Day 18: Prayer Focus: World Missionaries Your Church Supports | Isaiah 61:1-2

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,” (Isaiah 61:1–2)

We mainly think of world missionaries as people who preach the gospel overseas. But that’s not all they do. Isaiah tells us that the gospel has many moving parts. It’s not just about proclaiming God’s salvation to the unsaved. Missionaries also take care of the needs of the lost out of compassion. They minister to people in prison, bind up wounds, and many more things we can’t imagine.

God anoints missionaries to do His work among the lost and needy. He provides for their needs, but through them, He provides for the needs of the lost. You and your church support these world missionaries with your money, prayers, and participation. If you’ve ever been on a missions trip, you understand how much missionaries need our prayers.

They face spiritual and physical attacks, unbelievable weight of darkness and wickedness, and dangers all around. They never know when they walk up to someone to witness to them if they will be reported, or even worse, their lives will be put in dangerous peril. They are spiritual police and fire departments who run into spiritual disarray and chaos.

Most of the time you pray for your missionaries, you don’t know the effects of your prayers have on them. When they are praying for God to deliver them, He wakes you up in the middle of the night to bring that spiritual power army to them. We participate in missions more than we know. But it all starts with prayer. They need that the most because prayer does everything we think it does, and more. So, the next time the Holy Spirit wakes you up in the middle of the night, thank God He involves you in His ministry.

Prayer Points

• For God to give missionaries you and your church support spiritual breakthroughs in their mission fields
• For God to equip those missionaries He calls into new and exciting adventures with the tools and abilities they need
• For God to provide the exact needs of each missionary through your prayers and giving
• To see God move in powerful ways that attest to His ability to protect and prosper missionaries abroad