Strategic Prayer
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Praying Strategically
We believe God wants to establish a church in every corner of Europe. Yet, across the continent, there are few church planters and few success stories. Perhaps a vital step was overlooked.
When Jesus looked upon a crowd of lost souls ready for the harvest, He said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few; pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest to send out more workers into the fields” (Luke 10:2).
Perhaps it is time to pray more strategically, following the New Testament examples of Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul.
For starters, Jesus Himself urged us to pray for more workers. Beyond the words of Jesus, we find that Paul’s words give us a great deal of sound advice.
Paul prayed for the conversion of others: “Brothers, the desire of my heart and my prayer to God for them is that they would be saved” (Romans 10:1). Paul understood that conversion requires more than human effort but also a work of the Lord.
Beyond that, Paul requested prayer for strategic things which would permit the expansion of the Gospel. We find a few of these strategic themes when Paul requests prayer in order that…
- “it would be given to me to speak openly in order to make the Gospel known” (Eph. 6:19). Paul was praying for the right words to evangelize (or “clarity” in Col. 4:4),
- “God would open a door for the Word, so that we can announce the mystery of Christ” (Col. 4:3). He was asking God to provide open doors and open hearts for the expansion of the gospel in the case of
- a specific conversion (see ‘Lydia’ in Acts 16:14),
- in a specific city (see ‘Ephesus’ in 1 Cor. 16:8-9 and ‘Troas’ in 2 Cor. 2:12), and
- in an entire people (see ‘the Gentiles’ in Acts 14:27),
- “it would be given to me to speak openly to make the gospel known with frankness, …so that I would announce it frankly” (Eph. 6:19-20). Here, Paul prayed for boldness to proclaim the Gospel.
God wants to offer every European national the opportunity to become a true disciple through the presence of an active, vibrant church in his or her town. God is asking us to pray strategically for that to happen. Let’s pray strategically – like Paul and Jesus – for:
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More conversions,
- More believers and churches that would proclaim the Gospel with boldness and clarity,
- More workers and church planters,
- More “doors,” hearts, cities, provinces, and regions which are truly open to the expansion of the Gospel,
- More new churches (like Montefiascone, Bracciano and Alatri!) started in every corner of Europe in order to make…
- More true disciples FOR HIS GLORY!