Pray for your missionaries

Walk with the Lord

Most people think that missionaries don’t struggle in their walk with the Lord. They struggle just like you or I do. Pray that your missionary will: Love and study God's Word, have a strong prayer life, yield to the Holy Spirit, grow in their walk with the Lord, repent of sin and make progress in each area of sin. 

Physical and Emotional Needs

Satan often discourages us through our physical and emotional lives. Many missionaries live in difficult climates filled with disease. Pray for good health. Many missionaries live in hard living conditions. Pray for stamina and strength as they expend a lot of energy just to exist.  With busy and hectic schedules, missionaries often travel. Pray for safety, strength and a sense of priority. Many missionaries live in spiritually dark places. Pray against discouragement, loneliness and depression.

Family Relationships

Pray for family relationships.  Husband/ wife, parent/child. Pray for the children - their salvation, spiritual growth, health and education. Pray too that their family life will provide an excellent model for local Christians and the unsaved. Pray against the temptations that destroy families. If your missionary is single, pray that God will meet his or her needs in this area. Pray for strong, healthy friendships, and contentment in singleness.

Ability to Communicate

Your missionary is in ministry to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Learning a new language and adapting to a new culture are frustrating, difficult and essential to good communication. Often, even an elementary knowledge of a language takes years of study and practice. A superficial understanding is insufficient for communicating spiritual truths and defending the faith.  To really communicate a missionary must adapt culturally to identify with those he is trying to reach. Getting close to the local people and understanding them means adjusting lifestyle and cultural preferences. Pray that your missionary will have the stamina and understanding to demonstrate Christ cross-culturally.

Effective Ministry

Sometimes you can forget why your missionary is overseas, and why you are praying for him. Remember to pray for what your missionary is actually doing: witnessing, visiting, teaching, preaching, counseling, nursing—and pray for the people he is ministering to. Prayer letters will teach you how to specifically pray for these things. But include requests for boldness, open doors, open hearts and excellence in the effort. Most of all, ask the Holy Spirit to empower your missionary for productivity. (See John 15:16.)

Team Relationships
Your missionary is probably not completely on his own. Normally, missionaries team up with other missionaries, local believers, pastors and evangelists. Unfortunately, this mix of personalities designed to strengthen the ministry can sometimes be used of Satan to weaken it. Poor team relationships can spoil the work. Pray for all the fellow workers your missionary mentions in his letters. Pray they appreciate and sharpen one another in good and healthy ways.

Field of Service

Expand your praying to include the entire country/field where your missionary is located. The political situation, the government and its leaders, visas, freedom to preach the Gospel—all of these are important factors in their life and ministry.  Pray for open doors, receptive hearts and that the Word of God would change lives.