Praying for Missionaries

Burdened with how best to pray for our missionaries on a regular basis, Jess and I began working on the following prayer list based on Scripture. With the encouragement of the church, we began a missionary prayer time on Sunday mornings. Our prayer for this ministry is that it would serve as an opportunity and encouragement to those who have a desire to pray for our missionaries but haven't known what to pray for or have struggled with setting time aside to do so. We pray that it will be the same for you!

Praying for Our Missionaries
(Taken mostly from On Mission Magazine, Fall 2007)

1. Focus on God
Pray for missionaries to stay focused on God and His plan above all else.
But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matthew 6:33).

2. Faithful Bible Study
Pray for missionaries to spend much time in the Word and ask God to give them discernment.
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).

3. Confession and Repentance
Pray for missionaries to regularly seek examination by God and to repent from any errors that have crept into their lives.
Search me, God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there is any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way (Psalm 139:23-24).

4. Humility
Pray for missionaries to have a spirit of humility and to willingly ask God for wisdom in carrying out their assignment.
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him (James 1:5).

5. Purity
Pray for missionaries to be so renewed by God’s Word that no sin will have dominion over them.
How sweet are Your words to my taste! From Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way (Psalm 119:103-104).

6. Boldness
Pray for boldness in the missionaries when they share the gospel.
Pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel (Ephesians 6:19).

7. Rest
Ask God to help missionaries recognize their need for weekly rest away from ministry responsibilities.
He said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while’ (Mark 6:31).

8. Guard the Treasure
Pray for missionaries to stay focused on the gospel of Jesus Christ and not to be distracted by the issues of each day.
Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you (2 Timothy 1:13-14).

9. Give Glory to God
Ask God to empower missionaries to point people to Jesus and not to seek undue recognition for themselves.
Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:16).

10. Dependence on God
Pray for missionaries to model a life of dependence on God.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6).

11. Gracious Speech
Ask God to give missionaries the grace to know how to respond to each person.
Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person (Colossians 4:6).

12. Spirit of Unity
Pray for a spirit of unity as missionaries work together and with other ministry partners.
Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one  accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 15:5-6)

13. Resist Temptation
Pray for missionaries to be quick to take the escape God provides when temptation sneaks up on them.
God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it (1 Corinthians 10:13b).

14. Stand Firm
Pray for missionaries to stand firm under affliction and to look forward to eternal glory.
Therefore we do not lose heart…for momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:16-17).

15. Daily Prayer
Ask God to help missionaries protect their time for prayer and personal meditation in God’s Word.
But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:4).

16. Devotion to God
Pray for missionaries to be devoted to God alone, seeking to please Him alone.
But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:3). Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him (2 Corinthians 5:9).

17. Boast in the Lord
Pray for missionaries to be quick to give God the credit
But he who boasts is to boast in the Lord. For it is not he who commends himself that is approved, but he whom the Lord commends
(2 Corinthians 10:17-18).

18. Peace
Pray for missionaries to give all their anxious thoughts to the God and rest in His peace.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7).

19. Walk in the Holy Spirit
Pray for missionaries to walk according to the Spirit.
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. …The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:16, 22-23).

20. Strong Marriages
Pray for the marriages of missionaries to be strong and healthy.
You husbands, in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered (1 Peter 3:7).

21. Eyes to See like Jesus
Ask God to give missionaries eyes to see as He sees and empower them to love the unlovely, the rejected, and the outcasts as Jesus did.
Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36).

22. Express Love
Pray for missionaries to model loving God completely and others as themselves.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no greater commandment than these (Mark 12:30-31).

23.  Persistence
Pray for endurance and stamina for missionaries to insure long-term, fruitful ministry.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus so that the life of Jesus also may be manifest in our body (2 Corinthians 4:7-10).

24. Team Spirit
Ask God to build strong teams among missionaries working together so that He gets the glory.
So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth…For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building (1 Corinthians 3:7-9).

25. Obedience
Pray for missionaries to love and obey God, and to be known for their dependability to obey regardless of outside pressure.
If you love Me, you will keep My commandments (John 14:15).


26. Sacrifice of Holy Living
Ask God to empower missionaries to be healthy in mind, body, and spirit.
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living a holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:1-2). 

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