Do you often find your intercessory prayers on behalf of missionaries to be summarized by the simple phrase: "God bless our missionaries"? Here are five suggestions-written by a missionary-to help you be more effective in your prayers for missions:

1. Praying for our health and safety is important, but it is more important that you pray for our effectiveness. Ask God to effectively carry out the mission He has given us and to be wise stewards of the resources He has made available.
2. We do not want you to pray that God will give us an easy path on the mission field and remove obstacles. Rather, pray that He gives strength and grace to overcome these obstacles for His glory.
3. It is not so important that you pray that God should bless our activities. Ask that He censor our activities. It is easy to spend time and energy on unproductive, ineffective activities.
4. Do not pray for us as though we lived on a higher plane. Missionaries can become lonely, discouraged, irritable, and impatient. If we are not guarded, it is easy to do a lot of missionary work simply in the energy of the flesh. Pray that the love of Christ may constrain us in all that we do and that the Holy Spirit would work freely through us.
5. Pray that, like the Apostle Paul, we may be willing to deny ourselves in order to make our lives an example to the believers. Sometimes this means forfeiting rights, privileges, and material conveniences we have taken for granted all our lives, but which are stumbling blocks to missionary service.