This page offers a daily prayer for missionaries, the men and women who have left home to serve God in another place, often in a language and culture not their own. You can pray it each morning before the day begins, during a quiet moment at lunch, or in the evening as you commit the day’s work to God. Read it aloud exactly as written, or use it as a starting point and speak your own words where they come more easily.
Daily Prayers for Missionaries
Lord, you sent your Son into the world, and you still send people to carry his good news to places far from home. Today I bring before you the missionaries who have answered that call. Some of them are awake before dawn in villages where the roads are dust and the power comes and goes. Some are sitting in unfamiliar classrooms, trying to learn a language that twists their tongues, or sitting at kitchen tables far from their parents and grandchildren. Be near to them in their loneliness.
Give them wisdom for the decisions no training could prepare them for. Give them health for their bodies and steady rest for their minds, and protect their families, especially the children who did not choose this life but live it all the same. Guard them from discouragement when fruit is slow to appear, and from pride when it comes quickly. Keep their marriages strong, their finances honest, and their hearts tender toward the people they serve. Where they face danger, be their shelter, and where they face opposition, give them courage that does not depend on their own strength. Open doors that only you can open, and close the ones that would lead them astray. Let them know, even on the hardest day, that they are not forgotten by you or by the church that sent them. Amen.
A Shorter Version to Pray in a Moment
Father, be with the missionaries I think of today. Give them strength for the work in front of them, peace in the place where they live, and friends who will walk with them. Protect their families and their health. Let your word take root in the hearts of the people they love and serve. Thank you that you go before them into every place they will go. Amen.
Scriptures to Pray Alongside
Matthew 28:19-20
19 Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
(WEB)
Pray these words as a reminder that the mission belongs to Jesus and that he gave it to his people. Ask him to keep the missionaries faithful to the task of making disciples, and to remind them that his presence goes with them each day.
Psalm 121:7-8
7 The LORD will keep you from all evil. He will keep your soul. 8 The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in, from this time forward, and forever more.
(WEB)
Use this psalm when you think about the travel, the illness and the uncertain days that missionaries face. Thank God that he watches over their coming and going, and ask him to keep them safe wherever they are.
Romans 10:14-15
14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? How will they hear without a preacher? 15 And how will they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Good News of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!”
(WEB)
Let this passage lead you to pray for the people who have not yet heard the message. Ask God to meet the missionaries as they speak, and to make their words welcome to hearers who need to know him.
Philippians 1:6
Being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.
(WEB)
Pray this verse when a missionary feels that the work is too slow or too small. Ask God to finish the good work he has begun in them and in the people they serve, and to keep them confident in his faithfulness.
2 Corinthians 12:9
He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me.
(WEB)
Use this verse for missionaries who feel weak, tired or inadequate for what is asked of them. Ask Christ to show his strength in their weakness and to remind them that his grace is enough for each day.
How to Pray This Prayer
Choose a regular time, such as the first cup of coffee or the few minutes before you start the car, and keep the same time each day. A small habit repeated often will help you remember the missionaries more reliably than an occasional long session. If you have a list of the people your church supports, keep it on the counter or in your phone and read one name aloud before you pray.
Make the prayer something you do with your hands as well as your voice. Write the names on a card and place it in your Bible, or light a candle while you pray, or hold a photograph of a family you support. Invite a friend, a small group or your children to pray the same words with you, so that the missionaries are carried by many people at the same hour.
A Blessing to Close
May the Lord who sent them go with every missionary today and keep them in his care. May he give their families rest, their work fruit, and their hearts joy in the midst of hardship. May the peace of God guard them wherever they serve, and may they hear his voice clearly each day.
