10/27/2025
The hardest question that any missionary faces isn’t “can I go out and do this?”, but rather “is Jesus able to do this?” It all boils down to faith, and it begins with the faith of the missionaries themselves. Going out and reciting scripture can be done by anyone, but believing belongs to the disciple, and what is a missionary if not a disciple?
“When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to him, "Yes, Lord."”
Matthew 9:28 ESV
As we have been discussing over the past days, we are all asked to spread the gospel, but we haven’t spoken specifically on the subject of faith, and exactly what we are being asked to do. First we are asked to make other disciples... to teach others of Jesus and how to obey His commandments, or in other words, to have faith in him and to have enough faith in Him that we will obey Him ourselves. Then, just as we were, we are asked to lead them to baptism.
In order to do these things requires more of us than just the ability to teach a subject; it demands that a deep and abiding faith lives within us, and that we are disciples ourselves. If these things are true in us, and we accept this mission, then He will empower us, and be with us in this endeavor. Jesus tells us this Himself; it is called the great commission... do you believe in Him with the intensity it requires?
“And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."”
Matthew 28:18-20 ESV
Pastor Oswald Chambers drove this point home in his writing when He spoke of the faith of the missionary himself as being the greatest challenge in doing what Jesus had sent him out to do.
“The challenge to the missionary does not come on the line that people are difficult to get saved, that backsliders are difficult to reclaim, that there is a wadge of callous indifference; but along the line of His own personal relationship to Jesus Christ.... The one great challenge is - Do I know my Risen Lord? Do I know the power of His indwelling Spirit?” - Oswald Chambers
Most any skilled con man can gather a crowd and speak as though he were a man of faith, but only a disciple can speak with the authority of God. Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”, and so it will be with those He sends out, because He will be with them.
“Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.”
John 20:21-22 ESV
Believers, disciples, and vessels filled with the Holy Spirit. If we are lacking in any of these then we are not prepared for the great commission. If at any point we lose our faith, we can no longer teach in the fullness of faith, or we no longer sit at the feet of Jesus... then at that moment we should withdraw from the harvest field of souls until we have rekindled your own passion in Jesus Christ, and faith in God, because at that instant we have become a fraud, and no better than a con man... teaching what we ourselves don’t believe.
If we find that our own personal relationship with Jesus and the Father is suffering, then we should go immediately to the Word and into our prayer closet, and we should seek counsel from a mentor who can help us through the pangs of doubt we are feeling. Satan comes hard against those who go out in the name of Jesus; He attempts to drag them into the desert and tempt them sorely, but do not despair because greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.
“Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”
1 John 4:4-6 ESV
So, today as we rise to answer the great commission, we should begin in prayer and determine our status. We should ask ourselves if we are going out as a man or woman of deep faith. The question we must ask is if we are a believer or simply a moral person, are we a man or woman of faith, or simply an actor. If the answer comes back as anything other than a person of deep and abiding faith, then our works are empty, and what we seek to do will be false, and done alone. If the answer is anything but “I go as a man or woman of faith”, then we should seek another endeavor until we can overcome our spiritual lacking, or the spiritual conflict within us. When we have lost sight of our faith we should pray as if the salvation of your very soul depends upon it… because it does. But, if our faith is secure, and Jesus is the Lord of our life, then by all means we are to go with great joy and spread the gospel as if it were the very breath of life to us, because that breath we contain is contagious and infects those around us with truth, and eternal life. It flows from us as living water from Christ.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the measure of faith you have given me, and I thank you for leading me to increase it day by day as we walk together. I ask that you fill me fresh each morning with your Holy Spirit and send me into the world with the good news of Jesus Christ on my lips, and His Word dripping from my pen. Protect me Father from sin and shield me from all evil. Make me prosperous for your kingdom in word and deed as I deliver life, through the gospel of Jesus to a dead and dying world. Give me a heart Father for the souls around me. Let me see each person as you see them, help me to love them even as you loved me before I was led to believe. Help me to see beyond the sin and into the pure soul that the redemption of Christ brings forth. Keep me and be with me in this day as I face a world of many vices and temptations. Do not let me be distracted from your love and grace by Satan who would destroy me, and guide me in my efforts as I love you more. Lift me up Father and in the purity that Jesus has wrought in me give me the power and authority to do your good work. In this day I will serve you with all my heart and praise you from the depths of my being. Walk with me Father. Be with me Jesus, and fill me Holy Spirit, as I go forth into the harvest field of souls... not with mere words, but with your message of life itself, and your undying truth that I believe wholeheartedly in. Strengthen me in this my prayer and in my faith so that together they will sustain me. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God and great are you who has redeemed me. Great is your Son Jesus who sends me out to spread the good news of His life and obedience to your will, and great is your Holy Spirit that dwells in me as I continue in your love to do this… your good work.
I pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, and praise you with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength! To this I say Amen, and ask all believers will join me in my AMEN!
Rich Forbes