Hello missionaries! We are at week 25. Can you believe that? I hope these weekly letters have been stirring you to be salt and light where the Lord has planted you. Today, I want to encourage you in a very simple but powerful practice: prayer walking.
One thing that happens to us sometimes is that we get overwhelmed at the great call and command of Jesus to go make disciples of all nations. There are so many people who need Jesus, both near and far. Who should we reach? What exactly should we do? The overwhelming factor can paralyze us to the point of doing nothing. Prayer walking is a wonderful and very easy way to get the mission ball rolling. Let me explain what I mean.
Those of you who are receiving these letters each week are scattered around the country. Some of you live in cities, others in the country. Some work and others are in school. Some of you are retired. You may not know exactly who the Lord is calling you to reach, but I’m guessing each of you have a special heart for certain people, right? It may be the people who live in your neighborhood or those you work with. It may be fellow students on your college campus. It may be a certain area of the city that seems really broken. It may be people in prison or in nursing homes.
What I encourage you to do is to carve some time to be in the location where the people are. Don’t put pressure on yourself to share the gospel with anyone, or even to talk with anyone. Just go and be there. Walk around and observe. Quietly pray for people, and ask God for His ideas of what could be done to get to know people and to serve people.
Here’s what happens
When we do this, we begin to see things we never saw before. Prayer walking slows us down and enables us to hear the Lord’s voice. Pay attention to details on your walk. Notice the faces of people. Don’t be surprised if God opens a door for you to talk with someone. Don’t push anything though. Just be out there, be listening to what God says.
What begins to happen when we do this is that we grow in our affection for the people we see. It provides space to think and dream of ways we could perhaps serve people. Ideas begin to pop up in the mind like daisies. When ideas emerge we then think about them and talk to others about them to refine them. Some ideas fade, but some continue to grow over time. You begin to see the possibilities. I think in the secular world they call this visualization. In the faith realm, it’s simply vision development. It’s so important to see things in your mind. The vision propels action. But don’t take my word for it. Just go do it and see what happens.
The bubble
I’ve noticed something throughout the years. When I stay in my home, or in my narrow pathways of daily life, and just think about reaching people—nothing happens. Oh, I can even get together with Christian friends and discuss the importance of reaching people. I can even pray about reaching people. I can read books about going into the world to make disciples. But nothing happens until I step out of my bubble and spend time with the people.
Because the church I pastor is located in Providence, my primary mission field is the neighborhoods around the church. There are other circles of people I care deeply about, but my heart really goes out to the people near the church. The neighborhood has many homeless people, people just out of prison, the elderly, single moms, nonprofit workers, college students, artists, refugees, and massive numbers of children. If I sit in my study and think about them, even pray for them, nothing happens. I’m not saying prayer is in vain. It’s not. But prayer without actually going out into the world is like a bird with one wing. When I step out of the church building and into the neighborhood—things happen!
Unseen Orchestrator
Again, I’m a shy person so I don’t put pressure on myself to confront strangers or to try to make things happen. If I feel pressured in that way, honestly, I wouldn’t go out there. So I just walk, and I talk with Jesus. And I observe. Do you know what often happens? I run into someone I know. Some call this a “divine appointment” to signify the fact that God orchestrates things before we even step out. Sometimes I find myself in the right place at the right time to meet just the right person, who I never knew before. It’s not a coincidence. God will open doors if we step out in faith.
So I encourage you to get out of your house or office or dorm room and walk around. Don’t do a power walk. Instead, walk slowly. Pause in certain places. Ask God to help you see people through His eyes. Ask Him to show you what to do. Ask Him for his ideas. Ask Him to open doors that only He can open. Watch what God will do!