The older I get in the Lord the more evident it becomes to me that God has given a mighty weapon to every Christian – the weapon of prayer. It’s mighty to the pulling down of enemy strongholds and more powerful than the world system. And where mission work is concerned, prayer has more value than money. Now someone might raise an eyebrow at that and ask, "How is that possible? Isn’t it money that makes mission work possible?" While there is a cost involved, it’s very easy to just give money and then never give another thought – much less another prayer. And as someone who’s been on the field many times, if I had to choose between the gift of someone’s prayer covering or their monetary gift, I personally would pick the prayer covering. Money can only go so far. Prayer has a fascinating way of being the catalyst for making stuff happen, and God has an incredible way of stepping in where we come up short. Consider what Jesus was able to do with five loaves and two fish (Luke 9:13). So here are 10 specific ways that prayer warriors (i. e. intercessors) can pray for missionaries that are not only highly beneficial, but also down-to-earth practical.
1) It’s not an uncommon thing for an airline to decide (seemingly arbitrarily) to cancel a person’s flight and move him or her to another. On one occasion, I just happened to see a flight attendant standing at the bottom of an exit ramp with a small sign that had my next flight number written on it. Because my previous flight had been long, and I was rather tiard, her sign didn’t quite register in my mind and I walked right on by. Then at the prompting of the Holy Spirit, I went back and asked her why she was holding up that sign.
"Is this your next flight?" she asked.
"Yes."
"It’s been canceled. I need to escort you and any others to your new flight."
It turned out that I was the only one from that particular flight. God knows if that was an angel disquised as a human or not, but it was certainly someone’s prayers that helped me make that connecting flight. Thank God for His grace and mercy!
2) Great flying weather and beautiful weather while in the host country. Poor weather can cause turbulence, and a plane in turbulence can be pretty unnerving. In addition, crummy weather will delay flights, complicate other modes of travel, and make ministry more difficult – especially if you have equipment to transport. Because I typically lead the praise and worship when I go on a mission trip, I usually have my guitar. On one occasion we had to catch a train to another city in pouring down rain. To make matters even more interesting, the train station was not within walking distance. So we had to pile our team into a taxi that was roughly the size of a VW bug. Since the trunk was way too small to hold my guitar, we laid it across our laps. Let’s just say the trip to the train station was a unique experience. We sang Veggie Tales songs as a stress release. However, there have been other occasions when I went on a short-term mission trip and never saw a drop of rain. God can do anything!
3) That all the missionary’s luggage would arrive both ways, undamaged. Nothing’s more frustrating than not having what you need and trying to file a lost / damaged claim report. Especially if one of those items is an instrument. And I speak from experience about the deep annoyance I've felt when my guitar has been lost in transit and my luggage has been damaged. By God’s grace and mercy, I did eventually get my guitar back.
4) Supernatural health. It’s very difficult to get medical care in some countries. Sickness definitely complicates ministry in many ways. Also, the pace of a mission trip is often very rapid. Getting needed rest can be a very real complication – which makes it difficult to heal if a person has health issues. I thank God that the worst thing that I personally ever experienced has been a cold, but this did make it difficult to sing.
5) That God would be in the middle of all the missionary’s relationships. The enemy loves to mess with people’s minds. And the combination of jet lag and stress can make it a real challenge to stay focused and subdue the flesh. I once heard a preacher say that mission work will either bring out the worst in a person, or the best in a person. When I finally got the opportunity to go on the field myself, I understood. I’ll sum that up like this: any area in which a person is lacking the fruit of the Holy Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-26) will be an area that the enemy will hit hard.
6) God’s wisdom and discernment for the missionary. Some people know how to talk a good game. Though in some cases, there are just language barriers. There are also some people in other countries who aren’t particularly fond of Americans. I was once in a situation when a woman wanted to argue her political views of America with me. I apologized for the things that she was frustrated about and the Lord opened a door for me to witness to her. It was only by God’s grace (and probably someone’s prayers) that I knew what to say.
7) God’s provision for the missionary’s finances, and that He’d stretch them out. During one mission trip, a couple of shopkeepers found out that our group was a group of missionaries and blessed us with a few items at no charge!
8) That God would use the missionary for the prospering of His kingdom. It seems obvious to pray that people will be saved and delivered, but the enemy will fight to keep people in bondage. Also there are some countries in which people will more readily accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. This is why some mission agencies will report "thousands saved" and other missionaries only report a few saved. It all depends
on how open the people are. Sometimes it takes years before results even begin to show. The thing we must remember is that heaven rejoices over each saved individual - not a qualifying quantity.
9) That the missionary would focus consistently on being a person after God’s own heart. It can be easy to get out of focus when out of your comfort zone – especially when things don’t go as planned. Which they often don’t when on the field. Flexibility is a necessity. And trading our agendas for God’s is the best way to avoid a lot of frustration that will often manifest as complaining. I’ve watched teams almost split because of a team member’s hidden agenda and self-seeking attitude.
10) That God would help the missionary to adapt easily to the host country, and have an easy readjustment when returning home. There is actually a type of reverse culture shock that can happen to a missionary if he or she has been particularly immersed in the culture of his or her host country. It all depends on how much the missionary has identified and adapted to the culture of the host country, and how well the missionary has been able to stay in-touch with family back home.
The above list is definitely not a complete list. However, it will make a great springboard as we listen for the Holy Spirit to lead us into keeping our missionaries covered in prayer.
