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PRAY - That Others Encounter Him Through You

Matthew 9:36-38
When [Jesus] saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”
1 Timothy 2:1-6
I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people.

THE WHO

After seeing others through the eyes of Jesus and your circle of influence as your mission field, pray for those around you.
Pray for Your 3.
Pray for those in your MicroChurch.

1 Samuel 12:23
As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right.

There’s no better gift you can give your church than to regularly and passionately pray for them. And there are no better prayers to pray than the prayers Paul prayed for his churches. Here they are.

There’s no better gift you can give your church than to regularly and passionately pray for them. And there are no better prayers to pray than the prayers Paul prayed for his churches.
Paul’s Priority
Consider the priority that Paul put on prayer.
- For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers (Ephesians 1:15-16).
- I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy (Philippians 1:3-4).
- For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you (Colossians 1:9).
- We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers (1 Thessalonians 1:2).
- With this in mind, we constantly pray for you (2 Thessalonians 1:11).
- I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers (Philemon 4).
Now consider the ministry priorities that Paul reveals through his prayers.
Paul’s Prayers
- May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 15:5–6).
- May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13).
- For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way (Ephesians 1:15–23).
- For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen (Ephesians 3:14–21).
- I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:3–6).
- And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God (Philippians 1:9–11).
- For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:9-14).
- How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones (1 Thessalonians 3:9, 12–13).
- May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it (1 Thessalonians 5:23–24).
- With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 1:11–12).
- May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word (2 Thessalonians 2:16–17).
- May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance (2 Thessalonians 3:5).
- Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you (2 Thessalonians 3:16).
- I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ (Philemon 4–6).

THE WHY

When someone is passionate about prayer, what does that say about the person? When someone is just ho-hum about prayer, what does that say about the person? What do your prayers say about you?
What do these passages say about why we should pray?

Luke 11:5-13
Then, teaching them more about prayer, Jesus used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence [shameless audacity - NIV].
“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
“You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”
James 4:2-3
You don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
John 6:44
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.
Acts 4:23-31
As soon as they were freed, Peter and John returned to the other believers and told them what the leading priests and elders had said. When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God: “O Sovereign Lord, Creator of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them— you spoke long ago by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant, saying,
‘Why were the nations so angry?
    Why did they waste their time with futile plans?
The kings of the earth prepared for battle;
    the rulers gathered together
against the Lord
    and against his Messiah.’
“In fact, this has happened here in this very city! For Herod Antipas, Pontius Pilate the governor, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were all united against Jesus, your holy servant, whom you anointed. But everything they did was determined beforehand according to your will. And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word. Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.
Ephesians 6:19-20
Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
Colossians 4:3-4
And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.
Acts 26:16-20
“I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.
“I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”
So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds.
Ephesians 2:1-5
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
2 Corinthians 4:3-7
If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing. Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.
You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

What does this quote say about why we should pray?

However clear and compelling we may be in presenting the gospel, we have no hope of convincing or converting anyone. Can you or I by our earnest talking break the power of Satan over a person’s life? No. Can you or I hope to convince sinners of the truth of the gospel by patient explanation? No. Can we hope to move people to obey the gospel by any words of entreaty that we may utter? No. Our approach to evangelism is not realistic till we have faced this shattering fact, and let it make its proper impact on us.
- J.I. Packer

This quote is so personal and powerful. It’s from Christopher Yuan and his book entitled Holy Sexuality and the Gospel. In the book, Christopher tells the story of how the love of God and his parents led him out of his sinful rebellion to faith in Jesus and how Jesus led him from his homosexual lifestyle to holy sexuality. It’s a very good and important book.

To begin with prayer is a way of reminding ourselves that only God changes hearts. As much as we love someone and as hard as we may try, we can’t make someone believe in Jesus. When things seemed hopeless, my mother committed to focus not on hopelessness but on the promises of God. She recruited over a hundred prayer warriors from church and from her Bible Study Fellowship group, and together they cried out to God for me.
My mother began to pray a bold prayer: “Lord, do whatever it takes to bring this prodigal son to you.” In her desperation, she fasted every Monday for eight years and once fasted thirty-nine days for me. She spent hours every morning in her prayer closet, reading her Bible and interceding for me and many others.

Eventually, Christopher came to Christ and is now a professor of biblical theology at Moody Bible Institute. Do we love people enough to pray for their salvation?

Because we are totally dependent on God to reach people and because evangelism is spiritual warfare (a power encounter between the Kingdom of Light and the kingdom of darkness), prayer is our urgent missional priority.
As is often said, “Talk to God about people before talking to people about God.”

THE HOW

Here’s a sample missional prayer …

Father, I pray for _______'s salvation. Help me to live a consistent and attractive Christlike life around _______. Show me _______’s needs so that I can serve him/her with Your love. Do something in _______’s life that can only be explained by Your presence and power. Deepen our relationship together. Open doors for me to have spiritual conversations with _______ and help me to share the Good News of Jesus with him/her. Overcome Satan's blinding of _______'s heart and mind so that he/she will turn from sin, trust in Jesus as Savior, follow Him as Lord and join a community of believers.

What might you add to this prayer?
Pray that the Lord leads you to a Person of Peace.
Promote the value of prayer at the gatherings and special prayer times.
The Lord may lead your MicroChurch to set aside a season for prayer and fasting.
Here’s a Prayer Walking resource - Prayer Walking.
Here’s a Key Prayer Points for Disciple Making Movements resource - Key Prayer Points.