Your secret mission is to promote the gospel through prayer, says John Dickson

For years, I urged other Christians to evangelise (preach the gospel) as if this were the only significant thing one could do to promote Christ. In a sense, I was projecting my own ministry and personality onto believers in general. I was an evangelist eagerly telling the gospel to all I came across; other believers should do the same. That was the logic.

But the best kept secret of Christian mission is that the Bible lists a whole range of activities which promote Christ and draw others toward him. These include prayer, godly behaviour, financial assistance of mission, and, of course, answering for our faith. All of these are explicitly connected in the Bible with advancing the gospel and winning people to Christ. Not all of these activities proclaim the gospel, but they do all promote the gospel.

In this article I want to unpack the most basic gospel-promoting activity " prayer for the work of the gospel.

Glenda had taught Scripture in the local high school for years with little observable "fruit'. She had been faithful in the task but had not witnessed students coming to Christ for almost a decade. That year, everything changed. A city-wide movement of prayer had commenced. Her particular group prayed specifically for Sydney's North Shore and for the school ministries in which several of them were involved. Within the year Glenda's ministry was booming as she hosted regular evangelistic events in her home. As many as 20 students from the local school eagerly crammed into her lounge to ask questions and to hear guest speakers she invited along. At least six of the students from her class of 1982 devoted themselves to Christ for the first time. Three are now passing the gospel on full-time (I'm one).

A few years after these strange days, I asked Glenda what she put her "success' down to. Without blinking she answered, "Prayer. We prayed earnestly, regularly and specifically for your school, and the Lord in his grace answered us."

As an evangelist who is sometimes tempted to think too highly of skill, style and creativity in evangelism, her words were a salient reminder. The "harvest' is the Lord's not mine. The most basic evangelistic task, therefore, is not evangelism or financial generosity or even the godly life; it is prayer to the Lord of the harvest.

Sometimes I am in danger of treating prayer as if it were mother's milk " something I have grown out of. How many of our churches spend more time organising evangelistic programs than pleading God for success in these activities?

What the Bible says…

Intercession for the salvation of the world is a theme that appears throughout the Bible. In fact, the practice began a millennium before Jesus.

At the grand opening of the temple, Solomon offered a lengthy and beautiful prayer about the temple's significance in the world (1 Kings 8:22-53). The middle of that prayer reveals Solomon's concern for those who do not yet know the glory of the true Lord. Here is an Old Testament king pleading to God to help pagans know and fear the Lord just as Israel does. It should not surprise us then to learn that many Jews in the ancient world " in the period between the Old Testament and Jesus " saw it as their duty to pray for the salvation of the Gentiles.(1)

Jesus likewise urged his followers to pray with a view to the salvation of others: "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field" (Matthew 9:37-38). While in Matthew 10, twelve disciples are called upon to preach, here in chapter 9, all disciples are called upon to serve the harvest in prayer.

Numerous biblical texts emphasise the role of prayer in God's mission. Two themes can be seen: (1) praying for unbelievers with a view to their salvation; (2) praying for the ongoing work of those who evangelise unbelievers.

Writing to a long-term missionary colleague, Paul urges Timothy to ensure his congregations pray for unbelievers:

1I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone " 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:1-4).

It is important to see the connection between verses 1-2 and verses 3-4. Why is it good for Christians to pray for "all people'? Answer: because such prayers please the One who desires "all people' to be saved. In other words, prayers for the unbelieving world fulfill God's longing to redeem that world. Praying for those who do not yet believe is actually a way of seeking their salvation. Prayer is not a passive, sideline aspect of evangelistic commitment; it is a fundamental expression of that commitment.

Lucy's story

One of my dear friends, Lucy, spent two years surrounded by committed Christians in her workplace. She was one of the most frequently evangelised people I have ever known. For some reason, though, the message did not connect. She liked what she heard; she loved the Christians she mixed with (ever day); but she could not bring herself to accept that Jesus died and rose for her. Over those two years many, many "requests, prayers and intercessions' had been offered to God on her behalf, with no apparent answer. That changed late one night when one of Lucy's friends felt compelled to get up out of bed, get on his knees and pray earnestly for Lucy to come to a knowledge of the truth. Her friend claims never to have felt this kind of compulsion before or since. That same night, completely unbeknown to the friend, Lucy too was lying in bed pondering all her friends had been telling her over the last two years. Suddenly, Lucy explains, a "mental blindfold' was removed and she knew God loved her and had sent Jesus to die and rise again for her. In that moment, she thanked the Lord and embraced his gift. Imagine her friend's surprise when the next morning she rang him to say, "I get it. I get it. I understand what God has done for me. I know I'm a Christian!"

I am not telling you this story for the "spook' factor, nor because I think the Lord operates this way all the time. I am sure he does not. Many of us have been praying for our loved ones for decades with no apparent answer. But Lucy's story crystallises for me, in a dramatic way, that evangelism and prayer are two sides of the one coin. One is very public; the other is silent and hidden from view. Both are vital.

