Prayer Strategy

Prayer is the foundational strategy for missions. We do not need what we can do for God, but what God is doing for His Kingdom. God is always at work and we are invited by Him to take part in the work He is doing to grow His Kingdom. Yesterday I was reading in Psalm 24 and was not able to shake a drawing sensation to verse 1. This is how it reads in the NKJV. "The earth is the LORD's, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein." We are not recruiting people for God's Kingdom. They already belong to God. Our task is to help them see the light that He alone is God and that they belong to Him. He created every one of us. We are His by creation. We became separated from God with our sin. Then He bought us back through the blood of His one and only Son, Jesus Christ. There are millions in the world who do not know this basic truth. Therefore, they cannot worship Him.

We need to discover where God is working and join Him. (That sounds familiar.) God is constantly at work in His world. We too often jump into the work before we know where He is working. Jesus said that the Father was working, so he was working. Jesus even said in his high priestly prayer in John 17:4 that he had brought the Father glory on earth by completing all the work the Father gave Him to do.

I wonder what the work is God has given you to do? For Calvary of Neosho, one aspect of that work was taking His good news to the Mandyak people of Senegal, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau. Little did I know when we began the work how involved God had already been. When we as a church voted to pursue reaching the Mandyak for Christ, a long time member of the church came up to me with tears streaming down his face and said that he and his wife had been praying for 11 years that God would give Calvary a vision for reaching His world that would require Him to accomplish it. He said this was that vision.

When I arrived in Senegal and met who would become one of our main interpreters, I learned that he had been praying for 11 years that God would send someone like the missionaries to reach his people for Jesus. God was at work and He was the one who invited us to take the good news of His Kingdom and His love for them to the Mandyak. Calvary continues to do just that as God continues to guide them.

Jesus once said that the harvest was plentiful, but the workers were few. He went on to tell his disciples that they were to pray to the Lord of the Harvest, that He would send out laborers into His harvest fields.

1) Am I obeying by praying that God will send out laborers into His harvest fields?
2) Am I praying for the peoples of the world to hear and come to God?
3) Am I getting ready to go when He speaks to my heart to go?

Just some thoughts! Have a great day!

Never Forget

I was reading in Deuteronomy 8 today. It is a very interesting chapter. This chapter informs the reader of all the things God has done for them and all the things He wants them to do. The chapter begins with a reminder to be careful to observe the commandments He has given us. There seems to be a reason for remembering to observe the commandments. It is so we may live in the land of which He promised us. It is so we may multiply in the land of which He promised us. It is so we may possess the land of which the Lord promised.

These are 3 very good reasons for observing the commandments He gave to us. Let me quickly say that the Great Commission given to the church and all followers of the Lord Jesus tells us to teach disciples to observe all He has commanded. There is no difference in the Nation of Israel in the book of Deuteronomy and the Church in the book of Matthew. God is still God. He still demands that we live by His commands. It is for our blessing and His Kingdom's Growth in the world.

Read the chapter slowly and carefully. In verse 11 we are told to "beware" after we have become full from life's blessings God has given to us. The danger is that we will forget Him and focus on us. Did you really hear what it says? We forget Him and focus on us. Here is how it reads in the NKJV for verse 17, "then you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.'"

We are always one step away from perishing from the land to which He has sent us. All we need to do is "by any means forget the Lord our God" (verse 19). It has happened before.

Remain humble! Never Forget!