Unlock the Power of Prayer for the Nations

Discover 8 compelling reasons to pray for the world and 10 prayer prompts to impact the nations from your living room.

Missionary Samuel Zwemer (1867–1952) famously said, “The history of missions is the history of answered prayer.”

If that’s true, then the future of missions depends on our prayers today. What an opportunity we have! Do we pray with the fervor and urgency we should?

8 reasons to pray for the nations

1. God cares about the nations.
   Scripture from Genesis to Revelation reveals God’s heart for the nations, and we can express our union with God in that concern through prayer.
   
2. Prayer expands our view of God and the world.
   Prayer for the nations instills in us a heart of humility, a love of other cultures, and an admiration of the God who made them all.
   
3. Jesus commanded it, and we should obey.
   The key to unreached peoples believing in Christ is sending missionaries (Romans 10:13-15), and the key to sending missionaries is prayer! “Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Luke 10:2, ESV).
   
4. We get to join God’s global work.
   When we pray for the nations, we get to see God act and we have the joy of knowing we played a small part.
   
5. We need God’s help to reach the nations.
   Seeking to fulfill the Great Commission that Christ gave to go and make disciples of all nations is foolishness without asking God to give us the nations for his glory.
   
6. Missionaries need prayer partners.
   Every day they face spiritual warfare, cultural confusion, sin in themselves and their disciples, and the strongholds of the enemy — and there are no victories without prayer.
   
7. The stakes are high for the least-reached.
   Working to reach the least-reached isn’t a game — it’s an all-out spiritual war, and time is of the essence.
   
8. Someone prayed for you.
   More than likely, someone (or perhaps many people) prayed for your salvation. Now it’s your turn to pay it forward. Who will you pray into the kingdom?
   

10 ways to pray for the world

Find a way to make prayer for the nations part of your regular prayer life. When and how you pray doesn’t matter. What matters is that you pray.

1. Pray for God’s kingdom to come and his will to be done.
   This is what Jesus taught his disciples to pray (Matthew 6:10).
   
2. Pray for social justice.
   Violence and oppression are not from God, who loves justice and hates evil (Isaiah 61:8).
   
3. Pray for world leaders.
   God has given them authority (Romans 13:1), and he can guide their hearts (Proverbs 21:1).
   
4. Pray for the poor, homeless, refugees, orphans, and widows.
   God takes thought of them (Psalm 40:17), and he is their help.
   
5. Pray for creation and the environment.
   The fall wreaked havoc on God’s good creation, and it eagerly awaits redemption (Romans 8:19-24).
   
6. Pray for open doors for the gospel.
   Ask God to open countries whose borders are closed.
   
7. Pray for unreached people groups.
   A third of the world is suffering the greatest injustice: little or no access to the gospel.
   
8. Pray for people to be saved.
   No one can come to Christ unless God draws him.
   
9. Pray for the global church.
   Pray for its growth, maturity, unity, and endurance, and pray for those suffering persecuted for their faith.
   
10. Pray for the earth to be filled with God’s glory.
    This is God’s ultimate purpose and goal (Habakkuk 2:14).

Will you commit to pray for the world this year? Just imagine what God will do through the fervent prayers of his people.

Mark Silvers served with Crossworld in the Philippines for 10 years and joined the Recruitment team in 2009. Mark’s driving passion is to reach the 3.4 billion people in the world today with no access to the gospel.

This article is submitted by Crossworld. Crossworld is a Missio Nexus member.  Member organizations can provide content to the Missio Nexus website. See how by clicking here.