Intercession on behalf of those who do not yet believe is just one part of the gospel-prayer equation. Equally important " though perhaps not as captivating " is prayer on behalf of those who give their time to telling the gospel to others. We have already seen in Matthew 9:37-38 that we are to pray for an increased number of gospel workers. Three further texts in the New Testament urge us to pray for the ongoing success of such workers.

In Ephesians 6:19 Paul, as one of those sent out by Christ to preach the gospel, asks believers to pray for him "that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel." Again, in 2 Thessalonians 3:1 the apostle urges: "pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honoured, just as it was with you."
Colossians 4:2-4 is especially interesting:

2Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3And 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. 4Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.

Of all the things Paul urges his churches to pray for, prayer for the work of the gospel is the most common. More than that: of all the things the New Testament mentions as gospel-promoting activities (giving money, speaking of Jesus, and so on) prayer is the one most frequently urged. I do not for a moment want to encourage readers to be silent about their faith: that would be a tragedy and a sure sign of Christian ill-health. But even more tragic, I believe, would be our silence in prayer for work of the gospel.

Why is prayer so critical for mission? This Colossians passage provides the answer. In prayer we lift the work of the gospel above mere circumstances and into the hands of the One who governs everything. Paul strikes this theme in a wonderful piece of irony in verse 3 of the text: "And 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." Did you spot it? An "open door' for the message, even though the chief messenger is locked up "in chains'. Only prayer could ensure such a beautifully illogical reality! Paul was confident that, through the intercessions of other believers, God's Word would never be constrained by mere circumstances.

The secret mission behind my conversion

I have just two "spiritual' memories of my pre-Christian days. The first is of the lovely elderly lady who lived up the road and who babysat me and my brothers when we were kids. Her name was Elsie. I remember she gave me a sticker when I was about nine, which read: "Love Never Fails'. I had no idea this was a quote from 1 Corinthians but I stuck it on my bed-head knowing it had something to do with Elsie's God. The words were strangely special to me as I gazed up at them each night.

The other memory is of the Lord's Prayer. Somehow I knew it off by heart and used to recite it when in trouble (not infrequently): "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name " " and so on. I was perplexed, especially after becoming a Christian, as to how I had known a prayer Jesus taught when I had never been to church or Sunday School.

The mystery was solved about ten years later. I was back in my home suburb working as a trainee minister in the local Anglican church. This, of course, was the church dear Elsie attended. We had talked plenty of times over the years, especially after I had become a Christian, but I had never thought to ask her about what she had taught me as a child. It was not until I mentioned in a sermon one morning the mystery of my knowing the Lord's Prayer as a youngster that she informed me: "John, I taught you the Lord's Prayer when you were nine. Don't you remember?" The stickers I remembered; learning the Lord's Prayer I did not.

It turns out Elsie, a widow, had been praying for my mum, my brothers and me ever since my father died when I was nine. Regularly and earnestly she had asked the Lord to bring those Dicksons into his kingdom. Humanly speaking she had little reason to expect that any of us would embrace Christ. Ours was a loving family but one devoid of Christian faith. Elsie prayed anyway.

Elsie explained to me that when I became a Christian at 15 she just said: "Okay, Lord, that's the first; please bring them all to yourself!" Two years later my brother Jaime came to believe in Christ (and is now training for full-time ministry). Again, Elsie just said, "Okay, Lord, that's the second" " I haven't seen Elsie for some years but the last time I spoke with her she assured me she was still praying for us all.

Elsie's prayers, I believe, were just as responsible for my Christian faith as my Scripture teacher's evangelistic hamburger events. In fact, it is probably fair to say that my Scripture teacher herself was part of God's answer to Elsie's many pleas on my behalf.
More than that: I can now see that Elsie's prayers were being answered in small and hidden ways long before I heard the gospel as a 15-year-old. The strange effect of that little sticker and my frequent renditions of the Lord's Prayer can only be explained, I think, as God's early work in my heart in response to Elsie's requests. Through her prayers God was preparing me to meet the Lord of that Prayer I had recited so many times, the one who embodied those strangely appealing words, "Love Never Fails'.

Prayer is the hidden part of our mission. No one but the Lord knew of Elsie's prayers and of the stirrings in my heart (I certainly told no one!). But prayer is also the most basic part of our mission. Observing this reminds us that ultimately the mission is not ours but God's. If the fundamental gospel promoting activity is in fact hidden from us, it is clear that involvement in God's mission requires faith more than activism, dependence more than programs, and humility more than boldness.

Not all of us will feel confident speaking to others about the message of salvation, but all of us can feel confident speaking to God about the salvation of others. Doing so is a fundamental expression of both dependence upon God and commitment to his mission; it is a hidden but glorious promotion of the gospel.

John Dickson is the award-winning author of bestsellers including If I were God, I'd end all the pain (Matthias Media) and A Spectator's Guide to World Religions (Bluebottle Books).This is an edited extract from his upcoming book.

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1 The ancient Jewish texts on this theme are: Letter of Aristeas 227; Josephus Jewish Antiquities 8.115-117: Philo On the Life of Moses 1.149; Special Laws 1.97.