Prayer for the Gospel

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DAY 1: PRAYER FOR THE COMMISSION OF THE GOSPEL

Pray for all the saints to see and fulfill the greatest commission in the Bible, which is to preach the gospel to all the nations and all the creation.

Matt. 28:19 — Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Mark 16:15And He said to them, Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to all the creation.

Luke 24:47And that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

MINISTRY: THE COMMISSION OF THE GOSPEL

We need to see the commission of the gospel. Preaching the gospel is the greatest commission in the Bible, and it is the Lord’s greatest charge to us. This charge is found in three portions of the New Testament: the last chapter of Matthew, the last chapter of Mark, and the last chapter of Luke. According to these three portions, after the Lord Jesus resurrected, He left us with a commission. This commission was His final charge.

After a person is saved, he does not need to be encouraged to preach the gospel, because there is a spontaneous desire within him to preach the gospel to others. When he preaches the gospel, he is full of joy. Preaching the gospel revives us. We are burning within when we preach the gospel to people. The presence of opinions and disputes in the church is proof that the church has lost the burden of the gospel. The best way to eliminate opinions is to preach the gospel. When we preach the gospel, we are in one accord. Preaching the gospel is truly the Lord’s commission. The Lord lives in us because He wants us to preach the gospel to others. Every believer has a desire to lead others to salvation and has the spirit of the gospel within him. Preaching the gospel is the Lord’s commission to us. (Guidelines for the Propagation of the Lord’s Recovery, ch. 4)

 

DAY 2: PRAYER FOR THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL

Pray for all the saints to have the power of the gospel, that the gospel would be preached in a fresh, living, effectual, and powerful way. 

Rom. 1:16 — For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one who believes, both to Jew first and to Greek.

Acts 6:4 — But we will continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word.

1 Thes. 1:5 — For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, even as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.

MINISTRY: THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL — PRAYER

In order to preach the gospel, we must have the power of the gospel, which comes through prayer (Acts 6:4). If we want to preach the gospel in a fresh, living, effectual, and powerful way, we must pray thoroughly. We need to pray until we are saved. Sometimes we are not saved when we go to preach the gospel. If we are thin-skinned, we need to pray in order to be saved from our shyness and bashfulness when we want to preach the gospel. When we preach the gospel in this way, we experience salvation.

Before we preach the gospel, we should pray for people’s salvation; we need to pray until we are released. Then we need to pray to receive power. We need to pray for the economical Spirit to fill us and be with us. We should pray, “Lord, today I apply the economical Spirit that You have poured out upon Your Body. Clothe me with Yourself as a mantle. I am going out to speak today. Open the hearts of those whom I speak to, and demolish the stronghold of Satan within them while I am speaking.” We need this kind of prayer. It is better to have thorough prayer before we preach the gospel. (Guidelines for the Propagation of the Lord’s Recovery, ch. 4)

 

DAY 3: PRAYER FOR INTIMATE FRIENDS, RELATIVES, AND NEIGHBORS

Pray for the saints to pray for their intimate friends, relatives and acquaintances and invite them for the gospel meeting and testify the gospel to them.

Acts 10:24, 27, 33 — And on the next day [Peter and the brothers from Joppa] entered into Caesarea. And Cornelius was awaiting them, having called together his relatives and intimate friends… And as [Peter] talked with him, he entered and found many who had come together… Therefore I sent men at once to you, and you have done nobly in coming. Now therefore we all are present before God to hear all the things that have been commanded to you by the Lord.

Acts 5:42 — And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and announcing the gospel of Jesus as the Christ.

John 1:46 — And Nathanael said to him, Can anything good be from Nazareth? Philip said to him, Come and see.

MINISTRY: INVITING OUR FRIENDS, RELATIVES, AND NEIGHBORS

After a person is saved, he should make a list of his friends, relatives, and acquaintances who are not saved and have not heard the gospel. He should then pray for them one by one. We should all do this. Without exception, we should preach the gospel to all our friends, relatives, and neighbors. When the church preaches the gospel, the saints have an excellent opportunity to lead their friends and relatives to salvation. This is the reason that we should make a list of our friends and relatives and pray for them.

At an appropriate time we should also invite our friends, relatives, and neighbors to a gospel meeting. We can use an invitation card printed by the church or a gospel tract. We should even invite our gospel friends for a meal before the gospel meeting. Otherwise, our friends might not attend the meeting. But if we invite them to our home for a meal, we can take them to the meeting. They will not be able to make any excuses.

It is worthwhile to spend time and money on our gospel friends. If we do this, the Holy Spirit will be with us. We need to exert some effort for the gospel. (The Perfecting of the Saints and the Building Up of the House of God, ch. 13)

 

DAY 4: PRAYER FOR EVERY BELIEVER TO BE A PRIEST OF THE GOSPEL

Pray for all the saints to be energized as laboring priests of the gospel who preach the gospel to the sinners in order to gain them and offer them as a sanctified offering to God.

