8th, January, 2022

START THE YEAR ON THE RIGHT FOOT Pt.8

Mt 9:38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

BE MISSION MINDED (C)

Have you heard about the prayer meeting that lasted for 24 hours, 7 days a week for 100 years? The Moravian Community of Herrnhut in Saxony, in 1727, commenced a round-the-clock “prayer watch” that continued nonstop for over a hundred years. 65 years after commencement of that prayer program, the small Moravian community had sent 300 missionaries to the ends of the earth. Their prayers opened the doors of nations that were locked against the Gospel. Through consistent fervent prayer, they took territories from hell. Zinzendorf, the Moravian community leader later recalled: “The whole place represented truly a visible habitation of God among men.” That's what fervent prayers can do when we focus our prayer effort rightly.

As I said previously, think about missions as a company with several departments. In God's mission to the unreached, there's a prayer department where fervent intercession is offered to God for souls and those God sent to the field of harvest. Fervent intercession is a basic component in world evangelization. Missions without prayer is akin to pouring water in an empty basket. Some are confused on what to do about missions but I often tell people that our failure to do just one thing that is significant for and in missions is a sign of spiritual irresponsibility and lukewarmness towards unreached peoples. Imagine that all Christian families and churches world wide are praying daily for souls of unreached peoples and open doors of ministry for missionaries, the task of reaching the unreached may have gotten to a significant point. If you can't go to the unreached because of distance, job and family life, you can pray.

James 5:16b says, "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much".This is a new year, offer prayers and intercession for the salvation of souls among the unreached in your prayer time. This won't cost you a dime. Pray for that missionary and mission agency that is into missions. As a pastor, your church can be a mission minded church by leading your congregation to pray for Christian missionaries. You can imbue in your members the necessity of fervent prayers in world evangelization. Your prayer time shouldn't be all about you. Someone prayed you into salvation and Christian maturity, who are you praying the same for? Oh how I wish God can restore to the church the prayer zeal of the Moravians. They weren't concerned about "house hold battles", the thrust of their prayer was to take the unreached lands of their time for Jesus. What are you taking with your prayer? Cars and houses? God said He will give us unreached nations if we ask of him: "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession", Ps2:8. Pray to possess the nations.