Prayer for the Advancement of the Gospel
By Solomon Lujan
Her question shook us.
“Why didn’t you tell us about Jesus sooner?”
This Muslim woman recently gave her life to Christ after hearing the Gospel of Luke in her own language. Her family and other people she knew had no idea Jesus died for their sins and offered salvation to all who believed.
Her question compels me to pray for Scripture translation. Billions of precious people like this woman are still waiting for someone to faithfully intercede so they have the opportunity to accept Jesus as Savior and Lord. Our heavenly Father is calling you and me to be the hero intercessors on their behalf!
Crying Out for the Unreached
Fourteen years ago, I served in the night watch at a 24/7 house of prayer in Jerusalem. We interceded for Israel six hours a night. I remember distinctly the grace and power I sensed behind my prayers when I began to pray for the Great Commission fulfillment in Israel, specifically for unreached Jews.
Four years ago, I began directing prayer for a Bible translation ministry focused on accelerating the fulfillment of the Great Commission (Matt. 28:16–20). We hear countless stories of the global impact on entire countries after people have the Bible in their native language. I now understand the strategic importance of prioritizing our prayer focus on the advancement of the gospel around the world. Some prayer topics are simply more important than others.
Jesus gives us this Great Commission command (v. 19): “Go and make disciples of all nations.” This is the eternal desire of God—that all His image bearers would know His infinite love and truth, demonstrated in the death and resurrection of Christ (1 Tim. 2:3–6).
In addition, Paul says, “How can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent?” (Rom. 10:14–15, nlt).
The Moravians knew this. Their century-long prayer movement birthed the modern missions movement. Prayer is mission. Our maturity as intercessors is directly proportionate to the commitment and time we spend on our knees crying out for all unreached people to be set free!
Great Commission Intercessor
You can join this prayer movement by using the three “H’s” of a mature intercessor: heart, habits, and house of prayer. God is completing His love story by bringing Scripture to every language community on earth so that the gospel will always be within reach.
1. Heart. Do you remember when you were without Christ? While those memories may be too painful to recall, they can humble us and give us compassion for those still in darkness. We, too, were prisoners of darkness before Jesus set us free and filled our lives with light. We must each answer the question, “How now shall we live?” Our mission is to help free other captives.
How many prisoners of darkness remain? About 3.22 billion people have no access to the gospel.1 This does not include the lost who have the gospel yet choose to remain in darkness. The unreached have not had the opportunity to break free from Satan’s power. One-third of the world’s people are unreached, defenseless against their oppressor because they don’t have the Sword of Truth—God’s Word.
Take a moment and repeat that last sentence out loud about unreached, defenseless people. May we never become desensitized to this shocking reality. Barna Group research discovered that, in today’s Church, 51 percent do not know what the Great Commission is.2 That means more than half are missing their primary purpose on earth!
You can be a strategic intercessor who releases prayers of light into the darkness for the 3.22 billion—until zero unreached prisoners remain. Always keep your heart tender before the Lord so that you’re thinking and praying often for your future brothers and sisters in Christ, those not yet freed from darkness.
2. Habits. Prayer is not a discipline but a lifestyle. Our lives are composed of habits. It is easiest to start a new habit on top of one already established. Here are three habits we can incorporate as we pray for the three “B’s” of the Great Commission: Bible, believers, and body of Christ.
- Bible. Before reading your Bible, pause and pray for all the people on earth to have the Bible in their own language.
- Believers. Before you eat, pray for believers who know the Bread of Life (Jesus) to be found in every language group (so that the following point can be established).
- Body of Christ. Before your attendance at church, pray for all people on earth to have access to the testimony and fellowship of the body of Christ.
3. House of Prayer. In Mark 11:17, Jesus said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’?” Like never before, God is raising up prayer communities to ask for the nations to come to Christ! Our success as prayer warriors will be determined by how effectively we unite others in prayer for the expansion of the gospel. Ask God right now whom you can invite to join you regularly to pray for the Great Commission to be fulfilled in our lifetime. The Holy Spirit will provide overflowing grace to find the right people and to grow a prayer community that can rescue prisoners from darkness!
One Prayer Away
You are the unseen hero in this story—the intercessor releasing the gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth where His children wait to be set free. Hear their cry, “Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” And pray, pray, and pray some more until you begin to see them in the spiritual realm and know by faith that they are only one prayer away from knowing their eternal Lord and Savior!
1Joshua Project, https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/statistics.
2Barna Research Group, https://www.barna.com/research/half-churchgoers-not-heard-great-commission/.
SOLOMON LUJAN is global director of prayer for Seed Company, a Bible translation ministry that is passionate about accelerating the translation of God’s Word into every yet unreached language by 2025.
