March, a Prayer for Missions.
Matthew 28:16-20 is
the Great Commission. Matthew’s Gospel
ends with a resurrected Christ instructing His disciples to proclaim the Good
News to the whole world. In March we
pray for these ongoing efforts.
Holy, compassionate God, we thank You for the gift of Salvation
offered to us. As your children, we have
been set apart from the world (Exodus 6:7), and we are called to be an example
to the world to show the blessing we have of walking with You (Isaiah 42:6,
Isaiah 49:6, Isaiah 60:3).
We praise You for Your greatness and compassion in giving
eternal life to all who believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ (John 3:16), and we
ask that you help us to understand that it’s a gift never intended to be
selfishly hoarded for ourselves (Matthew 28:16-20). Our call is not only to love You, but also to
declare Your love and majesty to the world. (Acts 1:8, Isaiah 40:9)
For those near us, we ask that we let our lights for You
shine brightly and unobstructed by the worries that affect us daily (Matthew
5:14-16). Let us also remember that not
even the brightest lights can be seen nor the loudest speakers be heard around
the entire world when originating from a single spot.
Loving Father, the Peace of Salvation can only surround
us when we believe and accept Christ. As
Paul tells us in the book of Romans, if there is no one to preach, then there
is nothing to hear. If there is nothing
to hear, then there’s nothing to believe.
If there’s nothing to believe, then those who never hear are lost
(Romans 10:13-15). Help us be willing to
step up to proclaim Your message to all.
Like when You called out to Jonah to go to a foreign land
(Jonah 3:1,2), sometimes we let our pride, our prejudice, or our fear keep us
from going. We ask that You replace our
stubbornness with the courage of Paul after his encounter on the road to
Damascus (Acts 26:14-18). Whether You
call us to walk across the street, or drive across town, or relocate to the
farthest corners of the map, give us the strength to step forward to dedicate
our lives to spreading Your message.
Help us to be like Isaiah. Like a child in a classroom frantically
waving a hand in the air to be noticed by the teacher, Isaiah stepped up and
said, “Here I am. Lord, send me.”
(Isaiah 6:8) It takes courage to step
forward, when we’d rather hide behind our reasons and secretly hope to not get
called on by the teacher. You, Father,
offer all of the courage we need and more as we’re told in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who
strengthens me.”
Father God, we pray for those who have already heard and
answered the call to go preach. We pray
for those that have left their homes and traveled to foreign lands to preach
the name of Jesus. We ask for their
protection. We ask that You lead them to
fertile fields where Your message will be eagerly received. We pray that their harvests are bountiful,
and that the fields they plant continue to spread. We pray that they always rely on You, and
that they always give the glory of their efforts to You.
Lastly, Jesus told us in Matthew 24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom will be
preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end
will come.” Jesus told us that He
won’t return until the gospel has been preached to the whole world. Help us to realize that if we truly want
Jesus to come quickly, then we all need to find someone who doesn’t know Your
Son, and introduce them to Him.
And we ask this and all else in Jesus’ name,
Amen
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