Praying as the Away Team

Preparing for the Second Coming

By Dave Butts

One of the earliest prayers of the Church was “Maranatha”—come soon, Lord Jesus. Christians have always longed and prayed for the soon return of Jesus. I believe we are approaching the end of the end times. And that should prompt even greater times of prayer for His soon appearing!

How do we pray for the return of Jesus? Aside from “Maranatha,” is there more to pray? As we consider the rapid cultural shift in the United States, I believe we can pray in a way that prepares the way for the return of Jesus.

Believe it or not, I’ve been learning how to pray from my love of basketball.

Home Court Advantage

Growing up in Indiana, I went to lots of basketball games. In the 1960s and ‘70s, most of our high schools were still smaller schools that were passionate about their basketball teams. I remember the high level of excitement as we hosted other teams in our small gym at Garfield High School in Terre Haute, IN. It was packed with enthusiastic fans for every game. Even if we had a mediocre team, the home team fans could bring down the rafters with cheers for our team. The visiting team—the away team—may actually have been a stronger basketball team, but we certainly had the advantage as the home team.

Home teams have the fans and the noise. The stands are filled with those who cheer on the home team. Often a small band plays the school fight song. Every call by the officials is cheered or booed by the crowd. It’s pretty intimidating to walk into your opponents’ gym as the away team. You feel like you have to play not only the home team, but also the home crowd—and sometimes even the home officials. 

For many years now, the Church has been the home team in America. We’ve had the advantages that a home team enjoys. We were the culturally dominant force that had to be dealt with by everyone else. When national leaders talked about faith, everyone knew they were referring to the Christian faith. People believed in freedom of religion. No one even considered such a thing as freedom from religion.

But those days are over.

No Home Team Cheers

It’s pretty discouraging for a basketball team to come into a gym thinking it’s their home, only to be met with boos instead of cheers. You expect such a negative response when you are the away team in your opponents’ gym.

It’s time to admit the Church is no longer the home team in America. If we understand this, we will pray differently and more effectively for our nation. So much of the conflict comes when we still act as though we are on our home court.

It’s hard. We feel as though we lost something special with a home court advantage. And in some ways, we have.

But it wasn’t necessarily good and healthy for us to be the home team. That advantaged position often resulted in a watered-down, cultural faith that only vaguely resembled New Testament Christianity.

Rather than longing for a comfortable memory, we need to embrace our role as the away team. It better fits with how Jesus describes us in Luke 6:22: “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.”

An away team doesn’t try to be loved and honored. They just want to do their best to bring about victory. We forget that we need a battle mindset as we pray for the United States. Rather than focus our prayers on returning the Church to a place of privilege, we need to be passionate about seeing the gospel preached with transforming power. Clarity of vision allows us to pray in alignment with the purposes of God. This translates into praying for the return of Jesus in a powerful, biblical way.

Several years ago, my prayers for my nation shifted as a result of a message I heard by a young revivalist, Kyle Lance Martin. We were both speakers for a conference in Texas. One phrase he used grabbed my heart. Though I’d heard similar things before, Kyle spoke with such clarity that we are no longer living in a Christian nation—and we had better start acting like it.

Right then, the Holy Spirit began a work in me. I pulled out my phone and wrote some notes based on what I was hearing.

Away Team Mentality

I’ve worked for years with various mission organizations and missionaries. We often talk about how they must live and pray differently because they are in non-Christian countries. As I heard Kyle explain we are no longer in a Christian nation, it hit me hard that we need to develop that same mindset that missionaries have for their cross-cultural work.

This is the away team mentality we must develop.

It is time for the Church in America to develop good missionary strategies for reaching our own nation. We can no longer assume that most people understand our “Christian” language and terms. It is a serious error to believe that those living in our cities and towns even know who Jesus is. It is not enough to elect some Christian politicians; we must re-evangelize America!

Of all the New Testament writers, it was the apostle Peter who most clearly understood the “away team” lifestyle. He gave us great practical instruction for living effectively in a culture that is not our own. Here are some ways we can pray in preparation for the Lord’s return, based on Peter’s words from 1 Peter:

• Father, because we know that You judge each man’s work impartially, we ask You to help us live as strangers here in reverent fear (1:17).
• Lord, You have chosen us to be Your people, a royal priesthood and a holy nation that belong to You. Help us today to declare Your praises before our nation (2:9).
• Help us, Lord, as aliens and strangers here, to stay away from sinful desires that war against our souls. Give us the strength to live among our non-Christian friends in ways that they will recognize You in us and will glorify You (2:11–12).
• Lord, as those who are subject to Your divine authority, help us to honor human authority while still living as free men and women. We want to show respect to everyone around us, and especially to love the brotherhood of believers (2:13–17).
• Lord, Your Word tells us that the end of all things is near. With that firmly in mind, give us clear minds and a spirit of self-control, that we might release Your transforming power in prayer (4:7).
• Lord, as we live out Your life in the midst of increasing wickedness, we fully expect to suffer as Christians. Give us the strength to not be ashamed but to continually praise You that we bear the name of Christ (4:16).

Peter is certainly speaking to believers in the United States today! We cannot begin to call what we are experiencing “persecution” without watering down the term when we compare the situation of many of our brothers and sisters in Christ in other nations. But we are certainly no longer the home team and are discovering the inconveniences of being an away team. Peter speaks directly to us as the away team and gives us wonderful instruction for living a victorious life.

This prepares the way for the return of Jesus.

Advance the Kingdom

Do you see how developing the “away team” mentality allows us to tone down the culture war animosities and instead become loving missionaries to our own nation? Our prayers become less angry and nationalistic, and more loving and Kingdom-focused.

Rather than wanting the Church to be the dominant force in society, we want to see Jesus recognized as Lord in every aspect of life. Our prayers will shift to focus on the advance of Christ’s Kingdom and the coming of our King to reign forever.

DAVE BUTTS is chairman of America’s National Prayer Committee, president of Harvest Prayer Ministries, and the author of several books available at prayershop.org.