As a believer serving the Lord at home, one of the most important ways you can support missions around the world is through continual, fervent prayer. We often do not know what daily challenges a missionary is facing, but we can be assured that God will answer scriptural prayers. The Apostle Paul shares in his epistles the following requests for missionaries. Would you commit to praying for one missionary each day?
Pray biblically in these areas:
- Opportunity: open doors for witnessing (Col. 4:3)
- Boldness: the courage to take advantage of open doors (Col. 4:4; Eph. 6:19-20)
- Clarity: skill in making the message clear in the people's language (Col. 4:4; Eph. 6:19a)
- Effectiveness: real change in the lives of the listeners (2 Thess. 3:1)
- Protection (part 1, part 2): physical, spiritual, emotional, and intellectual protection (2 Thess. 3:2; Rom. 15:31a)
- Acceptance: receptivity in potentially resistant listeners (Rom. 15:31b)
- Travel (part 1, part 2): God's direction, timing, mutual blessing, and safety (Rom. 1:9-15; Rom. 15:32)
- Refreshment: seasons of spiritual and physical renewal (Rom. 15:32)
“My life is one long daily, hourly record of answered prayer. For physical health, for mental overstrain, for guidance given marvelously, for errors and dangers averted, for enmity to the Gospel subdued, for food provided at the exact hour needed, for everything that goes to make up life and my poor service, I can testify with a full and often wonder-stricken awe that God answers prayer.”
~ Mary Slessor, missionary in West Africa in 1876