“The Lord has made known His salvation, He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.”
– Psalm 98:2
We are continuing to pray each day on this podcast for specific needs that relate to this pandemic that we are walking through, so please continue to send in specific prayer requests to radical.net/prayerrequest. We’re trying to get to as many of these as we can during these days and just encourage one another in how we can pray the Word for specific people during these days knowing those specific people represent a lot of different people who are struggling with similar things.
So today I want to read actually from three different people who sent in a very similar prayer request. So Rick and Harumi said, “We are missionaries trying to get back to Japan but on hold in the US. Pray that we would trust God and His perfect timing and use our time here wisely while we work to get back there.” Many missionaries are in the same situation. Similarly then, reading from Ashley Jay in Cairo, Egypt, “We’re not able to meet with our team as much because of this virus.
We ask that the Lord will open doors for missionaries to be able to get back to the front lines among the unreached. Father, cause Your salvation to be known among those who have not testified to the goodness of Your Son.
This Verse Reminds Us Of The Shortage Of Missionaries During The Pandemic
Our language study is interrupted and our work spreading the gospel to unreached people is hindered.” And also Ashley mentioned they have a very active two year old baby, and it feels very overwhelming to say the least. Then Jeffrey writes, “God, open up the way so that we’re no longer blocked from going out and fulfilling our goal to reach the Berbers in Morocco.” So Jeffery is also living overseas.
So just a small representation of the many missionaries who right now have moved their lives to places where the gospel has not yet gone and are hindered in their work that they are trying to do, which means as long as this continues, there are people without the gospel who are having less access to the gospel because missionaries are not able to do all that they’re working to do in the places where they live. And so there are so many reasons, so many reasons we want to pray for an end to this pandemic. One of those reasons is so that the gospel can go forward through face-to-face, person-to-person proclamation of it.
Praise God For The Spread Of The Gospel Through Remote Means
At the same time, we want to praise God and pray for the spread of the gospel through remote means and to leverage every opportunity we have along those lines, knowing though that there is no replacing speaking face-to-face with people, the greatest news in the world who never heard it. So let’s pray in light of Psalm 98:2, “The Lord has made known His salvation, He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.”
God, we pray that You would make known your salvation, Your righteousness, Your justice, Your goodness, Your love, Your grace, Your mercy in the sight of the nations and particularly the peoples, groups of people, families, tribes that have little to no knowledge of the gospel right now. So God, we know as Rick and Harumi right about trying to get to Japan, there are so many people in Japan who have so little knowledge of the gospel, so little access to the gospel right now. God, we pray that You would open the way for missionaries to spread the gospel in Japan.
Psalm 98:2 Prays For Doors To Open For The Spread Of The Gospel
We pray for that for Rick and Harumi, we pray you would give them wisdom to know what they can do even remotely during this time and even how to maximize their time while they’re here. But God, please send them back out soon for the spread of Your gospel in Japan. God, we pray for Ashley and her family in Cairo. We pray that you would open the doors for language study to continue and for work to continue for the spread of the gospel in Egypt across North Africa. God, even for Jeffrey, blocked from efforts to get the gospel to Berbers in Morocco.
So many millions, God, who have so little access to the gospel. May the sidelining of missionaries during these days stop, God. Please, please give them grace and wisdom to know what they can do, to have patience in the waiting in what they can’t do, for just extra measure of grace for their families in difficult circumstances. Even as I was talking earlier this week with friends who are in really hard places right now, God, we pray.
Psalm 98:2 Prays For The Spread Of His Salvation Across Nations
We pray for Your sustenance, for Your strength, for them, for Your provision for them. We pray for Ashley and her very active two year old baby on those overwhelming moments, God. May they know You are with them as they have given their lives, making Your goodness known, Your righteousness known in the sight of the nations.
So God do it we pray. We pray for the spread of Your salvation among the nations during these days. We pray that You would bring an end to this pandemic, that the gospel might continue to go forward. Also that Your name is knwon, praised, exalted and enjoyed among all the peoples of the earth. So bless Rick and Harumi, Ashley, Jeffrey and countless others like them who are serving on the front lines of unreached people. God, open the doors for the gospel to spread through them. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
