It's January. Gyms started the month packed. Several people made promises they won't keep.

"This year I'll share the Gospel more."

Sound familiar?

Like most resolutions, this one fails almost every time. It's too vague.

How do you know if you're succeeding? What does sharing the Gospel "more" even look like in your daily life?

Without specificity, resolutions become wishes. Wishes don't change behavior.

Try something different instead.

Here’s a goal that's specific, measurable, and actually sustainable.

A Resolution That Actually Works

"I will pray for one specific person by name every day."

That's it. One person. One prayer. Every single day.

Try it for one month. Then make it two.

Not a vague "more evangelism." Not an ambitious plan to share Christ with everyone you meet. Just faithful, daily prayer for one person you know who doesn't know Jesus yet.

Before you dismiss this as too simple, let’s discuss why this works.

1. It's Specific

You're not aiming for a vague "more." You're committing to pray for one person, daily. At the end of each day, you'll know whether you did it or not. There's no wiggle room for self-deception.

This specificity matters. Research on behavior change consistently shows that vague goals fail while specific goals succeed. "Exercise more" doesn't work. "Walk for 20 minutes every morning" does.

"Share the Gospel more" is vague. "Pray for John every day" is specific.

2. It Changes YOU First

Here's what most Christians miss about evangelism: The biggest obstacle isn't the other person's hardness of heart.

It's yours.

When you pray for someone every single day, something shifts inside you. You start noticing things about them you hadn't seen before. You become more attentive to their struggles. You find yourself genuinely caring in ways you didn't before.

Daily prayer transforms your heart toward that person. You stop seeing them as a project to complete or a notch in your evangelism belt.

You start seeing them as someone God deeply loves—someone whose eternal destiny matters more than you can comprehend.

When your heart changes, everything else changes too.

3. It Makes Conversations Natural

Here's the secret that years of evangelism training have taught us: When you genuinely care about someone through consistent prayer, spiritual conversations don't feel forced anymore.

You're not looking for an opportunity to "get them saved" so that you can move on to the next person. You're invested in their life. You care about their actual needs, not just their spiritual status.

That authentic care creates openings for conversation that manipulation never could.

Who's Your "One"?

Do this exercise right now, before you read any further.

Who is one person in your life who doesn't know Jesus? Someone you interact with regularly. Someone whose eternity matters to you.

A neighbor whose name you know?

A coworker you see every day?

A family member you've been worried about?

An old friend who's drifted away from faith?

Don't overthink this. Just pick one person.

The Holy Spirit can guide that choice if you're willing to listen.

Now write their name down. Put it somewhere you'll see it every day—your phone lock screen, your bathroom mirror, a sticky note on your coffee maker, inside the cover of your Bible.

Then commit: "I will pray for [name] every single day."

What to Pray For

You don't need a complicated prayer strategy. Simple, heartfelt prayers are enough.

Pray that God would work in their life in ways only He can. Pray for opportunities to serve them practically.

Pray for wisdom to know when to speak and when to listen. Pray that they would experience God's love through you.

Some days, your prayer might be elaborate. Other days, it might be a single sentence: "God, please draw [name] to Yourself."

Length doesn't matter. Consistency does.

What Happens When You Pray

When you commit to pray for one specific person daily, several things happen.

You notice needs that you previously overlooked. That coworker who always seems stressed? You suddenly realize they're drowning and need practical help, not just spiritual advice.

You find natural opportunities to serve. When you're paying attention through prayer, you notice when someone needs help moving, when they're facing a crisis, when they could use a meal or a listening ear.

You become more sensitive to the Spirit's prompting. You start recognizing divine appointments—moments when God has prepared both you and them for a significant conversation.

You grow more patient with the process. You stop expecting immediate results and start trusting God's timing. You understand that salvation is His work, not yours.

Evangelism Starts with Your Heart

Here's a truth most evangelism training gets wrong: Evangelism doesn't start with your words. It starts with your heart.

All the apologetics training in the world won't help if you see people as projects rather than as image-bearers of God. All the gospel presentations you memorize won't matter if you're more concerned about results than about people.

But when you pray for someone daily—when you bring them before God's throne every single day—your heart aligns with God's heart. You start seeing them the way He sees them. You start loving them the way He loves them.

