Focus
Pray for open opportunities for the gospel to go forth in power.
“Lord, open opportunities for Your Word to be proclaimed and received.”
Description
The final week focuses on readiness and response, asking the Lord to create divine opportunities for evangelism and outreach, and to open hearts to receive the message. As the Church moves “On Mission,” prayer becomes action through service, testimony, and Spirit-empowered compassion.
Prayer Points
- Pray for the Spirit to prepare hearts of those who will hear the gospel.
- Seek God’s guidance for creative outreach and service.
- Involve mature believers in praying for the global Church and unreached peoples.
As we enter the final week of 21 Days of Prayer—On Mission: Praying Together, our prayers turn toward the harvest field. In Week 1, we prayed for open doors. In Week 2, we prayed for open hearts and open mouths. Now in Week 3, we pray for open opportunities—divine moments where God aligns circumstances, conversations, and hearts so the gospel can be proclaimed and received.
This week calls the Church to readiness. It calls us to pray with expectancy, to act with boldness, and to trust that God is already at work preparing lives for encounter. Scripture teaches that evangelism is never solely human effort—God is the One who goes before us. He stirs hearts. He draws people. He opens the way. Jesus reminded His disciples, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them” (John 6:44). We go, but the Spirit prepares.
Praying for the Spirit to Prepare Hearts
One of the great truths of Scripture is that God works long before we arrive on the scene. Before Philip met the Ethiopian in Acts 8, God was preparing both hearts—sending Philip down a desert road and stirring questions within the Ethiopian’s soul. Before Peter preached to Cornelius, God had already visited Cornelius in a vision and softened Peter’s understanding. Before Lydia ever heard Paul preach, “the Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message” (Acts 16:14).
This is the essence of Week 3 prayer:
“Lord, prepare the hearts of those we will speak to—even those we do not yet know.”
Consider a simple story. A missionary couple once arrived in a remote village only to find the people unusually eager to listen. A village elder explained, “A man in white appeared to one of our leaders in a dream and said you would come with a message from the Most High God.” Their arrival was unexpected, but God had been opening the opportunity long before their plane ever left the ground.
We often think we are initiating the work, but God is always ahead of us—softening soil, planting questions, revealing truth in glimpses, stirring hunger. Week 3 invites us to align our prayers with the Spirit’s advance work. When we ask Him to prepare hearts, we pray according to His mission and His character.
Seeking God’s Guidance for Creative Outreach and Service
As we pray for open opportunities, we also seek God’s guidance for creative outreach. Not every meaningful gospel conversation begins with a sermon. Some begin with a meal, or a service project, or a listening ear. Others grow out of relationships formed through sports, hobbies, community events, or acts of compassion. Jesus Himself varied His approach—teaching in synagogues, talking at wells, sharing meals in homes, walking with disciples along the road. His ministry was creative and relational.
Today’s world requires the same Spirit-inspired creativity. The Church must carry the gospel into digital spaces, public spaces, cultural spaces, and unexpected spaces. A youth group may host a neighborhood cleanup that leads to new relationships. A women’s ministry may prepare care baskets for new mothers in the community. A men’s group may partner with local shelters. A congregation may use social media to share testimonies that reach far beyond geographic boundaries.
Every act of service becomes a seed. Every conversation becomes a potential doorway. Every event becomes a place where the Spirit may orchestrate an opportunity for someone to encounter Christ.
Like the boy who offered his five loaves and two fish, we offer what we have, trusting the Spirit to multiply it into something greater. Creative outreach is not about innovation for its own sake; it is about removing unnecessary barriers so that the message of Jesus can reach hearts in the language of compassion.
Involving Mature Believers in Praying for the Global Church
The final emphasis of Week 3 invites mature believers—those seasoned in faith, prayer, and spiritual discernment—to cover the global Church in intercession. Their prayers are a stabilizing force, anchoring the work of evangelism in wisdom and spiritual authority.
Through Scripture and history, we see the essential role of mature saints who labor in prayer:
Anna the prophetess prayed in the temple for decades, preparing for Christ’s appearing (Luke 2).
Paul continually asked churches to pray for his mission to the Gentiles.
Early believers prayed earnestly while Peter was imprisoned—and God sent an angel to release him (Acts 12).
