Prayer: The Compass For The Mission

When I first came to a land full of Muslims, I saw mosques are on every street and my heart was moved with compassion for the people. My immediate reaction was a cry to the Lord of the harvest, for something needed to be done. This situation needed to be attended to. I remember prayer-walking the whole town, calling on God to send a flood of His Spirit and raise an army of prayer warriors who will seriously back the process by praying for such a town till the Kingdom of God came and the knowledge of the glory of God filled every inch of the land.

When I finally settled in an unreached area (an area with few or no Christians), I had a plan and strategy to advance the Kingdom of God in the area. I started by prayer-walking the place on daily basis since I didn’t know anyone there. Prayer-walking means, walking as you pray, praying to God to send more laborers to the place, praying for the needs in that community, for the chains of Islam to be broken, for their eyes to be opened to see Jesus and worship Him, for their hearts to be drawn to Christ. During the day I work as a teacher, I prayer walk the schools, for my students who are all Muslims, for my colleagues at work who also are all committed Muslims. I work at two stations and as I walk to and from the schools through the community, I pray for the homesteads along my paths, for the people I meet on my way, for all that I interact with.

It is during these prayer-walks that God led me to certain people, and through that I started friendships that would lead to evangelism. Whenever God tells me something about any of the persons I meet or see, I note their names and when I get back home, I concentrate my prayers on them. I pray believing that eventually I will get an opportunity to share the Gospel with them and pray they become followers of Christ. And as I pray, I then pay each of them a visit whenever I have an opportunity, I socialize with them to learn and understand them. It is during these visits that I discover their other needs and information that will help me pray better. I get to understand what they believe and why.

I remember one evening when I went to visit a woman who operated a small restaurant. I used to visit her at the restaurant and there had been significant progress, but on this day, she was sick and couldn’t do anything. She explained to me what was wrong and I went back home really praying for her to get well. A few days later I went back to check on her, I found she was well again, she thanked me. The story didn’t end there. God was opening a door for the Gospel. This woman gave me permission to visit anytime and open access to her family, including her two teen age daughters. At appropriate places and times, I would sit with her daughter and discuss more about spiritual things as she usually has many questions about Christianity.

Something that started with prayer-walking around a small restaurant in a strange land, gave access to the owner of the restaurant, her employees and then her family. Prayer-walking is an effective tool for engaging unreached communities. I have seen many testimonies when I go out on prayer walks. I have seen strongholds fall. I come out in the evening immediately when the Muslim’s make the call to prayer, when all the men run to the mosque and shops close, when in a moment the place is almost empty. I come out fully charged and walk up and down the streets as I call unto heaven in sincere prayer.

Prayers go beyond prayer-walking, I also pray for the wellbeing of the community, for good relationship with my colleagues at work and members of the community, the needs in the community, I pray for rain when there is a shortage of water and pasture, for the sick and other practical needs and against the evils I see in the community.

For a missionary, prayer is the compass that guides the whole operation. There can be no mission without prayer. Prayers at the missionary’s individual level are effective but not enough. Missions will continue to advance but not at full speed since there are only a handful missionaries and a few Christians who are actually praying. I believe when the Church is mobilized to pray consciously, continuously and consistently for missions, a greater move of God will happen that surpasses what we read in the book of Acts. 

This is  call to every believer to be involved in praying for missions and advance the Kingdom of God among the unreached nations. Get committed. Send a short WhatsApp text to +254 746 622 211 to get plugged in to what God is doing today among the nations.

***Peter Kale (not his real name) is a missionary serving among an unreached people group in Northeastern Kenya