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One of the amazing things about the prayers of the Bible is how big and
sweeping they often are. Yet they don’t have the vague ring of “God bless
the missionaries” that sounds so weak. We sometimes try to remedy this by
saying, “We should pray specific prayers for specific people and specific
needs, and not vague general prayers.” There is truth to that. We should
pray that way.
But there is another reason why our big general prayers seem insipid, while
the big Bible prayers don’t. Ours often don’t have much of God in them, and
don’t articulate what the great spiritual things are that we want God to do
for “for the missionaries” or “the nations” or ‘the world” or “the lost.”
The words “God bless” would not sound so weak and vague if we said what the
blessing would look like. There is a world of difference between “Lord, help
our missionaries” and “Lord, help our missionaries to drink deep at the
river of Your delights.” Or , “Lord, help our missionaries rejoice in
tribulations and remember that tribulation works endurance and endurance
hope.”
Big general prayers become powerful when they are filled up with concrete,
radical biblical goals for the people we are praying for. “Hallowed be thy
name…thy will be done earth as it is in heaven,” is a huge, sweeping prayer.
But it asks for two concrete things: that in all the world God’s name would
be changed to do God’s will with the same zeal and purity that the angels
have in heaven.
It is mentioning these spiritual goals with passion that turns insipid
generalizations into dynamite generalizations. So don’t shrink back from
praying huge, sweeping prayers. For example, in Ephesians 6:18 Paul says
that we should be “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and
supplication…for all the saints.” Think of it! What an incredible breadth
and generality. ALL the saints! Do you do that? Pray for all the saints? I
admit I do not do it often enough. My heart is too small. But I am trying to
get my heart around it. The Bible commands it.
This will not sound silly, like “God bless all the saints.” It will wound
robust and cataclysmic, like, “God, look upon your entire church everywhere
and have mercy to waken her and give her new life and hope doctrinal purity
and holiness so that the saints stand strong for your glory in the day of
temptation and distress.”
Let’s pray some huge prayers for billions of lost people and thousands of
people in the “10/40 Window.” Paul said, “Finally, brothers, pray for us,
that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among
you” (2 Thessalonians 3:1). Oh, that God would do that speeding work in our
day! I encouraged all of my readers to go out and buy Patrick Johnstone’s
Operation World – a truth-laden prayer guide for all the countries of the
world. Then pray some huge, sweeping prayers for the peoples and the
missionaries of this vast region called 10/40 Window.
The 10/40 Window extends from West Africa to East Asia, and from ten degrees
north to forty degrees south of the equator. This specific region contains
three of the world’s dominant religious blocs. The majority of those
darkened in unbelief by Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism live within the 10/40
Window. It is home to the majority of the world’s unevangelized people.
While it constitutes only one-third of earth’s total land area, the 10/40
Window is home to nearly two-thirds of the world’s people, with a total
population nearing four billion. Of the world’s 50 least evangelized
countries, 37 are within the 10/40 Window. Yet those 37 countries comprise
95 percent of the total population of the 50 least evangelized countries!
Of the poorest of the poor, more that eight out of ten live in the 10/40
Window. On average, they exist on less than $500 per year. Although 2.4
billion of these people live within the 10/40 Window, only 8 percent of all
missionaries work among them. Surely this is worth some, big, sweeping,
biblical prayers! |
