We would be changed, opening ourselves to what God wants to do in and through us. God would answer our prayers and draw others to follow Christ and join our community. We would see God work in great and mighty ways not yet imagined.

In short, prayerful CPR would resuscitate our lives.

David Wiebe is executive director of the Canadian MB Conference.