How to Pray for MissionariesSýnishorn

Introduction

Did you know that the entire New Testament was written by missionaries? Jesus sent the apostles to preach his good news from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. Luke and Mark were missionary companions of Paul—the model missionary. The gospel advanced from Jerusalem to you and me because of missionaries, and missionaries continue to answer the Lord’s call to leave their familiar surroundings in order to bring the gospel where it has not yet taken root. Other missionaries go to help the local church do what they can’t yet do on their own. One way that any follower of Christ can participate in God’s global mission is to pray for these cross-cultural laborers in the Lord’s harvest field!

But what should we pray for them? Can we do better than to pray, “Lord, bless the missionaries today”? Thankfully, the missionary authors of the New Testament have given us specific topics to pray for. Paul wrote to the believers in Rome during his third missionary journey, “I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me” (Romans 15:30). Prayer expresses our trust in God and our love for each other as we bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2) and so fulfill the law of Christ. What are the burdens that missionaries face, and how can we help them through our prayers (2 Corinthians 1:11)? Over the next six days, we will discover what the Bible teaches us to pray on behalf of God’s “sent ones.”

We Should Pray for God to Deliver Missionaries from Danger

Paul wrote 2 Corinthians while he was on a mission trip. He asked the believers in Corinth to pray that God would deliver him and his mission team from tremendous pressure that was far beyond their ability to endure. For Paul, this pressure was actually a serious death threat by people who opposed his ministry. As a full-time missionary in the Caribbean for 12 years, I never directly faced a death threat, but I certainly faced dangers that I never knew in my homeland, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and floods, and dangers from bandits and crazy drivers! Some missionaries today do face death threats, and they need the support of our prayers. Jesus taught us to pray “deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13). Paul asked the Christians in Rome to “pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there” (Romans 15:31).

Today, take the names of missionaries you know and mention them to your Heavenly Father, asking God to deliver them from danger—from spiritual opposition, human opposition and natural dangers. Pray that the results of the trials they face will move them to “not rely on [themselves] but on God, who raises the dead” (v. 9) so that “many will give thanks on [their] behalf for the gracious favor granted [them] in answer to the prayers of many” (v. 11).