GREAT COMMISSION PRAYER
Prayer is the greatest weapon followers of Christ but is often it is the most underutilized one. Jesus taught us to pray with the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6:9-13. The early church prayed very frequently and “turned the world upside down” as it says in Acts 17:6. Prayer is also pervasively used in the parts of the world in which the Christian church suffers. This is very important for the church because approximately 73% of people live in countries which the church is persecuted.
However prayer is much less common in the western world where the church has felt comfortable in its relationship for the state for many centuries. Since the Lord mercifully saved me from atheism long ago I have made many trips to areas where Christians suffer for their faith and have found that prayer is much more fervent in these areas than it is when I return home or visit other western countries. This is because our brothers and sisters who reside in the parts of the world that are more challenging does not have the luxury of a culture that tolerates that their faith, so they focus their attention on the Lord through prayer.
Although I have never stopped working and used my income to pay for my mission trips, I have been involved in prayer for the Great Commission including for the persecuted church for a long time. I learned on my first trip to China that our praying means so much to our brothers and sisters who suffer for their faith. I love the church of Jesus Christ and want to see it do well to get ready for His return. I have longed for decades to encourage churches I have been in to get involved in prayer and missions to build God’s Kingdom but have not succeeded in my efforts.
In 2024 I was blessed to take a late winter flight to Singapore that unexpectedly flew from west to east over the length oF Iran and 7 other countries which are very resistant to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When I saw this flight route I chose to pray according to how Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord’s prayer “Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” (Matthew 6:10) substituting the name of the country for “earth” as I flew over. And I had intense spiritual warfare for several days after I landed as the enemy made it extremely clear that he was upset about my prayers. As I spent a long time over Iran I prayed for God to break up the fallow ground there as I hoped that He would do something powerful to expand His Kingdom there.
And the Lord did. CBN News reported in August that a revival was taking place in Iran in which a million people had come to faith in Jesus Christ and estimates were that hundreds of mosques were closed as a result. God has been working in Iran for millennia so He deserves all the glory. His answering prayer is never about us as I am nobody special. It is all about Jesus Christ and the context is that large number of Iranians have been coming to Christ in Iran since the Iranian Revolution of 1979 ushered in what was initially described as “perfect Islam,” causing so many people to determine if that is perfect Islam they are going the opposite direction.
I am a follower of Christ who Jesus redeemed from my stubborn unbelief when I was an atheist. He forgave me for a multitude of sins that I did when I was unsaved so I am nobody special, just a sinner who realizes he’s been forgiven much. I’ve been involved with a number of mission and prayer organizations which have fostered prayer for reaching all nations for Christ, the persecuted church, and building the Kingdom of God overall. Moreover, I have been trying to increase prayer for the Great Commission for decades to encourage churches to participate as so many of churches have little or no involvement with God’s mission.
Prayer is extremely powerful, especially when it prioritizes what God wants. I found out early in my believing life as I participated in Brother Andrew’s 7-years of prayer for the Soviet Union in which the Iron Curtain disintegrated and the Soviet Union collapsed in the 7th year of prayer. The darkest hour is just before the dawn and I believe God is raising up a remnant of faithful followers who will shake off our religious baggage and be stronger than ever throughout the western world. Please join me in increasing prayer for God’s Kingdom to grow and the Great Commission to be prioritized, overcoming challenging areas and being completed soon.
Dr. Jim Marshall is a follower of Christ who is interested in truth. You can contact him at [email protected]
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