Praying for Unreached People Groups (Matthew 24:14)

“And this Gospel of the Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
– Matthew 24:14

There’s a good bit of discussion, even debate over exactly what Matthew 24:14 means. I take it pretty straight forward, like this Gospel of the Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all the nations and then the end will come. We know where all of history is headed. Revelation, Chapter Five, Revelation, Chapter Seven, “Every nation, tribe, tongue and people gathered around the throne of Jesus, singing his praises for his salvation,” which means this Gospel of the Kingdom will have been proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to every tribe, tongue, people and nation.

Jesus has purchased people from every tribe and tongue. Let’s pray for the gospel to advance among the unreached.

Now the confusing thing is it says, “Then the end will come”. There are some who would say, well, we talk about 6 to 7,000 people groups, tribes, tongues, languages, nations that are still unreached by the Gospel. So does that mean Jesus couldn’t come back tomorrow? Absolutely Jesus could come back tomorrow, or today. I pray that he would. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. We don’t know that we have nations, people, groups defined exactly like Revelation Chapter Five or Seven would define them, but we do know this much. Jesus hasn’t come back yet. The Gospel is still needs to go to people who have never heard it.

I hope that through this Pray The Word Podcast, you’ve been exposed to praying for unreached people, groups. One of the resources I use on an almost daily basis is the Unreached of the Day app from the Joshua Project. So I would encourage you if you have not already downloaded Unreached of the Day app from the Joshua Project, to do that. It’ll take 60 seconds of your day to pray each day for a people group in the world that has yet to hear the Gospel of the Kingdom. I want to lead us to pray for the unreached group of today like Matthew 24:14 talks about.

The Dongxiang people of China.

Let me just tell you a little bit about them. So there’s 642,000 of them. This app says the Dongxiang region is a desolate, arid place with a moon-like landscape. Other Muslims in China do not consider the Dongxiang to be a part of the Islamic faith because of their involvement in drug and prostitution rackets. Not long after the Dongxiang first arrived in China, they were converted to Islam. By 1949, when the communists took over China, there was one mosque for every 30 Dongxiang homes and one paid Muslim worker for every nine families. The majority of Dongxiang belonged to the old sect, which emphasizes worshiping at the tombs of Muslim saints. This app goes on to say, there has never been a single known church or Christian among the Dongxiang.

Prayer For the Dongxiang People to Hear the Gospel

I want to lead us to pray that the Gospel of the Kingdom would be proclaimed among the Dongxiang. So God, we ask for that right now, knowing this is your will, knowing from your word, Revelation Five, Jesus. You have purchased people for God, from every tribe, language, people and nation. We know you love the Dongxiang people, and most of them have never even heard the Gospel of the Kingdom. So, we pray that that would change.

So God, we pray for the Han Chinese church, the majority ethnicity in China. We pray that Han Christians would take the Gospel to the Dongxiang. God, we pray that you would raise up missionaries from other countries to take the Gospel to the Dongxiang. God, we pray that the Dongxiang would know the Gospel of the Kingdom, the good news of your grace, of your authority and reign and rule and grace and mercy as King. Jesus, we pray that your name would be proclaimed among the Dongxiang and that they would know your salvation.

Prayer That Every Nation May Hear the Gospel Like Matthew 24:14 Describes

We long for the day. When we will gather around your throne with every tribe, tongue, people, nation, including the Dongxiang and we will sing your praises. So God bring it about. We pray, Matthew 24:14. May this Gospel of the Kingdom be proclaimed as a testimony to all the nations, including the Dongxiang. We pray and we do. So we pray, Lord Jesus, you would come, that you would come quickly and you would help us to live with zeal for your return.

So help us to live with zeal, to make this Gospel of the Kingdom known, to proclaim it among all the nations, including the Dongxiang, that you might receive the glory you are due, that they might receive the grace that you desire to give them. God, we pray for the Dongxiang and thousands of other groups of people like them. May this Gospel of the Kingdom be proclaimed as a testimony to all the nations. May you return Lord Jesus. To receive the reward of your sufferings, the praise of all the people groups on the earth. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.