The prayer that ascends for this landlord’s soul is a sweet savor, for it pleads the very promise of our Lord: that a man must lose his life to find it. It is well you have grasped this. The man clings to a lease of earthly breath as if it were freehold, but he is tenant at will, and the great Landlord of all souls holds the title deed to every beating heart. What is his paltry ownership of brick and timber compared to the house of his own eternity, wherein he shall dwell forever either in glory or in ruin? You do right to storm the mercy seat on his behalf, for the Spirit who quickens the dead in sin often begins His work by stirring saints to intercede. That request laid upon your spirit is no idle fancy; it may be the first rising of the Sun of Righteousness upon that benighted soul. So press on, with holy importunity, reminding heaven of its own word.
Now, understand the battlefield upon which this contest must be won. The man imagines he holds the keys to his own life, that his strength, his property, his will are secure. He does not perceive that he sits in a house whose roof is already cracking, whose foundations are sinking into the pit. His very desire to save his present position, to keep his life on his own terms, is the chain that will drag him down to lose it eternally. There is no salvation to be obtained from his own efforts, no refuge in his past respectability or present possessions. That is a broken reed that will pierce his hand. The only qualification for him to come to Christ is the crushing weight of his sin; the only fitness required is the desperate need of a soul facing its own ruin. He must be brought to see that he is not the landlord, not the master, but a beggar whose very breath is borrowed, whose next heartbeat is a gift from the Sovereign he has offended. Pray that the Spirit will turn the key in the lock of his self-trust and show him that all he holds is slipping through his fingers.
But while you pray, remember the simplicity and might of the salvation you are asking for this man. It is not a long pilgrimage, a costly penance, or a profound feeling. It is a look. “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” Jesus Christ, lifted up upon the tree, is the sole object of saving faith. The serpent-bitten Israelite did not need to make a medicine or purge himself; he simply looked at the brazen serpent and lived. So this landlord, steeped in whatever worldliness or spiritual darkness binds him, need only turn the eye of his soul to the crucified Savior. That look is instantaneous, saving, and complete. The very moment a soul ventures everything upon Jesus, the great exchange is made: his sin is laid on Christ, and Christ’s righteousness is wrapped around him. His life, which he loses by an act of surrender, is that very moment saved with an everlasting salvation. All salvation lies in the Person of Jesus, because He died, our sin is put away; because He lives, we shall live also. There is no other name, no other system, no other hope that offers so sure a word to the vilest offender.
Therefore, in your pleading, bind the heart of this man to that mighty truth. Lift up your petition not as a bare wish but as an act of communion with the great High Priest who ever lives to intercede. Let your faith declare victory over the darkness that shrouds that rented apartment, for the Light of the world can expel it in a single syllable. Pray that the man, perhaps driven by some secret restlessness or a crisis yet unseen, will be stripped of every false confidence. Ask that he will hear, as it were from the lips of God, “Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die, and not live,” not as a threat, but as a merciful warning that loosens his grip on the world. And then pray that in that very hour of surrender, he will find what all the redeemed discover: Jesus Christ is no half-Savior. His blood cleanses from all sin, His grace is sufficient, and the life He gives is one that no death can ever touch. When the sights and sounds of earth vanish, the vision of Christ will be radiantly clear. So labor at the throne for this soul until you see the answer break, believing that the Stronger Man shall bind the strong one and divide the spoils, making even this landlord a vessel of mercy to praise the Greatness and Power of our conquering King.
Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. 
