“All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord. And all the families of the nations shall worship before you, for kingship belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.”
– Psalm 22:27–28
I distinctly remember reading these two verses, Psalm 22:27–28 in my time alone with the Lord one day when I was high up in the Himalayan Mountains in the middle of unreached people. I remember looking out from this high place in the mountains, over all kinds of villages that are unreached and reading these words. All the ends of the earth shall remember, and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. And this is what the Bible makes clear. This is where all of history is headed. Toward the day when all the families of the nations shall worship before the Lord.
This is Revelation 7:9-10. “A multitude that no one can count from every nation, tribe, tongue and people gathered around the throne of God, singing praises to him for his salvation.”
This is where all of history is headed. This is the ultimate purpose of God in the world. And as a result, we remember, this is the ultimate purpose of our lives. Of your life and my life. To see all the nations worshiping God, this is what we live for. Every follower of Jesus. I grieve over how, in the church today, we have taken the very global purpose of God, spread of his praise among the nations, and we have made it a compartmentalized program in the church for a select few people who are called to be a part of that, or are specially passionate about that. When the reality is every follower of Jesus who knows the gospel, is zealous for the spread of this gospel and the spread of God’s glory to the ends of the earth.
So we’re actually about to do it a whole secret church on this, and if you are not already planning to be a part of that, I would encourage you to be a part of that. Secretchurch.org. I don’t normally on this prayer podcast point to certain events, but this particular secret church, we’re going to be talking about how we today are actually working against the purpose of God in the church. How the way we view missions, and the way we think about mission in the church, in our lives, in our families, is hindering the accomplishment of the great commission, is hindering the nations from worshiping Jesus, and we need to make major changes.
Prayer For The Nations In Light Of Psalm 22:27–28
But I want to lead us to pray according to Psalm 22:27–28 right now, and to pray specifically for one of the families of the nations. So God, we praise you. You deserve glory from all the ends of the earth, from every single village in the world. High up in those mountains, remote villages in the Amazon, to cities all around the world, global centers. God, you deserve praise and glory and honor. Jesus, you have died. You’ve purchased people for God from every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and language, and you deserve all their praise. You are glorious beyond comprehension. You’re gracious beyond comprehension. You’ve died for the sins of the whole world. You’ve died so that people from all nations might put their trust in you.
God, we pray for the spread of your gospel and your glory among all the nations. Specifically, we pray together right now for Iraqi Arabs. For 16 million Iraqi Arabs, amidst all the turmoil in Iraq and the way the church has been scattered from Iraq in so many ways, God, 16 million people who have little to no knowledge of the gospel and your glory right now. God, we pray for the spread of the gospel and your glory to them. God, we pray that you would strengthen the few believers who remained there, who are in Iraq. And God, we pray that you would send many more laborers into Iraq for the spread of your glory, that they might turn to you. That they might turn to the Lord, Psalm 22:27. That they might worship before you, Psalm 22:28, for kingship belongs to you.
Jesus, you are the king of all the nations.
So help us to live to make your glorious king known among all the nations. Help us to pray like this day in and day out. Help us to give, use our resources toward the sin, help us to make disciples, right where we live and wherever you lead, that your rule, your reign, your glory, your grace might make known among all the nations of the world. God, we know this is where all of history is headed. So spend our lives in this moment, in this time, toward that end, we pray.
God, please do whatever is needed in our lives, and our families, and our churches, that we might not waste our lives here. That we might spend ourselves for the purpose that you are accomplishing in the world. And God, we pray that you would use secret church toward that end, and many other things toward that end, that all the nations might worship you as king like Psalm 22:27–28 describes. Jesus, in your name we pray. 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.