And that changes everything about how you engage with them.

Why One Person?

You might be thinking, "Shouldn't I pray for everyone who doesn't know Jesus?"

Yes, in a general sense. But here's the thing: Depth matters more than breadth.

Praying vaguely for "all my unbelieving friends" is admirable but abstract. You're not thinking about specific people with specific needs in specific situations. You're mentally checking a box.

But praying daily for John—actually visualizing John, thinking about his life, considering his struggles—that's different.

That's personal. That's the kind of prayer that changes you and positions you to be used by God in John's life.

Start with one. If you go a full month and that habit is firmly established, consider adding a second name. But don't start with five or ten. You'll get overwhelmed and quit.

One person. See what God does.

A Word of Encouragement

Some of you reading this might feel guilty. You're thinking about all the years you haven't prayed for anyone consistently. All the relationships where you stayed silent. All the opportunities you missed.

Here is your permission to stop feeling guilty.

Guilt doesn't motivate long-term change. It just makes you feel bad. And feeling bad doesn't help anyone come to know Jesus.

God's mercies are new every morning. Today is a new opportunity.

You can't change the past, but you can change what you do tomorrow.

So shake off the guilt, accept God's grace, and commit to this one simple habit: Pray for one person by name every day.

What This Will Teach You

Beyond whatever happens in that person's life, this practice will teach you something crucial about evangelism: It's a marathon, not a sprint.

We live in an instant-gratification culture. We want results now. We want people to respond immediately to the first gospel presentation they hear.

But that's not how God usually works. He's patient. He's persistent. He works gradually, over time, through multiple people and circumstances.

When you pray for someone daily for an entire year, you're training yourself to think like God thinks—in terms of long-term redemption, not quick conversions.

That changes how you do evangelism. You become less pushy and more patient. Less desperate for results and more faithful in the process. Less focused on your performance and more focused on God's work.

The Good Soil Connection

At Good Soil, we talk a lot about understanding where people are in their spiritual journey. Some people's hearts are hard ground that needs to be broken up before any seed can take root. Others have received some seeds but need watering and cultivation before anything can grow.

Daily prayer helps you understand where your "one person" is on that journey. You become attuned to what they actually need, not what you assume they need.

Maybe they need to see authentic Christian community before they can hear gospel truth. Maybe they need to experience unconditional love before they can believe God loves them.

Maybe they need someone to address their intellectual objections before they can seriously consider faith.

Prayer clarifies all of that. It helps you become a better partner with the Holy Spirit in preparing soil, planting seeds, and eventually, if God wills, bringing in a harvest.

Your Next Step

Do this right now:

1. Choose your one person.
2. Write their name somewhere that you'll see it daily.
3. Commit to praying for them every single day for one month.
4. Then actually do it.

Don't wait until the beginning of the next month.

Start today. Start now.

he sooner you begin building this habit, the more firmly it will be established when the new year arrives.

If you want accountability, send us an email with your person's name (just first name is fine—we'll keep it confidential). Knowing that someone else knows about your commitment makes it more real and harder to quietly abandon.

What Success Looks Like

Set realistic expectations. In one year, your "one person" might not be saved.

They might not have attended a church service even once. They might not have had a single spiritual conversation with you.

That's okay.

Success isn't measured by their response. It's measured by your faithfulness.

Did you pray for them every day? Did you remain attentive to their needs? Did you love them consistently whether or not they responded?

If so, you succeeded. You tilled soil. You partnered with the Holy Spirit. You positioned yourself to be used by God in whatever way He chose.

The results are His responsibility. The faithfulness is yours.

The habit you're building—consistent, focused, loving prayer for specific people—will change how you think about evangelism forever.

You'll stop seeing evangelism as an awkward duty and start seeing it as a natural overflow of a heart aligned with God's purposes. You'll stop being desperate for results and start being faithful in the process. You'll stop seeing people as projects and start seeing them as deeply loved by the God who created them.

That will make you far more effective in sharing the Gospel than any technique or training ever could.

Make the next month about Jesus. Not about impressive evangelism statistics. Not about checking spiritual boxes.

Make it about faithfulness. One person. One prayer. One day at a time.

Ready to start?

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