What to Pray for Your Partner
Acts 13 and 14 communicate one of the most pivotal stories in all of mission’s history. They relay the first recorded sending of missionary partners by a local church in Scripture. Paul and Barnabas were commissioned for their particular task in a worship service, complete with singing, prayer, fasting, and the laying on of hands.
Pastor John Piper claimed of this passage, “This moment of prayer and fasting resulted in a missions movement that would make Christianity the dominant religion of the Roman Empire within two-and-a-half centuries and would yield 1.3 billion adherents of the Christian religion today with a Christian witness in virtually every country of the world.”
Partners Global Network (PGN) is founded in Scriptural belief that the most powerful way we can help those being trained and sent into missions is through prayer. PGN’s Partner 2 Partner relationship allows you to invest in the powerful work of ministry going on today in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Today, our prayers remain the greatest way we can support those we are sending out, invoking the very power of God to intervene in ways that are beyond our human limitations to save the lost. So, here are fifteen ways to pray this passage of Scripture for your partners continually.
1. Pray that they would be confident in God’s Word (Acts 13:4–5)
Partners are sent not just to learn culture or do humanitarian relief but to confidently proclaim the Word of God.
2. Pray that they would be filled with God’s Spirit (Acts 13:6–9)
Believers already have the Holy Spirit in them, but at times the Spirit fills someone in a special way to enable him or her to proclaim God’s Word.
3. Pray for their victory in spiritual warfare (Acts 13:10–12)
When our partners take the gospel into the nations, they are going into a war. The devil is dead set on destroying souls and diverting mission.
4. Pray for their success in gospel witness (Acts 13:12)
Pray that many would come to know Christ in all walks of life from the faithful witness of our partners.
5. Pray for peace with other believers (Acts 13:13)
Satan attacks from all angles, both inside and outside. Pray for peace within families, in marriages, with children, and with companions and ministry partners.
6. Pray for favor with unbelievers (Acts 13:14–15)
Nonbelievers are blind to the gospel, and many are violently opposed to its message. Pray that our partners would find favorable opportunities to share the gospel with them.
7. Pray that the gospel will be clear through them (Acts 13:16–47)
Although cross-cultural communication is difficult, pray that our partners, by grace, would clearly communicate the character of God, the sinfulness of man, the sufficiency of Christ, the necessity of faith, and the urgency of eternity.
8. Pray that God will open hearts around them (Acts 13:48)
God alone draws people to himself. Pray that he will open hearts and minds to believe and be drawn to eternal life with Christ.
9. Pray for their joy in the midst of suffering (Acts 14:1–2)
Partners often face various forms and levels of suffering in their work. Pray that they would experience the joy of intimacy with Christ in the midst of it.
10. Pray for their kindness in the midst of slander (Acts 14:1–2)
Though partners face suffering and difficulty, pray that the character of Christ and the power of his Spirit enable them to respond with grace.
11. Pray for supernatural power to accompany them (Acts 14:3)
Pray that partners would speak the Word with boldness and that supernatural power would accompany its proclamation.
12. Pray for Christlike humility to characterize them (Acts 14:4–18)
Pray that partners would overcome the temptation to be prideful in their work by the power of the Spirit.
13. Pray for their patience (Acts 14:8–18)
Partners face ups and downs and wins and losses in their work. Pray that they might respond with longsuffering.
14. Pray for their perseverance (Acts 14:19–20)
In 2 Corinthians 4:8–9 Paul wrote, “We are... struck down but not destroyed.” Pray for partners to persevere through setback after setback, beatdown after beatdown, and struggle after struggle.
15. Pray that God would use them to make disciples (Acts 14:21–23)
Pray that partners would see fruit in their ministries as they seek to make disciples among the nations.
partners prayer guide
The life of a full-time missionary is not for the faint of heart. They leave their homes, families, and everything they know for one purpose: to share God’s message of hope and love with the world.
Missionaries need committed prayer partners. If you ask any missionary what they need the most, you will get one consistent, resounding request: “Please pray for us!” But it can be hard to know what exactly to pray if you haven’t been there yourself.
Below are a few areas where missionaries most desire your prayers.
1. Strength
Missionaries can often feel as though they’ve sown much with a little harvest. Pray for their strength and endurance to run the race — that the Lord would remind them He is working deep in hearts even when it seems like nothing is happening.
“Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” – Isaiah 40:31
2. Encouragement
Pray against discouragement, disappointment, fear, and doubt. Ask the Lord to bring people across their path who would encourage and uplift them. Be that person yourself!
“Surely the righteous will never be shaken; they will be remembered forever. They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord.” – Psalm 112:6-7
3. Provision
On a tight, missionary budget, the smallest unexpected expense can create a major financial strain. Pray for God’s provision over their family and ministry.
“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:19
4. Protection
Pray for your missionaries’ safety and protection. Ask the Lord to protect them against illness, injury, and danger.
“The LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” – Psalm 121:8
5. Joy in all things
Pray that the joy of the Lord will sustain your missionaries in every trial and setback.
“Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.” – Psalm 126:5-6
6. Darkness lifted
Missionaries walk boldly into some of the darkest areas of the earth. They confront spiritual and physical oppression that we can’t imagine. Pray that the light of God would shine through them, lifting darkness and oppression as they share His love.
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” – Isaiah 61:1
7. Divine opportunities
Ask God to set up divine appointments and open doors for ministry that only He can make possible.
“Pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.” – Colossians 4:3-4
8. Open hearts
Like the seeds that fell on fertile soil, ask the Lord to make fertile ground and prepare hearts to receive the gospel.
“I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.” – Jeremiah 24:7
To learn more about how to pray for World, especially for countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, you can visit the Operation World website.