As believers, we are faced daily with the questions of how we are to respond to a world hungry for redemption, reconciliation, and peace.
We know that God’s deepest desire is for His glory to be known among every nation. He promises to work through the events unfolding before us to lead more people and nations to Him. As we live in Him, we know that He makes the desires of our hearts echo His and then calls us to respond out of those longings.
Every person who is united with God through Christ and who has God’s Spirit dwelling within them lives for the spreading of His glory through every event of the world. Because this is the mission we are on, it should be a significant aspect of our prayers.
How do we practice these prayers, making them a part of our daily communication with the Lord?
Jesus graciously revealed specific ways we can pray throughout His ministry on earth. By His teaching, we can intentionally and effectively grow in our means of praying for the nations.
Pray For Laborers Among The Nations
The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few, therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.
Matthew 9.37-38
To reach the unreached, people need to be sent. We can pray each day for the Lord to raise up laborers in every nation who will go and share the Gospel. In addition to praying for laborers, we can pray for their ministry: for protection, reception, and the joy of living radically for Christ and His Kingdom!
Pray For The Unreached Among The Nations
What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
Luke 15.4
Pray that the Lord would graciously work through the laborers to reach the unreached with His Word of salvation. Pray for entire communities to be transformed by the Gospel, and for a thriving church to be established everywhere it is not yet. Pray for individuals, families, communities, and nations to be reached and to receive. We have been commissioned to be the disciple-makers of every nation and the foundation of this is prayer. Daily, we should be going before the Lord to pray for those who have not yet heard of the salvation that He yearns for them to know.
Pray For The Persecuted And Oppressed Among The Nations
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Matthew 5.10-12
We must be diligent in prayer for the poor and persecuted among the nations, asking for the Lord to draw them near to Him in their present circumstances. He is the God of all comfort, and we can pray earnestly for His comfort to strengthen and provide for those who need to be reached by it. Pray that through their suffering, they draw near to the Lord and can glorify Him, building up the church and reaching those around them as they witness the Lord strengthening and faithfully walking with every suffering individual!
Pray For The Poor And Forgotten Among The Nations
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.
Revelation 21.4
For those who are poor and forgotten, we can pray that they know God as the One who sees and provides for every need: both physical and spiritual. Pray for their tangible needs to be met in a way that points to the provision and sufficiency of the Lord. Pray that in the lack, their faith is strengthened, and they know the abundance which comes from Christ. Pray also that we may come alongside those who are poor and forgotten, humbly learning from what it means to depend not on our physical possessions but on Christ alone.
Pray For God’s Glory To Be Spread Among The Nations
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Revelation 7.9-10
For this reason, we have been created. As children of God, living vessels of His Holy Spirit, we yearn for His glory to be known and enjoyed throughout all the earth. God has graciously given us a glimpse of the end when every nation knows His glory, and we should be diligent in prayer now for that to come to completion. Pray for His glory to be spread in every circumstance that the nations face, whether it arises out of tragic or triumphant events. Pray for the idols of the world to fall away as every nation comes to acknowledge God as the One worthy of all our praise and devotion. And pray that the believers within every nation will have boldness and desire to fearlessly make known the Gospel of salvation to those around them!
We have been made for so much more than simply praying for the things that are a part of our lives. We have been invited into a beautiful, ever-present communication with the Creator and King of all the earth. We should be so compelled to learn His heart cries and echoes them in our prayers. There is so much joy that comes from partnering with God to daily pray for the nations He desires to draw to Him. Let us rejoice in and be moved by His invitation to us!
At Ethnos360 Bible Institute, we desire to partner with God in reaching the nations for His glory. Want to learn more about how can be involved? Request your free information packet today!
