Before we list prayer ideas, we want to talk about 3 common mistakes people make when praying for needs around the world and also 5 things to remember when praying for needs around the world.
3 Common mistakes made when praying for missions
- thoughts by Paul York
1 Praying for the poor to get roads and money. Caring for peoples’ physical needs is necessary, but it cannot be our first prayer! We are not to be missionaries of materialism; we are to be taking the Kingdom of God to the peoples of the world.
2 Praying for countries, instead of people groups. China, for example is a nation or a kingdom made up of 56 people groups (different culture, religion, language/dialect, etc.) Each people group has its own needs and challenges to prayer. That is why information and knowledge is so important when we pray, which leads us to number 3.
3 Praying without information. Often you hear someone say, “Let’s pray for Africa tonight; God we pray that you would bless Africa and save many souls there” and within 3-4 minutes they run out of things to pray for. God wants us to partner with Him in prayer and pray strategic, specific prayers, but we have to do some research and know what the needs of that people group are in order to pray effectively. (see prayer websites under resources)
5 things to remember when praying for needs around the world
1 Do research, and explain the significance of the information so that you can pray effectively.
2 Make prayer participatory; change it up and get creative!
3 Take time to also praise God for what he is doing, what he has done and what he will do!
4 Take time to listen and let the Spirit lead you as you pray.
5 Take time to pray in the Spirit!
Prayer Ideas
1
Pray for the missionary of the month
2
Pray for the nation of the month
3
Host a 1 hour prayer for the nations night.
4
Invite International students to pray in their own language for their country.
5 As a large group adopt a different prayer focus every semester, then divide the different needs of that prayer focus into your small groups (i.e. we’re going to Greece next summer, so one small group prays for student ministry there and each member of the small group has a different university that they call out before the Lord; another small group prays for the missionaries; another for the spiritual climate and the church, etc) Do not just pray for your trip, your finances, your team dynamics; pray outside of yourselves!
6 Start a Friday Jumaa prayer (http://www.jumaaprayer.org)
7 At your student leaders meeting, have students take turns of bringing in the top 3 world news stories and pray for those urgent needs!
8 Have your worship team find creative ways to intertwine prayer for the nations into worship sets.
9 If you already do worship and prayer nights, find creative ways to include prayer for the nations in with that (i.e. you can have a prayer station with chains on it and pray for the persecuted church).
0 Give students something tangible to walk away with so that they remember to keep praying for that need.
Prayer Websites
- www.operationworld.org (Pray for the country of the day- lots of information provided so that you know what the needs are and you can pray effectively)
- www.joshuaproject.net (Provides information on unreached people groups (less than 2% Christian, little access to the gospel); they need out prayers!)
- The Joshua Project also has an iPhone app for free, download it here: http://www.joshuaproject.net/mobile.php
- www.world.ag.org (click on “PRAY” to view what Assemblies of God World missionaries’ have a birthday that day, you can see their picture, what country they serve in, and pray for them that day).
- www.persecution.com (Pray for the persecuted church)
Prayer Books
- The Hour that Changes the World: A practical plan for personal prayer by Dick Eastman
- Prayer that Brings Revival by David Yonggi Cho (pastor of the largest church in the world- S. Korea)
- The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds on Prayer by E.M Bounds
- Reese Howell Intercessor by Norman Percy Grubb
- Changing History through prayer and fasting by Derek Prince
