06/18/2024
Our souls set alight for God... What a wonderful thought for today, and a powerful use of prayer. Pastor E.M. Bounds wrote: "Prayer opens possibilities for the spread of the gospel.... Prayer makes the gospel move with glorious speed. It moves with God's power and with saintly swiftness." Have we ever considered the fact that prayer should be the first step we take as we witness to others, or send missionaries to distant lands? Those missionaries pray for resources and guidance before taking their first step and setting out to answer the call. Our prayers for them are equally important, and by praying we are stepping out with them to obey the will of God.
“And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Luke 10:2 ESV
As I wrote these words, I thought of the great impact we could have if all believers prayed daily for those who have yet to find the Lord, and for God's emissaries who He has commissioned, and sent into the world. I think that becoming complacent by concentrating our prayers on our own faiths and quests for salvation is limiting us to a mundane Christian existence. There is so much more that awaits us; each of us is a gospel hero waiting for that moment in which we are meant to step forward, and standout. Are we praying as we wait, like the disciples did in the upper room as they waited for the comforter to come?
Prayer is not an inactive event, it is like running into a burning building after one more victim in a fire, it is engaging ourselves in the struggle to save souls, and lives. Praying should not be just a quiet few moments in our day, but our bold effort in the war against sin, and spiritual death.
Sometimes we discount our abilities when it comes to evangelism. We are confronted daily by aging people who are homebound, the infirmed, the handicapped, and those limited in so many other ways... and yet we ask ourselves "what can I possibly do?" The answer always begins with prayer. Praying gives us wings; it allows us to spring out of our wheelchair and run, it allows us to leave that place where we are imprisoned and soar on the wings of Eagles... It carries us to faraway places, and into the realm of kingdom soldiers, and it sets us apart as heavenly heroes.
The apostle Paul wrote these words to the Colossians:
“Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds: That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.”
Colossians 4:2-4 KJV
The Colossians were asked to pray for Paul and those abroad. Paul knew that those prayers were powerful then, and they still are today! By praying we are engaging ourselves in the fight against sin, and following Jesus by our heroic action as we save one more soul from the burning building of sin. It might actually be someone like Paul who runs into that building, but there is great importance in holding the hose and directing the water onto the flames as he does so. We are in this struggle together; all of us are heroes in this cause.
I remember the man and his wife who taught vacation bible school the year I rode my bicycle to their house and gave my soul to Jesus on their living room couch. At the time they were actively engaged like Paul, but within three years this man had died of cancer. But, one thing I feel very confident in saying is this... as he laid in his hospital bed he was in prayer for his family, me, and others like me. This man was a hero in the United States Army during WWII, but he was a far greater hero in prayer. As for his widow? She went on to evangelize around the world... until at last her age brought her home where she prayed for others as they stepped out to spread the gospel.
The spread of God's word requires much prayer. No matter what our lot in life is at this moment, we are mighty warriors and heroes when we go into our prayer closets. Some of us are running into burning buildings while others of us make that possible by holding a constant stream of prayer on the fire. Whatever our handicap or limitation, our prayers not only give strength to others, but they lift us up and allow us to be active partners in spreading the Gospel, and delivering God’s Word.
If you are feeling limited by your circumstances or capabilities this morning, don't trivialize your ability to engage in saving souls through prayer. Let your prayers transport you to foreign lands a world away, or carry you down the street where the battle rages for one more soul. If you are in church this morning and hear of missionary accomplishments, praise God, and know that your prayers made that possible, and always remember that around your neck hangs that same medal of spiritual honor. Wear it well, and continue to pray for the "Pauls" who go forth with the good news of Jesus Christ, and reach out from your knees for the lost souls who are walking the streets around us every day. We are the heroes of prayer even when we are holding the ladder that others climb, or directing the water of prayer onto burning nations and souls. May God bless you in this effort.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for calling us to pray for those you have sent to the four corners of the world with the good news of Jesus Christ. Thank you Lord for allowing us to join them there on bended knee while secure in our prayer closets. Holy Father teach us to bow our heads, close our eyes, and to see your saving grace at work through the eyes of others around the world. Help us to understand that we might be blind, crippled, sickly, aged, or kept at home for a million other reasons, but that our prayers carry us abroad, and that your missionaries stand on our shoulders as we pray. Help us Father as we offer up prayer, and give flight to our hearts as they fly across vast oceans, or just down the street. Show us in our quiet places, and through every secret prayer, how we are serving you, and doing your will. Lift us from our beds, our wheelchairs, and from every place that holds us as we pray, and Lord, give us new life through our prayers as we strengthen all those you have sent forth. Give us wings as we pray, and let us see the glory you are receiving as the Holy Spirit encourages us… we the mute, the blind, the weak, the infirmed, and imprisoned. Show us visions of the work your Word is doing by our obedience to your will in prayer, and fill our nights with dreams of joy as we join in slumber with many who have come to believe in you through Christ. Praised be your name Father, and Great are you who hears our prayers today, and always. Amen!
“I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,”
Ephesians 1:16-18 ESV
Rich Forbes