PRAYER in God's Mission

by Rev Derrick Lau

The Missio Dei (i.e. Mission of God) stems from the heart of a Sovereign and Compassionate God who desires that all men be saved and not perish (cf. John 10:28). Paul illustrates the nature of God’s love with the metaphor of a pair of hands reaching out to a “disobedient and contrary people” (Romans 10:21).

The question remains… after more than 2,000 years of Christian missions, why is the world not fully connected with God in a loving manner?

Statistically speaking, the world remains largely unreached. From the findings of the Joshua Project, it is estimated that close to 41% of the world’s population of 7.59 billion are still unreached. A variety of reasons for this phenomena includes spiritual warfare, inaccessibility to people groups, lack of human and capital resources, absence of a comprehensive strategy or vision for reaching the lost, the last, and the least, etc.

For the purpose of this article, I shall focus on the role of prayer in fulfilling the mission of God.

Essentially, the Church is at war. Paul remarked that, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). The kind of war that we are engaging in is spiritual in nature. Hence, to be effective in combating and winning the battle, the church needs to fall on her knees and pray for spiritual wisdom and intervention against the schemes of the Evil One.

Therefore, it involves the ministry of earnest prayer and intercession to break down strongholds as well as prayer for men and women, boys and girls to be filled with the love of Christ to share the gospel. For the latter, John Wesley remarked, “You have one business on earth – to save souls.” And Charles Spurgeon in his Evening Devotions wrote, “O that the Lord would saturate us through and through with an undying zeal for the souls of men.” Are you already part of the 2,000 intercessors that are praying regularly for God’s mission via MMS?

If YES, praise be to the Lord! You are indeed an inspiration to us. May the Lord grant you the spirit of perseverance and joy as you continue to pray together with us in reaching the lost.

If NOT YET, I urge you to join our intercessory ministry by signing up via https://www.mms.org.sg/sign-up. By the grace of God, we are envisioning a pool of 7,000 intercessors who will pray and help win the spiritual battle, for the glory of Christ!

Together, we pray for God’s missions! Please refer to the specific prayer requests from our seven countries (Cambodia, East Asia, Laos, Nepal, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam) in our prayer booklet, PrayerConnect, which is also available online at https://www.mms.org.sg/prayerconnect.