All of us know people who are stone cold toward the message of the gospel of Christ. In fact, many people are downright belligerent when you try to share Christ with them. The Bible refers to such individuals as having a stony heart.
While I am a firm believer that apologetics can really play a great role in strengthening the faith of a believer as well as giving an open-minded person much to think about regarding the Bible and Jesus, apologetics, sadly, will have little effect on those soles who have a stony, closed heart. But I have learned that when you combine serious, consistent, and daily prayer with apologetics the result can be dynamite, and can open even the most stone cold individual to consider the gospel message.
Prayer and apologetics, in my opinion, are two sides of a coin that when diligently shared and used as offensive weapons, against an individual whose suppresses the truth about God and his own sinful nature, can perform miracles in breaking down even the stoniest of hearts. And since all of us, according to Scripture, are dead in our sins and transgressions (Ephesians 2:1), a miracle is required. Apologetic logic is just not good enough to reach stone cold hearts, but praise God when combined with believing, persistent prayer, this dynamic duo can accomplish great things for the kingdom of God.
I love how A. T. Pierson put it: “A marble cutter, with chisel and hammer, was changing a stone into a statue. A preacher looking on said: ‘I wish I could deal such changing blows on stony hearts.’ The workman answered: ‘Maybe you could, if you worked like me, upon your knees.’”1
Prayer, is really hard work, but its power is awesome. Satan will do everything in his power to stop us from praying because he knows that a praying saint is able to inflict massive blows to his kingdom. And while I am a firm believer that sharing apologetic arguments is great, if we don’t couple them with powerful prayers, I am afraid we will never be able to convince those souls that have hardened their hearts and chosen to suppress the truth about God and their own sinful nature, that they are headed for hell.
My friends, if there are people in your life that seem to be unreachable for Christ, may I challenge you to put them down on your prayer list, and cry out daily for the salvation of their soul.
In closing, I would like to share a personal testimony of the persistent believing prayer for salvation exercised by George Müller, the great founder of many orphan homes in England during the 1800’s. Müller was a tremendous prayer warrior and it was the great secret to his amazing success in providing for the needs of thousands of orphans and the salvation of many:
“In November 1844, I began to pray for the conversion of five individuals. I prayed every day without a single intermission, whether sick or in health, on the land, on the sea, and whatever the pressure of my engagements might be. Eighteen months elapsed before the first of the five was converted. I thanked God and prayed on for the others. Five years elapsed, and then the second was converted. I thanked God for the second, and prayed on for the other three. Day by day, I continued to pray for them, and six years passed before the third was converted. I thanked God for the three, and went on praying for the other two. These two remained unconverted.
“Thirty-six years later he wrote that the other two, sons of one of Mueller’s friends, were still not converted. He wrote, “But I hope in God, I pray on, and look for the answer. They are not converted yet, but they will be.” In 1897, fifty-two years after he began to pray daily, without interruption, for these two men, they were finally converted—but after he died! Mueller understood what Luke meant when he introduced a parable Jesus told about prayer, saying, “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1).”2
1 13 A. T. Pierson Quotes | ChristianQuotes.info
2 George Muller Persistent Prayer for 5 Individuals – GeorgeMuller.org
When Christ TURNS stone into flesh: How Hardened Hearts Change When We Evangelize.
• A hardened heart is not an intellectual problem. It’s a spiritual condition that only grace can penetrate.
• Apologetics can open the mind, but only prayer softens the stone.
• Evangelism is not persuasion; it is participation in God’s miracle of heart change.
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Scriptural Anchor: Ezekiel 36:26
“I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
This is not a command. It is a promise.
God does the heart surgery. We simply hold the lamp.
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The Devotional
Some people don’t just resist the gospel. They bristle at it. They stiffen, mock, or shut down. Scripture calls this a stony heart.
Curt captures it plainly: “Apologetics…will have little effect on those souls who have a stony, closed heart.”
This is the part we often forget:
A hard heart is not a debate to win. It’s a miracle waiting to happen.
(1) The Real Issue Isn’t the Mind — It’s the Heart.
Paul says we are “dead in our sins and transgressions” (Eph. 2:1). Dead things don’t respond to logic. Dead hearts don’t warm up because we crafted the perfect argument.
This is why grace is the center of the Christian life. Grace is the means to our salvation. It is not something we can earn.
A hardened heart is not melted by human effort — it is revived by divine grace.
(2) Apologetics Is the Hammer — Prayer Is the Knee.
Curt’s marble cutter story is the perfect apologetic metaphor:
“Maybe you could, if you worked like me, upon your knees.”
Arguments chip at the surface.
Prayer cracks the foundation.
When we evangelize, we are not trying to pry open a sealed vault. We are kneeling beside a tomb, asking the One who raised Lazarus to call another soul out of darkness.
3. Grace Works Through Weakness, Not Strength.
God told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.”
This is evangelism’s secret weapon.
You don’t need to be brilliant, persuasive, or impressive.
You need to be dependent.
A soft heart in you becomes the invitation for God to soften a hard heart in them.
4. Persistent Prayer Is the Long Game of Love.
George Müller prayed 52 years for two hardened men. He died before seeing the answer — but God answered anyway.
Curt writes:
“They are not converted yet, but they will be.”
This is evangelistic hope. We pray because God is not finished.
We persist because grace is patient.
We intercede because God delights in using our prayers to accomplish His will.
5. Grace Is the Only Force Strong Enough to Break Stone.
Grace is the best gift Christians can give the world because it is the best gift we have ever received. A hardened heart is not conquered. It is loved into life.
Grace is not weakness.
Grace is not niceness.
Grace is the power of God applied to the human condition.
When you evangelize, you are not offering an argument.
You are offering the only force in the universe that can turn stone into flesh.
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Words for the Children: Sometimes people act mean because their hearts feel like rocks. But God is really good at turning rocks into gardens. When you pray for someone, you’re helping God plant a seed.
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You don’t soften a stony heart — you kneel beside it until grace does.