“Is it not written: My House will be called a house of prayer for all nations?” (Mark 11:17)The central focus of Jesus' words in this passage was that the Jewish temple's purpose had been subverted. It was to serve as a "house of prayer for all nations" in line with the original call to Abraham to be a blessing to "all the peoples of the earth" (Gen. 12:3) Israel was called to be a praying and missionary people that would declare His truth to the nations and especially to bring forth the Messiah who would save Gentiles as well as Jews worldwide.

The word in the original Greek for the passage in Mark and Matthew 28 (the Great Commission) is Ethne or ethnic groups and corresponds to the Hebrew word in Gen. 12:3 for people groups. He was not talking about political nation states like India or China but the many ethnolinguistic groups that compose those political entities. Therefore, Jesus was reasserting this original missionary calling and reminding His Jewish hearers that they needed to pray for the people groups of the earth that did not yet have the Good News of the Messiah. A short time later, the book of Acts describes how the early disciples took Jesus’s words seriously and "joined constantly together in prayer" (1:14). That culture of ongoing, united prayer characterized their church life and resulted in the mission to the Gentiles and powerful mission breakthroughs that we read about in the rest of Acts.

God’s people today are also called to become houses of prayer for all peoples. God can use even relatively small groups of believers to have a profound impact on the forgotten, unreached people groups of our world whether their congregation or others go to reach them. The Moravians started praying in this way with about 200 people in the 18th century, a united prayer effort that went over 100 years. That seemingly insignificant prayer effort ended up impacting 5000 locations on earth, sending out the first Protestant missionaries from their little village in eastern Germany to many far-off lands and peoples. It all started with organized, informed, united and persevering prayer. Obviously, the Lord takes such praying very seriously in His scheme of things.

In case they would be useful, here are three important new prayer/mission resources:

1) The first is a video my colleagues and I prepared from our last year’s consultation for international prayer and mission leaders that was held at Herrnhut (the Lord’s watch), that same Moravian village from which such a powerful, world-impacting mission movement was launched through united prayer.

Spirit of the Moravians 9-min
Spirit of the Moravians 3-min

2) Also, linked below is a resource on the 31 largest “frontier” or most unreached people groups that a church can use with its members to practically become a "house of prayer for all peoples". It was created collaborative by a team of prayer and mission leaders from different agencies, thanks be to God.

There is no copyright so these resources can be used far and wide to bless the Body of Christ and the still unreached masses of our world waiting to hear about and be transformed by Jesus Christ. We in the IPC are in the process of circulating both resources internationally and hope that you will help us publicize them so many will be helped.

The 31 Largest Frontier People Groups – booklet download

https://joshuaproject.net/assets/media/handouts/the31.pdf,

https://joshuaproject.net/assets/media/handouts/the31-booklet.pdf

3) A Window on the Darkness: a new “must read” book for praying people

Have you ever wondered just why the darkness in the world today seems to be getting darker, and what can be done about it?

This book sheds fresh light on this topic, and on the spiritual nature of this darkness. It shines the light of Scripture on the evil one and on the way in which so many have become bewitched. This is a clarion call to the church and individual Christians to get ready to do battle with the powers of darkness, and to shine Christ's light more powerfully.

Brian Mills writes out of many years of experience in international prayer ministry. He is a senior advisor in the International Prayer Council and is one of the leaders in the International Reconciliation movement. He has ministered in over 75 nations and authored nine books to date. He is also part of a global group that is seeking to understand more about the dark spiritual powers at work in the world.

"The most informative book for our times I’ve read for a long time."

Order ‘Window on the Darkness’ by Brian Mills in print or Kindle formats from Amazon USA |  Amazon UK .