An email arrives from Russia. Missionaries there explain how the recent unrest causes further complications for their church planting efforts. Evangelical Christians are never completely at liberty in Russia, especially when political turmoil is added to an ongoing war. “Pray for us,” they write.
Another message comes from missionaries serving in the remote jungles of Papua New Guinea. For decades, they’ve lived among people captive to superstitious spirit-worship. Once again, the locals have shunned them for transgressing some unspoken taboo. “Pray for us,” they write.
A third email appears from a couple hoping to return to an unreached people group in Asia. The pandemic forced them to leave, and government regulations make it difficult to go back. But the husband has an upcoming job interview that would provide a visa. “Pray for us,” they write.
Pray for us. Pray for us. Pray for us.
How to Pray
In prayer—whether in private or with the people of God—it can be difficult to know how to bear the various burdens of our brothers and sisters laboring for the gospel in far-off places. We feel ourselves unable to pray as we ought. In this, we depend on the Spirit’s help.
But we also depend on the Lord’s direction. “Lord, teach us to pray,” Christ’s disciples once asked (Luke 11:1). And our Master graciously replied with words that guide his praying people in every age until his return.
The Lord’s Prayer isn’t simply a form of words to repeat in rote; rather, it has the greater purpose of leading Christians to the kind of petitions the Lord is delighted to answer. The Westminster Shorter Catechism helpfully asks, “What rule hath God given for our direction in prayer?” The answer is this: “The whole Word of God is of use to direct us in prayer, but the special rule of direction is that form of prayer which Christ taught his disciples, commonly called the Lord’s Prayer.”
6 Petitions
So what might the six petitions of the Lord’s Prayer teach us about praying for missionaries? Let me give a few suggestions.
1. ‘Hallowed be thy name.’
The first petition of the Lord’s Prayer reminds us the aim of missions is that God’s name would be highly exalted among the nations. In Malachi 1:11, the Lord assures us this will take place: “For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering.”
Our prayers should have this promise and God’s glory in view. We lament that so few people glorify the God who made them and we plead that the Lord would fulfill his promise to save many and make them his worshipers.
The first petition of the Lord’s Prayer reminds us the aim of missions is that God’s name would be highly exalted among the nations.
2. ‘Thy kingdom come.’
The work of missions involves kingdom conflict. Just as young men were sent to the frontlines in World War II for the greater Allied cause, so our missionaries are kingdom soldiers waging war on Satan’s realm (Eph. 2:2–3). As these missionaries translate Scripture, plant churches, and engage in gospel-centered mercy ministry, we pray fervently that those efforts will result in kingdom advance. Yet unlike other conflicts, we know the outcome is secure, so we can pray with confidence, hope, and expectation (Rev. 11:15).
3. ‘Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’
The missionary’s great desire—to see more and more people brought into willing subjection to King Jesus—is the last thing sinners desire (Rom. 8:7). So how might people become responsive to their ministry? By God’s sovereign grace alone. We must plead that God would change people’s hearts so they’re willing to trust, love, and obey the Savior (Ps. 110:3).
4. ‘Give us this day our daily bread.’
Missionaries need housing, food, clothing, working cars, education for their children, and plane tickets back home. People are encouraged to give money for missions, and rightly so. But it isn’t ultimately God’s people who provide; rather, God does so through them (Phil. 4:19). Do you pray that the God who owns all things would provide for the daily needs of his kingdom laborers?
5. ‘Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.’
We ought to pray that missions would result in many people coming to know the forgiveness of their sins through Christ’s atoning blood and the freedom that comes through being justified by faith (Gal. 2:16). But it isn’t just people out there who need forgiveness. We also should pray that God would forgive our coldness of heart for the souls of others and our lackluster commitment to the glory of God and the Great Commission.
6. ‘And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’
Missionaries face a great adversary (Eph. 6:12). Satan tempts them in many ways: to wane in gospel zeal, to drift from biblical truth, to trust in the flesh, and to despair when God seems distant or they don’t see results. Through prayer, we come alongside our missionaries by asking God to enable them to stand in the hour of temptation and then be refreshed by the sweetness of Christ’s presence and grace (3:16).
Christ’s Direction
The next time you receive a missionary prayer letter in your inbox, or when you pray over a list of missionaries during your private devotions, or as you beseech God for the work of missions in your church prayer meeting, allow the Lord’s Prayer to give you focus. Pray for Christ’s missionaries according to Christ’s direction.
When you do, you can be sure that’s the kind of prayer our heavenly Father delights to answer. And you can be confident he has the power to bring it to pass. We don’t bring our requests to an impotent ruler but to the Great King who assures us of their ultimate success. For his is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever, Amen.
The Gospel Coalition