Prayer in the Mission Field

In mission work the Spirit of Darkness is heavy, the principalities, the rulers, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places have taken hold. Death permeates the cities, the homes, the eyes of many people. We are entering regions where Jesus is not known.

Prayer in these places requires the Holy Spirit’s power, sensitivity and discernment. Without the Holy Spirit, your prayer will be lost and not heard by God. Due to the depth of spiritual forces, our prayers must be girded in the Holy Spirit and in the Word of God. If not, they can easily be used as a weapon by Satan. We have to remember that prayer is a weapon that all religions have. It is who we are addressing our prayer to that distinguishes the prayer.

In missions work it is vital to pray with the Word of God. Unless it is based in His Word, the prayer can easily be snatched and used by Satan to cause anything but the fruit of the Spirit. As a result, in the missions field division is prevalent. Discord, misunderstandings and distrust easily arise. Weaknesses are exposed. Impatience, fear and anxiety easily seep into one’s enthusiasm and passion for God’s will. It is truly the testing ground for one’s spiritual formation in the Word.

Just as we are to worship in Spirit and Truth, we are to pray in Spirit and in Truth.

Prayerfest and praying for the Nations

When praying for a nation, again we are praying against rulers and principalities in the Spirit realm.  When choosing a nation to pray for, pick a nation that you care for—whether because of personal ties or an affinity for the people of that nation. It is important to have some kind of emotional or a rational connection to the nation you are praying for.

The more you pray for a nation and learn about that nation, you will find that your prayer will move to people groups within that nation. Much of the world’s discords and wars are between people groups within the same nation.

Finally, when praying for people groups or nations, because we are now dealing with the heavenly realms, it is most powerful to pray as a group. This is why Prayerfest can be a powerful venue for God’s hand to be unleashed all over the world. For one day we are fasting and praying in accord, on His Word, against the spiritual principalities hovering around the world.

When we, together, pray in the Spirit and in Truth for a nation, the Holy Spirit easily takes hold of the collective mind and often  directs the group prayer. It is at such times, Romans 8:26-27 is experienced.

We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

I often wonder when we sing “Holy Spirit You are Welcome Here” whether we are prepared to face the inner sins of ourselves that He might reveal, the acts, thoughts or feelings that we know are evil but have cleverly denied, rationalized or isolated from our minds. The heart is most deceitful…yet we so lovingly welcome the Holy Spirit in our singing, as if it will cradle us in comfort before convicting us of sin.  Let’s make sure when we are praying, we are praying to the God of the Bible and no other. When we do, most often the Spirit leads us to prayer of repentance, a specific and corporate repentance.  I pray that the Holy Spirit searches all of our hearts to bring us to collective repentance for ourselves, our families, our neighbors, our enemies, our nation and the world at Prayerfest 2015.