Today, millions across the world remain unreached. Entire people groups have yet to hear the name of Jesus. Week 3 expands our vision beyond our neighborhoods and invites us to join God’s global mission through prayer. Mature believers often carry this burden with deep insight and perseverance. Their intercession fuels frontline missions and strengthens workers in hard places.
Imagine a congregation where older saints—those who have walked with Christ through decades of trials and victories—gather weekly to pray specifically for missionaries, unreached peoples, persecuted believers, and emerging church planters. Their prayers become spiritual shelter for workers who daily face challenges for the sake of the gospel.
Opportunities, Prepared Hearts, Missional Lives
Week 3 draws together everything we have prayed thus far. Open doors create access. Open hearts cultivate compassion. Open mouths declare the message. And now, open opportunities position the Church to act with readiness and purpose.
This is a week to pray with expectancy—not merely for moments to arise, but for the courage to recognize and respond to them. Many opportunities are subtle: a coworker’s passing comment, a neighbor’s discouraging day, a stranger’s tearful expression, a social media post that invites deeper conversation. The Spirit often opens opportunities quietly, gently, and personally.
As the Church prays and moves “On Mission,” prayer becomes action. Service becomes testimony. Compassion becomes evangelism. The mission advances, not through force but through Spirit-empowered love.
Let this be our prayer this week: “Lord, open every opportunity You desire—across the street and across the world. Prepare hearts. Guide our steps. Make us ready. And may Your Word go forth in transforming power.”
Moving Forward Together: Thankful, Expectant, and On Mission
As we conclude these 21 Days of Prayer—On Mission: Praying Together, we pause to thank God for every open door, every open heart, and every open opportunity He has given. Across these three weeks, we have prayed for the Lord to move in our neighborhoods and nations, but He has also been moving in us—softening our hearts, sharpening our focus, and reminding us that His mission is carried forward through ordinary people who say “yes” to Him.
If you prayed faithfully every day, thank you. Your intercession matters more than you may ever see on this side of eternity. Heaven alone will reveal the full impact of the prayers offered during these weeks—for neighbors and nations, for children and elders, for the lost, the searching, and the weary. You have partnered with God in His work, and your prayers have not been in vain.
If you did not pray “perfectly,” missed days, or mostly read and reflected on the devotions without always knowing what to say—that matters too. The Lord is not keeping score; He is shaping hearts. Simply showing up to read, to think, to whisper a short prayer, or to ask God to make these truths real in your life is itself a response to His invitation. He knows your schedule, your struggles, your limitations, and your desires. Even the smallest, halting prayer—“Lord, help me care. . . . Lord, use me. . . . Lord, draw me closer”—is precious to Him.
Remember, prayer is not a performance; it is a relationship. These weeks have not been about finishing a program but about forming a pattern—a way of living with eyes open to the harvest, hearts open to God’s leading, and hands ready to serve. Our hope is that the themes of these weeks will continue far beyond these 21 days:
- Open Doors: that you will keep watching for ways to love and reach those near you
- Open Hearts: that you will continue asking the Holy Spirit to make you sensitive, courageous, and compassionate
- Open Opportunities: that you will remain ready for the moments God creates—for conversations, acts of service, and witness, both locally and globally
We also want to invite you to a special time of united prayer as we gather for the On Mission Prayer Simulcast on January 25, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. This live event will be streaming on cogop.org. Mark your calendar; invite your church, your small group, or your family; and join our global Church of God of Prophecy family as we lift our voices together. After these 21 days of preparation, the simulcast will be a beautiful opportunity to agree in prayer, celebrate what God has done, and ask Him to continue leading us On Mission in 2026 and beyond.
Thank you for walking through these weeks with us, whether with strong faith or trembling steps, long prayers or simple cries from the heart. Our confidence is not in how perfectly we have prayed but in how faithfully God hears and responds. As we move forward, may we carry this simple, ongoing prayer:
“Lord, keep our doors open, our hearts tender, our mouths willing, and our lives available—for Your mission, Your glory, and Your kingdom.”
May the Lord bless you, keep you, strengthen you, and continue to work through you as we remain On Mission—praying, loving, and reconciling the world to Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. Together.