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You Help Us By Your Prayers
Posted by David Rogers in Church & Missions
He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. 2 Corinthians 1:10-11
At this time of year, much focus is steered towards the work of world missions. In Southern Baptist life, a good part of this focus takes the form of appeals for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. I wholeheartedly join with my colleagues in the IMB, and other supporters of world missions, in urging you to give generously to the LMCO, and to use whatever influence you may have to inspire others to do so as well.
I strongly believe that, understood properly, every last one of us, as followers of the Lord Jesus, has a strategic role to fulfill in obeying the Great Commission. We all have our unique part to play, together with the rest of Christ’s Body, in making disciples of all the nations. The IMB, on www.imb.org, has categorized several key aspects in which this partnership takes shape. These include praying, going, giving and leading your church.
No doubt, each of these is vitally important, and, if the work of missions is to go forward, none can be neglected. However, in the midst of our busyness and pragmatic bent, it seems to me that praying is the one aspect that, in many cases, most often gets squeezed out. I would venture to say, though, that it may well be the most important of all.
John Piper, in chapter 2 of Let the Nations Be Glad, makes this fascinating observation:
Prayer puts God in the place of the all-sufficient Benefactor and puts us in the place of the needy beneficiaries. So when the mission of the church moves forward by prayer, the supremacy of God is manifest and the needs of the Christian troops are met… Prayer is the open admission that without Christ we can do nothing. And prayer is the turning away from ourselves to God in the confidence that he will provide the help we need. Prayer humbles us as needy and exalts God as all-sufficient.
Prayer, most assuredly, is difficult for us to understand. How can we, as sinful and mortal human beings, presume, by our prayers, to turn the hand of Almighty God? Some have proposed that prayer is more about changing our hearts than it is about getting God to do anything. I believe there is a lot of truth in that. Most certainly, prayer does involve ascertaining God’s will, and bringing our own lives into conformance with it, rather than imposing our will over his.
However, as we study the Bible, we see that “prayer changes things” is not just a superficial slogan. It really is true. And, I believe it is especially so as it affects the work of world missions. In the passage quoted at the beginning of this post, Paul states that the prayers of the believers in Corinth were instrumental in his deliverance from danger. That is to say, they really did make a difference. He also makes a special point to say that God’s favor was granted to him and his companions in answer to the prayers of many.
Sometimes, as missionaries, the question arises to what degree the number of people praying for us is important. However, if I am reading this verse correctly, Paul seems to infer that it was significant that many were praying and not just few. The book of Revelation seems to indicate that the accumulated quantity of the incense that filled up the bowls of the four living creatures and twenty-four elders, which represents the “prayers of the saints” (5:8), is a factor in God’s response by way of the angel with the golden censer (8:3-5). The clear implication of Matthew 18:19 is that the prayers of two people agreeing on what they are asking for are, in some way, more effective than those of one person alone. Yet, at the same time, we are told in James 5:16-18 that the earnest prayers of one righteous man, such as Elijah, are sufficiently powerful and effective as to hold back rain and bring it again.
What conclusion can we gather from this? The fact that others may already be praying for a particular cause, or a particular people group, or a particular missionary, should not lead us to think that our prayers added to the mix are insignificant. Neither should the fact that we may feel alone in a particular prayer burden lead us to think that our prayers are useless or insufficient. Also, from the perspective of God’s co-workers on the mission field, it is in our interest to gather all the prayer support we possibly can. It is important that more and more people pray for us. And it is also important that those who pray do so as earnestly as possible.
If you really think it through, though, this leads to some thorny questions. As more and more missionaries seek the prayer support of more and more believers back home, eventually a saturation point is reached where, for some, it is impossible to add more missionaries to their prayer list, and still pray as earnestly as ever for all at the same time. The law of diminishing returns kicks in.
Because of this, I believe it is important, as we seek to be obedient in our task of praying for world missions, to strategically prioritize. It is probably best not to be overly calculating and mathematical in our approach, though. I believe that, as we are sensitive to the Holy Spirit, He will lay on our hearts the prayer burdens He is specifically assigning to us, which will no doubt be different than those He lays on the hearts of others. Sometimes, as well, He will assign a particular prayer burden to our entire prayer group, or church.
What we should not do, though, is take a laissez faire haphazard approach to prayer for world missions. Specific, informed, intentional prayers are much better than all-encompassing, shotgun, “God bless all the missionaries” types of prayers. And, in order to be the most effective we possibly can, we need to get informed.
With this in mind, here are some questions I would like to leave for you to reflect upon, and some links to help you pray more strategically:
- For what particular missionaries has God specifically given you a burden to pray?
- What particular people groups do you regularly lift before the Lord?
- What particular organizations and ministry projects do you feel God has especially placed on your heart?
- Are you making a concerted effort to become more informed about God’s work around the world so that you can pray more knowledgeably and effectively?
- What specific steps will you take to be more strategic and faithful in your prayers for world missions?
George Verwer’s World Missions Resource list (starting around resource #35, this list links to hundreds of different Great Commission Christian groups around the world).
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I would venture to say that there are more local fellowships NOT specifically and fervently praying for those on the mission field. (General statement I know but I’m going with it anyway.) I recently changed local fellowships and outside of the CIA (Children in Action) program there is no concerted effort to lift those serving our Savior in prayer. Maybe Spurgeon had a point when he said there were more proponent’s of prayer than those who actually practice.
I also read where every prayer warrior should complete the prayer with an intentional witness and every intentional witness should be preceded in prayer, that the two are really one.
I think my “New Year’s Resolution” will be to address those in leadership at my local fellowship and ask that we begin (as a Body) to seriously pray for our missionaries. In regards to who missionaries who I pray for, I like this one. http://www.toeverytribe.com/
And Brother Tim, I trust today’s post will not give you too much cause for alarm
Wow, what other blog can you visit where you can go from Miller to missions?
I’m really hoping that we’ll all agree on this one instead of having the controversy of past days…
Good words, David.
I drive two of my nieces and one nephew to school each morning. Elizabeth always prays for the missionaries and her prayers carry a tone of global emphasis. She remembers to pray for those missionaries in danger zones. She specifically lifts up Africa, Poland, Russia, and South America. God has burdened her heart for missions. My nephew? Well, he prays much more narrow–he says, “Keep the missionaries warm and fed.” Having a heart for missions is an absolutely beautiful thing; especially coming from children. Thank you for reminding me to seek God’s guidance on my role in missions prayer.