Rom. 15:16 — That I might be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, a laboring priest of the gospel of God, in order that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, having been sanctified in the Holy Spirit.

Rom. 12:1 — I exhort you therefore, brothers, through the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.

Col. 1:28-29 — Whom we announce, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man full-grown in Christ; for which also I labor, struggling according to His operation which operates in me in power.

MINISTRY: THE BELIEVERS BEING ABLE TO DO WHAT THE APOSTLES DO

According to the revelation of the Bible, every believer in Christ is a priest of the gospel, and like the apostle Paul, everyone should go out to preach the gospel for others to be saved, baptizing them into the Triune God and offering them to God as sacrifices. This is the beginning of the work of the New Testament priests of the gospel. After this we should nourish the saved ones. Preaching the gospel to lead people to believe in the Lord is a spiritual begetting (1 Cor. 4:15); this is to regenerate people with the Lord’s word and life. Through baptism they become newborn babes in Christ. Then we have to nourish and cherish them properly that they may grow in life. Furthermore, as the apostle Paul did, we need to teach them, on the one hand, as a nursing mother, cherishing them as our own children (1 Thes. 2:7), and, on the other hand, care for them as an exhorting father (v. 11).

The apostle Paul stayed in Ephesus for three years, during which time he taught the saints there from house to house and did not cease admonishing each one night and day with tears, not shrinking from declaring to them all the counsel of God (Acts 20:31, 20, 27). Likewise, today we should teach and perfect the brothers and sisters by following Paul’s example. Whatever he did, we also can do. Moreover, after we have learned, we should also teach and perfect others that they also may be able to do as we do. Thus, every saint can become a ministering priest of the gospel, and everyone can do the work of God’s complete salvation on sinners: preaching the gospel that people may be regenerated, nourishing the new believers that they may grow, teaching the saints that they may be perfected, and cultivating them to prophesy, to speak for the Lord, that they may arrive at the building up of the Body of Christ. (The Ministry of the New Testament Priests of the Gospel, ch. 1)

 

DAY 5: PRAYER FOR THE ENDEAVOR FOR THE GOSPEL

Pray for all the saints to be those who are ready in season and out of season, endeavoring in the gospel.

2 Tim. 4:2 — Proclaim the word; be ready in season and out of season; convict, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and teaching.

MINISTRY: THE ENDEAVOR FOR THE GOSPEL

We also need to endeavor in the gospel (vv. 19-22; Rom. 1:15-16). Paul said to his younger co-worker Timothy, “Proclaim the word; be ready in season and out of season; convict, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and teaching” (2 Tim. 4:2). It is wrong for us to say that it is not convenient to preach the gospel or that it is not the right time. It is also wrong for us to excuse ourselves and say that we are too busy. Paul said that we need to preach the gospel in season and out of season. (Guidelines for the Propagation of the Lord’s Recovery, ch. 4)

When we are in life, then the truth is secure, the meetings, visitations, and fellowship are strong, and it is time to preach the gospel. This is how the gospel is preached. When the saints are enlivened and are serving, we must spread the Lord’s kingdom by endeavoring in the gospel. If the saints have unsaved family members, we must encourage the saints to bring their family members to salvation. The Bible says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:31). The saints should be so burdened that they would weep before the Lord until this promise is fulfilled. The saints might also fast and petition the Lord desperately so that this word may be fulfilled. After our family is saved, we need to bring our other relatives and our friends, neighbors, colleagues, and schoolmates to salvation. We must motivate the saints to spread the gospel. (The Service for Building Up the House of God, ch. 3)

 

DAY 6: PRAYER FOR THE VISITATION WORK

Pray for the consistent visitation of the ones who were invited to the gospel meeting.

Acts 20:18b — You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you all the time.

Acts 20:20 — How I did not withhold any of those things that are profitable by not declaring them to you and by not teaching you publically and from house to house.

Acts 20:31 — Therefore watch, remembering that for three years, night and day, I did not cease admonishing each one with tears.

MINISTRY: THE VISITATION WORK

In gospel visitation we wrestle with Satan over men’s souls; we try to snatch people out of Satan’s hand. Of course, whoever pulls harder wins. If we have five hundred people who have signed up after a gospel meeting, we are not doing them any good by merely “sending their names to heaven” without visiting them one by one. This is like going to someone’s house and presenting a business card at the door without entering into the house at all. What good does this do? Satan is evil in many ways, but he has one virtue—he is not slothful in zeal. If we preach the gospel on the Lord’s Day and a hundred people sign up and express their willingness to receive the Lord, we have to follow up with a second step. We have to arrange for saints to visit them immediately. Within a week, we have to arrange for a hundred to two hundred brothers and sisters to visit them. We must not just invite people to come to the gospel meetings; we must send brothers to make personal calls to these ones. We have to surround them and gain them at any cost. The more gospel meetings we have, the more visitation work we need. If visitation falls behind, our gospel will fail miserably. The failure of the gospel mainly lies in the lack of visitation. (CWWN, Vol. 61: Matured Leadings in the Lord’s Recovery (1), ch. 5)