We Ask, He Sends
The gift of intercessory prayer is a powerful tool in the body of Christ. Webster’s definition of intercede means “to go or pass between or to mediate.” To mediate means “to interpose between parties as the equal friend of each.” Intercession is representing another individual before God. In Great Commission work, it could be representing a missionary—single, couple, family, or team—before the Lord. We come before the Father asking him to release his work in someone else’s life. We don’t do the work, God does. All we need to do is simply ask.
It’s always amazing to me that God chooses to work through us. Even when God desires to initiate on someone’s behalf, he wants us to ask.
As believers we are called to ask for the nations. “Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the whole earth as your possession” (Psalm 2:8 NLT).
By prayer for Global Partners missionaries, you are asking on their behalf—equal friend of God and missionary—to empower them to express their faith in love (Galatians 5:6), to proclaim the gospel message clearly (Colossians 4:3–6), and to be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power (Ephesians 6:10). Ask God to make these verses a reality in missionaries’ lives.
All across The Wesleyan Church, we long for the supernatural, multiplying work of God. Our deep desire is to see more missionaries sent to places here, near, far, and hard. Pray— challenged by Jesus’ words from Matthew 9:38: “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (NIV)
We ask, he sends.
1. Pray that the mission of Matthew 9:38 would be amplified among university/college students.
We ask, he sends.
2. Pray that local churches would amplify the mission for global transformation by sending some of their own.
We ask, he sends.
3. Pray that people of all ages—university/college students to retirees—would be led to not only give and pray, but to go.
We ask, he sends.
4. Pray that 20 teams made up of people from multiple professions would be raised up to go into cities populated with millions of people yet to know the truth of Christ.
We ask, he sends.
What if every day at 9:38 a.m., we would make a joint effort to pray Matthew 9:38? Asking God to send out workers on Global Partners fields.
• For those non-morning people, perhaps it’s at 9:38 p.m. that we set an alarm on our phones to remind us to take Jesus’ challenge to ask for workers.
• For some, it might be helpful to split the four focuses to a seasonal rhythm, changing up the prayer emphasis to give variety to your prayers.
• For others, perhaps focusing on a particular nation each month to concentrate uniquely on a field in the Global Partners world.
Set your alarms for 9:38. Ask and watch the Lord of the harvest send!
Rev. Gwen Jackson is an ordained minister in The Wesleyan Church and the author of Unforced Rhythms: Why Daily Devotions Aren’t for All of Us . She enjoys visiting Global Partners fields with her husband, Executive Director Dennis Jackson.